Assaggio Ristorante — Restaurant in Seattle

On September 20, 2024, my friends and I dined at Assaggio Ristorante in downtown Seattle while traveling. Our party consisted of 4 people—3 adults and 1 child. As the only Asians in the restaurant, we appreciated the host’s thoughtfulness in providing a booth table to accommodate the child. Unfortunately, our dining experience, and ultimately our trip, was ruined by the behavior of our server.

While serving other tables, the server was sociable and engaged in conversation with customers, but he barely interacted with us. During the entire one-hour dining experience, he asked about our food only once. He simply took our order, brought the plates, and later, the bill. His demeanor toward us felt noticeably different compared to how he treated the other customers. Still, we decided not to let it affect our meal.

When we received the bill, we were surprised to see a 20% gratuity charge automatically included, which was reflected in the total amount. We asked the server why the gratuity was included and whether it was restaurant policy. He claimed that all restaurants near the waterfront in Seattle automatically charge gratuity. This baffled us, as we frequent Seattle and had never encountered this before without prior notice. I also pointed out that the table next to us was writing down their own tip and signing the receipt. The server responded, “Oh, that man was just signing.” He then said, “I can reduce the amount of gratuity for you if you want,” as if he was doing us a favor. He took the bill and the credit card and brought back a new bill without the gratuity and the transaction receipt.

After considering it further, we ended up tipping anyway, despite the poor service. We felt pressured to do so.

Upon leaving, we asked the host if the restaurant charged auto gratuity. The host confirmed that they did not. He even showed us our adjusted bill and said, “Look, you weren’t charged.” We then showed him the original bill we had taken a photo of. The host apologized, but I pointed out that it should be the server apologizing. The server offered a weak “sorry.” I asked why he had lied, and he claimed it was a mistake. I told him it was a deliberate lie and that he had treated us differently from other customers. He replied, “So I said sorry, there is nothing more I can do.”

We left feeling uncomfortable, as the server had added the gratuity without notice, seemingly hoping we wouldn’t question it or would pay it without noticing. Given that we were the only Asian customers and no other table seemed to face this issue, we couldn’t help but feel his actions were racially motivated. As immigrants, we are unfortunately accustomed to subtle discrimination, but this incident felt like blatant racial discrimination. We’ve heard of similar stories online, where Asian customers were automatically charged gratuity due to stereotypes that Asians don’t tip well. Experiencing it ourselves while on a trip was both stunning and saddening.

We did not dine there for free; we paid for our meal just like everyone else. The only difference between us and the other customers was the color of our skin, and that alone does not justify the server’s actions. It’s unacceptable for the server to lie to our faces and then dismiss it as a simple mistake. People who discriminate based on race will never understand the pain and sadness of being treated differently for something as simple as skin color or language.

I hope this account helps prevent further racial discrimination at Assaggio Ristorante and ensures that all customers are treated equally and...

Harsh review but man these folks missed the mark BIG TIME! Service was super rushed and aloof…TIP for the service: if you want to get off work before 10pm, don’t accept an 8:30 reservation!

We were seated and immediately I knew this place was going to be sub par. First clue: the specials and drinks list was on a photocopied piece of paper, stained with oil and crinkled from reuse. Definitely no attention to detail.

We ordered wine and bread for the table expecting to have a leisurely drink before ordering. Second clue: The waiter wanted our dinner order at the same time. Ok, here we go…I just knew it was going to be awful. I even turned to my husband and said, how much you want to bet that wine, bread and entree all arrive at the same time? He laughed and agreed, “yeah let’s go”. I hesitated for a second and then it was too late.

Third clue: Bread comes and it’s the heels of some day old loaf and the funkiest oil with dark brown cloves of over roasted garlic and rock hard sun dried tomato floating in the oil…supposedly a house made specialty. No thank you, We sent it back wondering, how do you fail at bread?

Then the entrees arrive within a minute of the bread and wine and the chicken parmigiana was unnecessarily huge, no flavour and tasted like it was anything but fresh. Underneath that bland tomato sauce (couldn’t even call it marinara) was a super soggy baseball glove sized piece of soggy breaded chicken. All the Parmesan in the world couldn’t fix it! My 14 year old said, “is that a processed cheese slice on top of the chicken? Gross”. So even a 14 year old can detect the lack of care and quality ingredients in their dish.

My gemelli was super salty and tasted like bottled Alfredo that had been reduced from being reheated so many times that it was gluey and salty. I picked out a few pieces of grey prosciutto chunks that were so old it had oxidized and pushed them to the side of the plate.

Waiter noticed we didn’t eat even 1/4 of our meals but wasn’t too interested in our feedback. He apologized and went to print our bill. We were charged for everything…even the stale bread!

I don’t know how on earth this place can masquerade as quality Italian dining. Seattle has so much more to offer. I’m inclined to think they buy their 5 star reviews. You’d be better off at the Cheesecake Factory or Olive Garden and that’s not...

My girlfriend and I were very excited to try this place for the first time, it was a special date night for us and we rarely get the opportunity to go out to a nice restaurant, so after hours of going back and forth, we settled on assaggio. I say this as kindly as possible - the price was not equal to the quality of food that was served and the service. I was looking forward to trying the risotto (with beef, asparagus, mushrooms), but was disappointed when I took a bite. The beef was incredibly over cooked & chewy. The mushrooms were good. But overall my meal was lacking in flavor and the texture was off putting. I wish it was just the food that was disappointing but I was also dissatisfied with the service. Our server took a long time to take our order, which is usually okay, we both work in the industry so we’re understanding when it comes to waiting, but given that our appetizer (the caprese) looked (and tasted) like something I could have thrown together in my kitchen in 1 minute, we were ready to order our meals. We finally ordered, got our food, and finished them, even though we were disappointed with the quality. We stacked our plates and silverware to signal to the waiter that we were ready for our check. He came by with dessert menus, and even though we weren’t planning on getting dessert, especially after an expensive & underwhelming meal, I still was curious to see what kind of Italian desserts were offered. We said we were not getting dessert but would like the check, and the server quickly snatched the dessert menu out of my hands and walked off without saying a word, which we found very rude. When he dropped off the check, my girlfriend already had her card in her hand ready to pay but he ignored that and set down the bill and walked away. Again, that’s okay, we both know you have other guests to attend to. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And our card remained untouched on top of our bill for over 20 minutes. Finally we decided to leave cash on the table since it was obvious he wasn’t come back for our card anytime soon. Overall I am disappointed by this dining experience. I hate to leave negative reviews, but dining here left us with a sour feeling. I hope that this can spark some sort of change in...