Gabriella Café — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

My wife and I had come to see our daughter, who is attending UCSC for the weekend for her birthday. We were looking for an Italian place for dinner and Gabriella's was highly recommended on Open Table. So I made a reservation for 6:30 for 4 of us. The place is located in Downtown Santa Cruz in a very quaint, and small Spanish style building. We arrived promptly at 6:30 and were greeted by the host, whose name I believe, was David. He offered us a table near the entrance and across from the host station. As this was at a busy area and as I looked around, i saw two other tables for 4 in the room. I asked David if we could sit at the table furtherest away from the front door. David said someone had already requested the furthest table but also did not offer us the other table which was also available. I did not want to be pushy and accepted the table offered near the door. However, for the next hour I observed who had come in and where they were seated. Another foursome came in about 20 minutes after we were seated and were seated at the alternate table (Not the furthest table from the door). After an hour and 10 minutes, and after we had finished our appetizers, main course, dessert and coffee, the furthest table remained unoccupied. When our bill came, I observed a threesome, with no reservations came in and David seated them at the table I had requested. After paying our bill and as we were leaving, I turned to David and asked him the time for which the threesome at the furthest table had made their reservations? Obviously forgetting what he had said to me, he said, "they just came in." I thereupon reminded him that, "I had asked for that table an hour and 10 minutes ago; I also told him that the service was very nice and the food was delicious............but I would never return to his restaurant again." I then walked out. Honestly, I was born in India and grew up in San Francisco. I generally have NEVER felt discriminated in the US but as I walked out of this restaurant, I felt like I had been discriminated against. It is my opinion that my hard earned dollars can be spent at any wonderful restaurant in Northern California and I do not need to spend them at a place where either I am discriminated against or the host/owner does not have the common courtesy to accommodate a guest. I expect to come to Santa Cruz for many more years but certainly feel no obligation to patronize Gabriella...

Mixed.

The food was good. The ambiance quite nice.

However, our experience was marred by a couple issues.

The host failed to honor the reservation for a specific table which my date had made, well in advance. (This was very important to her) I could understand the mistake, but afterward, he did not seem to care, and showed very lackluster inclination to remedy the situation. Unconcerned with what we had been looking for, attempting to seat us at a mediocre table without even looking around.

Fortunately, another hostess/server took the time to find us a table that matched our desire.

The food was good, and perhaps would be better in hindsight, if I were not so very conflicted due to other parts of my experience.

After we were seated, we dined, I have neither complaint about food, nor wine.

My concern actually manifested after my visit.

When the bill came, I tipped 20%, as is my common practice. I even wrote it down on my receipt, I suppose I'm sort of old school that way.

A couple days later, my credit card company informed me that I had in fact left a very generous tip at Gabriella's, NEARLY DOUBLE what I had written. As it stands, I have no proof that this was intentional, given the specific numbers though, it's highly unlikely that it took place by accident.

I did attempt to call them to rectify the situation, and the phone was answered, by the party that would have potentially made the alteration, our server.

I found it awkward, and given the relatively small amount of money involved. (

We made reservations for 2 for 6:00. We arrived at 6:05 to be seated. I had to squeeze behind an iron gate and the corner of the table for my seat on the patio. After 20 min, we were finally asked what we'd like to drink and order. Since it was Restaurant Week, there was a prefix menu. We were never served the focaccia. Our starter (salad and brussel sprouts) was really delicious. We were served this about 6:40. A busser came by and took our starter plates which meant at that point, we had only been visited twice. We were starting to get nervous about time because we had to be at the civic by 7:30. By 7:15, with no main dish or communication from anyone, we flagged down our server and explained that we needed the rest of the meal boxed up and the check so we could go. We were delivered a bag with our mains and dessert by 7:25. What's kind of funny is Gabriella's menu notes at the bottom there is a time limit placed on tables of 2. You can be there a max of 90 min. We only got our main meal at almost 90 min of sitting there. Another amusing thing is the owner was there the whole time. We never once got an apology for how long it was taking to get any food or service. All the tables around us, it was the same situation. As far as I could tell, there was one server, one busser, the owner, and one other staff person with unknown responsibilities. Why cram so many tables in this tiny restaurant if you can't serve them all? We both were afraid to have our elbows out because it was like being on an airplane--so tight. Refuse to sit at the table on the patio behind the gate--so akward. Hire more staff. And communicate with your staff. Sigh. We have great date night memories here, but we won't be back until they scale back the tables or...