Scuzzi's 1604 — Restaurant in San Antonio

*UPDATE- the manager co tacted my wife apologized and gave us a gift certificate. They made it right, as best they could. * Let me start by saying the reason my wife chose this place is because the reviews. Last night, 26 Mar 2022, we had reservations for 700pm to celebrate my 49th birthday, the reason it was a such a big deal other than another celebrated is because I have cancer and lived past my expected lifespan, so every birthday is a big deal. We had our close family, my wife ,our 14 yr old son and my sister-in law. We arrived about 15 mins before 700pm. The place was packed, and smelled just like you'd expect, like a small slice of Italy. After checking in the young lady said they had to get a table ready, she was clearly hustling and very busy, No worries I thought, my wife and her sister can get a drink (I can't drink). After waiting 20 minutes and even more people arriving I got nervous, asked about the table. She said they were very busy and it would be soon, I understood having been a busboy many years ago, and said no worries. We ended up waiting 40 minutes in total to be seated, after one more question to the over tasked young lady at the front desk. Once at our table we settled in talking and looking at the menu. Our waiter approached and was clearly in a hurry. We told him we can order appetizers, dinner, and drinks now to make it easier for him. He expressed how busy they were, then before we could order he said "I'll bring some water and bread" and promptly departed. I thought "did I miss something" we were trying to be helpful and I didn't think he understood or maybe we had some miscommunication. 10 mins later waters and two breads came. Our waiter said would you like to order? We replied yes we can give our whole order appetizers, soup, salads, and, dinner and drinks again. He scrambled for scrap of paper in his apron, which was odd. We ordered. He had a hard time taking our order having to look at the menu himself, then he parted as quickly as he came after collecting the order. In the mean time we talked and laughed about events and family situations, we still hadn't gotten drinks or the appetizers yet, it had been 20 minutes, however we were talking and laughing so time had moved quickly. We hadn't seen our waiter again. Other staff members were rushing around past us. Finally, another waiter brought us the salads, we asked about the appetizers and drinks, he said "oh I'll ask for you" I was a little put off. Well the rest of the night was the same, our waiter was hardly present, our food came 30 minutes later in a confusing way, of main courses first, then oysters and I had to ask about my soup. The waiter was clearly panicked looking when we saw him. We asked about the drinks he said "oh they come from the bar', looking to the front, "they are so busy". We were all a little put off in the way this evening was unfolding. Meanwhile, we ate our food it was very delicious. We got our waiter's attention and ordered some deserts and coffees. Our waiter was frantic looking for some paper in his apron, insted repeating it back a couple times and rushed off. Deserts and coffees came a while later, we enjoyed them... my wife was upset, had taken a call from the restaurant confirming the reservation and that it was my birthday. She said they would sing the birthday song etc. She said she was sorry the night had went so wrong. We got the check and just then happy birthday signing at another table, it was the cherry on top to our evening. I was happy to be leaving after paying the bill. It was the single worst experience I have had at a restaurant of this quality. They were terribly disorganized and overwhelmed, our food was great, however we couldn't get it in order or communicate well with our rushed waiter who was seldom there. My birthday celebration ended up being an extremely slowly and out of order delivered meal with drinks on the side and disappointment delivered completely. I gave them two stars because the food was delicious, however, birthday dinner was never held really,...

This took me a while to figure out… not sure how this place is so highly rated but they do shove in your face a couple of QR codes after checkout and ask you to please review. So maybe people rate high out of guilt? Here is my honest experience. Be mindful that this is based on a casual dinner with my wife (no splurging), with 3 cocktails and a price tag of $290 plus tip……

