La Rustica — Restaurant in Seattle

It is so disappointing to write a 2-star review because the food was great. That said, the service at the end was one of the worst experiences I’ve had at a restaurant and unless something is done we will not be returning.

Our party of 4 arrived for dinner on a Sunday evening and were given two options for seating, one indoor and one outdoor. We chose indoor. At no point did anyone notify us of any sort of time limit for our stay.

We ordered a bottle of wine and then our entrees. A little after we finished our salads our server informed us that there were three tables ahead of us waiting on entrees so it would be a little bit until we’d be served. No problem, we were in no rush and were enjoying the experience. At some point we ordered another bottle of wine. After dinner we were offered dessert and we ordered two dishes to share.

At this point unfortunately our otherwise great experience became negative. At one point after we had paid but still had dessert on the table and wine in our glasses, our server informed us that another party was waiting for our table and asked us to hurry up and leave. We politely said we weren’t finished with our dessert and wine.

A short time later another server tried to come and take our dessert dishes though we hadn’t finished. Once we finished our food and drink (probably within 10-15 minutes of initially being asked to leave; we weren’t trying to stay any longer than it would take to finish our meal), my husband got up to use the restroom. A different server asked us again to please leave. At that moment my husband came back from the bathroom and I said we were just waiting for him and we were ready to go.

My husband spoke to the owner afterward to express disappointment at our treatment and she was very defensive. She said we’d stayed longer than 90 minutes (again, no one informed us we were on a time limit) to which my husband reminded her that the restaurant took longer than usual to deliver our entrees. She eventually admitted that they are testing out a new reservation system which lead to them needing our table at a specific time, but never once apologized to my husband or acted like it was anything other than our fault for staying “too long.” Plenty of restaurants handle reservations without having to kick out existing diners.

I want to emphasize again that we were consuming product that we purchased the entire time (with the exception of my husband using the restroom at the end). We were eating and drinking at what I consider a perfectly normal pace; none of us have any desire to overstay our welcome at a restaurant. I wonder what would have happened if we had asked to order another bottle of wine before paying. Would be have been told no and that we’d already been there too long?

This experience left a really bad taste in our mouths. The meal wasn’t cheap, so to be rushed out while we still have food and drinks is so unacceptable. It’s unfortunate because during the meal my husband and I were saying how we’d definitely come back here for special occasions, but after this we have no desire to return. I just hope they can learn from this and treat customers with more respect...

I picked this place for my friend's birthday because it was a place we both hadn't tried and was on the water. I booked a reservation in advance and on their website they asked if it was a special occasion, I said it was my friend's birthday. When I arrived, the young, blonde hostess was on the phone and even though she saw me, continued her conversation for onwards of 5 minutes before saying; "Ok I have to go," which to me, told me this was not a customer on the other line. I got there 15 minutes early and they said they don't seat anyone until the whole party is there. I understand it's a small place but there was ample table availability and I was planning to put in an order for both food and alcohol while I waited on my friend but they still refused. I asked them if there was a place nearby where I could wait and maybe grab a drink and she said she didn't know. When my (disabled) friend arrived they took us to a table that required raised steps and was in a VERY cramped and dark corner. I had to insist twice that my friend could not make the 2 steps and even if she could, she could not be able to maneuver into the corner they were trying to cram us in. They decided to put us in the walkway between the kitchen and in front of the steps, where I got to watch 2 other guests trip over while being seated because the hosts couldn't be bothered to say something as simple as; 'mind the steps.' I also couldn't help but notice the 2 top that came in without a reservation right before my friend arrived that were given the seaside table. I will say that the saving grace of the evening was our server Max who was charismatic, joked with us, and regularly checked in. When I mentioned to Max that it was her birthday he seemed completely unaware which gave me the understanding that they're asking on their website if it's a special occasion, but they don't actually care enough to tell the staff. My friend loved her entree, mine was alright. I will also mention that the manager did stop by 1 time and asked if everything was ok, which we both said yes because my friend was having a good time and I had not yet told her what had happened before she arrived. My friend ordered the only dairy free dessert (dietary restriction) which was supposed to be a crisp cobbler but was actually a sopping, soggy mess that tasted like slimy oatmeal. She asked them if they could broil it or take a torch to it because it should have a crisp top to it, they told us that was impossible because they "just throw it in the microwave" (yes that is an exact quote). We sent the dessert back and went somewhere else but for the price vs customer service experience, I have to say we will never be...

Food was delicious but the service was horrible. The staff rushed our entire dinner and the dark hair woman was extremely rude. She rushed through the menu and expected us to catch a word that she said. When asked to repeat anything she said or any recommendations on specific dishes on the menu, she appeared very irritable to point where it was an obvious distraction to our whole overall dinner experience. This was our first time and will definitely be our LAST. We were so uncomfortable with the servers rushing us to order our food that we caught ourselves rushing our entire dinner experience. We definitely was treated unfairly compared to the other parties. We truly believe it might be due to our age because the only difference we can depict was the age difference. So if you are younger and want to try out some good Italian food with nice patient service from the waiter and the person in charge of seating then, avoid this restaurant or order TO-GO. Lastly, I would NOT recommend purchasing drinks here. We had ordered a bottle of wine that was told to guarantee us 6 glasses of wine when in reality we got about 4 glasses of wine. Instead of giving us the bottle of wine and allowing us to pour the drinks ourselves, the server tried to disguise the cheated amount of wine given by giving us a small pitcher with the some of the wine in it ( not the full bottle amount/ "6 glasses" the server described). She kept filling our glasses back up without even asking for our permission and when our glasses was not even half empty. It was as if she was not only trying to rush our entire dinner experience that we spent over $$$ for but, she had also tried to trick us into thinking we received the full amount of drinks we paid for (1 bottle of wine/ 6 glasses) when in actuality we were probably given less than half of the bottle. Although, the food was the only good experience, despite the fact that the waiter had us feeling like we had to rush eating, this horrible experience left such a disgusting taste in my mouth that I would NEVER return to this restaurant ever again. I will also be sure to let everyone know about this AWFUL experience and highly recommend them to AVOID...