Brunello Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Seattle

I really do not like to write bad reviews because I come from a family of restaurateurs and artisans, and I know how much a poor customer experience can hurt a small restaurant.

However, this place needs to get called out for their atrocious behavior.

A few months ago, the food at Brunello's used to be fantastic. Now it struggles just to be mediocre.

There clearly must have been a change in ownership because whoever is running this place now is simply liquidating all of the goodwill Brunello's built by ripping off unsuspecting loyal customers.

The food we were served on our last and final visit to Brunello's was worse than what you would be served at an Applebee's-- except three times more expensive.

The catastrophe started when we 'upgraded' the complimentary bread to garlic bread, which was very hard, salty, greasy, and just absolutely stale-- which is funny because the bar to achieve decent garlic bread is set quite low. In fact, my standards for garlic bread are so low, I have eaten garlic bread I've dropped on the kitchen floor and dusted off-- and that bread I dropped still tasted far better than anything we were served at Brunello's.

We told the very nice waitress, Liza, in a kind and non-accusatory manner, that we did not like the garlic bread. She apologized as she removed the plate of mostly uneaten bread but offered no remedy. We were still charged $8 for the mummified hockey pucks they served us, which they must have charged us to cover the cost of digging them out from that space in between the kitchen wall and the oven.

We should have all just left the restaurant then, but instead, we remained naively optimistic because that's just the type of people we are.

Thus, we foolishly put in our orders and received:

Four cans of supermarket arranciata, which the waitress all dropped on the floor. Now, accidents happen and as long as nobody is hurt we don't really mind. However, the waitress did not even replace them with new ones and instead proceeded to immediately open the shaken cans and spill the better part of two cans on the floor while we watched in bewilderment. She would not stop until my sweetheart told her kindly he'd take over pouring the other two cans and not to worry. We were still charged full price for all four cans, even though most spilled on the floor. $20.

Two bland and overcooked salmon picatta, with no capers (yes, you read that right, a picatta with no capers) and a side of boiled bland linguine noodles. $90.

One gummy and flavorless risotto paella, crowned with an overcooked sad piece of last week's unsold salmon. $55.

One Gamberi Fiorentina-- which was not even what I ordered nor what was described on their menu. Instead, it was more boiled bland linguine noodles dressed with a flavorless sauce and sad regular-sized overcooked shrimps on the side. $27.

Total: $220.57

We hard passed on dessert, which we used to absolutely LOVE and used to consider the highlight of any visit to Brunello's. We were just too afraid of what else they would dig out from Brunello's grave and serve to us with a shameless smile.

This fiasco cost us $240.57 because my kind-hearted darling, who betters the entire world merely by existing, still tipped these jackals $20.

Save your money and your time. The only thing to savor at Brunello's is the ghost of meals past, which is begging to be exorcised.

Shame on all of you-- even you, Liza-- for ripping your community off. The community that made you...

My wife and I decided on this place out of 3 possibilities within a five mile radius of Ravenna... And overall, we're happy we did! They have outdoor seating, and it being a mid-August evening we chose to utilize it. We chose a seat neat to the firepit, which wasn't lit, but I could imagine on cooler evenings it'd be quite pleasurable. Even though it's situated on the northern section or Roosevelt, the traffic noise wasn't at all distracting, nor did it take away from the general ambiance. As daylight began to fade into dusk, you notice the string lights connected above, which we found subtle and pleasing. The food was fantastic! I'm not exactly sure what appitizer salad my wife ordered but she enjoyed it. For our entree's, I ordered the penne vodka and my wife had the chicken picada with pasta. Both were what we expected and very good. The pasta was done perfectly as was the sauce. I do like the fact that they add a tad more sauce than a lot of traditional places under the pretence that Americans over-sauce everything, which is true, but I feel the sauce was perfect here. The service was a tad slow this particular evening, but my wife and I have service industry backgrounds and are understanding on such occasions. Also, we ordered a bottle of Preseco which was listed at $30, and instead of telling us they were out, they instead brought us a bottle of Brut, which was more expensive, and didn't make us aware of this until they were literally pouring out glasses, so we really had no choice, even though we would've been, and were, fine with it. Also, I had ordered the soup as an appetizer and it was forgotten, then brought out when we were almost done with our entree's, so I chose to pack it up to take home. That being said, without provocation, the server brought us a piece of their amazing Tiramisu at no charge, as well as not charging us for the soup. That, and the servers genuinely apologetic demeanor were more than enough to make the entire evening very enjoyable! We will definitely be dining...

Excellent restaurant. A neighborhood gem - inviting atmosphere that is somehow elegant and casual at the same time. Thoughtful menu with a host of Italian favorites and a well-composed wine list - tilted towards Italian - at a variety of double-digit price points...including wines starting at $30 which are becoming increasingly scarce at restaurants these days.

Had the Seattle Restaurant Week menu. Two magnificent meatballs in an extremely tasty sauce, which the gratis house bread was useful in sopping up. Chicken Marsala for the main was tender, well prepared and generously sized, and waiter was kind enough to honor my request for a pasta side at only a small up-charge. The sweet, mushroomy sauce was divine. Closed with the Limoncello cake, which was good albeit somewhat unremarkable.

Excellent service. Waiter even honored our request for a small portion of risotto for my one year-old grandson, who uses his hands to feed himself ‘caveman style’ and struggles with slippery buttered noodles, which they also kindly offered. He loved it, and sends his compliments to the chef!

A wonderful evening was had by all. Highly...