Acquolina — Restaurant in San Francisco

Came in about 3 weeks ago - a Wednesday evening. I asked the hostess how long the wait would be, she said that we would get the next table and gestured to the end of the large table in the middle of the restaurant where another party was finishing up & paying their bill. The wait across the street was ridiculous so that was fine with us! We went to the bar to wait. While we were at the bar, a different individual table in the corner opened up. Then another group walked in, that 4 top table in the corner was cleared off and the group that came in after us was seated there. Ummm, excuse me? When I inquired about it with the hostess her response was "I told you that you could have THIS table when it was available." No honey... I (unfortunately) have never been to Italy so I'm not sure how it works there, but in the US, the people that come in first get sat first. I don't give 2 sh!ts if the table that you thought was going to be available wasn't the one that opened up first, you need to seat the people that came in first at the first available table. No to mention that, unless you have a group of twelve people or something, that large table in the middle is TERRIBLE. The chairs are backless bar stools and totally uncomfortable. We were at one end, another party was at the other end, and they shoved a couple in between our groups, which there really wasn't room for. This other person's elbow was knocking into me literally the entire meal. Our table service was not great either. Our server was so rushed ... took our drink order and bolted away... dropped off our drinks and didn't even linger for 2 seconds to ask if we had questions about anything on the menu. I understand that it's a busy night but what the hell dude. The food was OK but not like the most amazing thing I had ever experienced, especially as far as pizza goes. I guess it was better than waiting for an hour at the place...

We came here for a family dinner for four people, we didnt consume any alcohol and got a couple appetizers and pasta dishes. The atmosphere is nice, hostess and bussers were very friendly. However server was SUBPAR at best… having worked in management for hospitality and food service i can say with confidence this was some of the worst service I've ever had… we waited 5 minutes for our server to even approach our table, he didn't greet us but just stood there with his tablet and stared at us until we took the initiative to speak.. we placed our appetizers, drinks and entrees all at once… after that interaction we never saw him again… never checked on us for the entire hour and a half we were there.. we ordered the table side truffle and mushroom pasta and unfortunately the mushrooms were cold and inedible, but again we had to reluctantly eat around it because our server never came to check on us! He never cleared any of the appetizer plates, never re-filled any drinks, never asked if our food was okay.. we had to ask a busser for the check when we finally gave up and decided to leave mid meal and the server just walked by and slammed the check on the table… and to our surprise a 20% gratuity was already included on our bill without any notice being posted anywhere on the menu, entrance or their website!! And on top of it a credit card fee was added even though we were paying cash… COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.. we agree that an automatic 18-20% gratuity is more than okay, but not for mediocre service like that… we had the credit card fee taken off and reluctantly paid the gratuity but it was just ridiculous.. if a restaurant is going to demand such fees then they should ensure that service...

Disappointing Experience: Rude Service and Undercooked Pasta

We usually go to Tony's Pizza in San Francisco, but this time someone recommended we try Acquolina. My friend and his girlfriend were visiting from Los Angeles, and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take them and give Acquolina a shot. We drove from Lodi, CA, more than 90 miles away, taking an hour and a half to reach the restaurant.

We ordered couple of appetizers, a couple of pizzas, and my daughter ordered a pasta for herself. First of all, all the food came at once - appetizers and main course. We were initially just having appetizers with drinks and then moved on to the main course. When my 10-year-old daughter tried her pasta, after a couple of bites, she said something didn't seem right. The pasta was way undercooked. She complained to us, and at that point, we put the pasta on our plates to try. She was right; it was undercooked.

We called our server to inform him that the pasta was undercooked. Without missing a beat, he said, "Now you guys are done with most of it," with no apology, nothing. He made us feel horrible and speechless, as if we were complaining to get free pasta. For reference, see the pictures of the pasta and decide if we were done with the portions.

We were so shocked and stressed by the server's rude and dismissive attitude that we just wrapped up the dinner, took our pizzas to go, paid our bill, and left. That server's actions made us feel belittled and disrespected. We and our visiting friends were in shock and did not have a good experience at all. Even the pizzas weren't that good. I am sorry, but we won't be returning...