Environment: the place is actually pretty nice and even fancy at first glance, then you start seeing all the cut corners. From the cheap paper towels in the fancy paper towel holder in the restrooms (yes, those holders which topically have those paper towels that you can almost take to the beach to lay on), to the wobbly tables and very cheaply printed menus in worn out sheet protectors. You can find many restaurants in town with much nicer settings, higher quality everything, for a lot less money… Food: the food was good, that is it. The fried calamari was pretty good, the bread was fine, and the dishes were ok. I should have taken more pictures… my wife’s tiny stake was plated over a gigantic blob of mashed potatoes. I ordered the Chefs special sea bass that our server Dan recommended. It was good, very fishy for my taste, but it was good. Both the sea bass and the shrimp that came with it were well cooked, etc. the problem I had with it was that it was not great. It was not memorable, and I paid $89 for it… (should have looked at the menu before ordering). For that kind of money, I expect a memorable dining experience. Drinks: the drinks were good, I had two cocktails and my wife had a Martini. No complaints on those. Desserts: this is where everything went sideways (before the bill arrived). I ordered the Creme Brûlée, and I can say without question it was the worse I have had. Gritty and greasy as if it was old and overheated and the butter had separated or something. My wife got the chocolate mousse cake, it was pretty bad. Both were garnished with old, purplish skin with dark seed wrinkly strawberries… Service: Dan was great, I wish he would have stopped by 15 times less so that my wife and I could have enjoyed our conversation. But no major complaints there. Me initially sat at a booth where the table wobbled, so we moved to a regular table where, guess what, the table wobbled… for a place were you are paying more than $100 per person, I would have expected the server to address that. I had to grab a knife from the table next to us and wedge it under it myself.

So there it is, my 2-star rating is meant to tell you, this would be an OK place according to the experience we had, for a third of the price. At the cost that this experience came to us… this is definitely not a place we recommend, or a place we will be visiting again.

There was only 2 other parties/tables occupied in the relatively huge restaurant the entire time. So we can’t be the only ones not...

WARNINGWaiter committed credit card fraud after my visit to this establishment This was my first and probably last experience at this restaurant. My girlfriends and I made reservations for 22 October to celebrate one of their birthdays. Upon arrival it seemed as though our waiter was irritated with us, nonetheless I brushed it off and thought maybe I was just reading into it too much. After the waiter brought out our appetizer order he asked if we wanted anything to drink. We asked him for a cocktail menu again he just had a look of annoyance on his face with anything we responded with. After taking our drink order one of the other individuals in our party pointed out his impatience and irritation towards us and all of us stated we had. Upon bringing our meal he asked if we wanted cheese and pepper which we all stated yes. He proceeded to reach across the table with arms over our drinks to grind the cheese and pepper. Too lazy it seemed to walk around the table to each of our plates. Long story short Ricardo just did not seem to want to wait on our table and rushed us throughout our meal. As for the food itself, the appetizers we order were extremely salty (Wrapped Prosciutto and Fried Calamari). Everyone of our dishes was a very small serving and just drowned in sauce with very little taste (Capellini Basil Pesto with chicken, chicken parm, spaghetti, and chicken Florentine). Needless to say, with the extremely poor service and food that was not really worth the price we were not satisfied with our visit. However, this was not the worst part of the experience. A few days later I noticed that the charge to my credit card was more than my bill. Ricardo changed his tip and charged my credit card with the amount he seemed fit. Once I found out I called the restaurant and asked to speak with the manager, and the person who answered the phone (Mori) stated he was the manager. I explained to him the situation, and he was extremely difficult to deal with almost making it seem as though I was the problem. During our phone conversation, he told me he would refund me the tip that our waiter gave himself and that was it. He then asked me for my credit card info and when I told him I did not feel comfortable giving him my card given the fact that some of his employees committed credit card fraud. At that point I asked if I could speak with his boss and he stated I could leave my contact number for his boss (Mazi) to call me but that he wasn’t going to do anything outside of refunding me the tip Ricardo charged on my card. Again I told him I wasn’t going to give him my CC number and he stated “I can’t help you” and hung up on me. Caution you on your visit, whether this is a first and only time the wait staff as done this the fact that management took it so lightly is...