Messina Modern Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Seattle

First time dining here. Traffic on Mercer St was horrible arriving so dropped my party off while I parked. Joined my party 15 mins later. They already had drinks so ordered mine and then food right after. Made the mistake of ordering our mains (pasta) at the same time as our appetizers because everything then arrived at the table essentially together-well actually we got our appetizers AFTER the pasta board arrived. However in a restaurant where staff is on it to control timing, or at least asks preferences, it shouldn’t be the customers job to control timing. I had one sip of wine after ordering, went essentially immediately to the bathroom (not gone terribly long!) and as I was returning to the table I could see from across the room that the pasta board was already served and the special presentation candle was already out by the time I sat down and the server gone, so missed it for a photo etc. I think this was a BIG miss from staff to bring so fast and when I was gone. And I HATE feeling rushed at an expensive nice meal especially when I’m not in a hurry. I would have liked to have enjoyed my wine, and then appetizer at least a few minutes in their own. We “lingered” the most when we were waiting for our plates to be cleared and pay the bill, etc. There are several bread options on the menu. What we ordered was really good (perfectly toasted & sweet special butter) as was the Brussel sprouts appetizer good. The pasta board was ample and overall decent flavors, but I’ve had better and with everything a la carte (nothing comes with the pasta and the bread was $12) a bit pricey also considering only 1 of 3 pastas had meat. Waiter was ok, but somewhat “flat” and sporadic service. Gave us the wrong bill (for another table) and host came a few times in his place. I felt he suddenly was most friendly at the end before I was signing bill—which I was shocked to see an automatic 22% service charge for 3 people with no prior mention whatsoever. I tip well when service is good and understand the “living wage” aspect. But this felt forced especially with then the mention of extra tip and tip chart on the bill which made me uncomfortable as I didn’t want to feel like it’s all the customer’s responsibility, especially when overall service was sub par. I left a small extra amount but didn’t like the way this was handled. Atmosphere was ok-would have preferred being seated in front window area-I think that’s nicer and cozier so request it. (We were in back area across from the bar.) This isn’t a place we will return to-too many issues that doesn’t make it a stand out repeater place for me. Didn’t check the reviews ahead unfortunately, but when I did after, can see why it averages only a 3.5 as I read others have same...

On Saturday, October 5th, my husband and I visited this restaurant for a 7:30 PM reservation, which I had made three days in advance. Upon our arrival, the restaurant was about three-quarters empty, and two other tables had just cleared. When we checked in with the manager, Jayson, I politely asked if we could be seated at one of the booths that had just been vacated. I was willing to wait until it was cleaned. However, Jayson immediately responded with, "No, I have many reservations tonight," and proceeded to seat us at a two-person tabletop.

Our waitress, Lina, soon arrived and took our drink and food orders. We had come specifically to try the flight of pasta, but I was concerned about where we could place the large pasta board on our small table. Lina kindly suggested moving us to a nearby four-person table to accommodate the dish, even asking if we would like to move immediately to settle in before the food arrived. We appreciated her attentiveness and agreed.

However, as soon as we moved, Jayson approached us again and informed us that we couldn’t sit at the new table because it was reserved. He then insisted we move to the back of the restaurant, where it was noticeably dimmer, and there was only one other party. I inquired about the difference between the four-top we were now seated at and the one in the back, but Jayson simply repeated, "This table is for a reservation." Despite explaining that we, too, had a reservation, he offered no clear explanation and kept insisting we move.

At this point, it was well past 8 PM, and the reserved party Jayson referenced had not yet arrived. His insistence that we were only allowed to sit in the back left me feeling judged and unwelcome. His refusal to seat his incoming reservation in the back, while pushing us there, felt discriminatory, especially since we were there to enjoy a special dish that required more space.

Overall, the experience was extremely disappointing. Jayson’s handling of the situation demonstrated poor communication and a lack of managerial skills. His unwillingness to accommodate our reasonable request and the way we were treated as paying customers left a very negative impression. This type of service is unacceptable, and it reflects poorly on the establishment as a whole.

Due to the poor treatment we received, we ultimately chose to leave without dining at the restaurant. We were looking forward to the experience but felt that the unprofessionalism we encountered was unacceptable. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this restaurant based on...

I was really excited about this place but sadly disappointed.

We arrived shortly after the restaurant opened for dinner, at our reservation time and were seated promptly by attentive hosts. The server arrived several minutes later to give us water and take our drink order. As I ordered a glass of wine he held his hand out to me expectantly so I would pass him my unfilled water glass. It took me a minute to realize what he wanted because I was asking him about drinks and the glass was not far from him. I felt like I had delayed his service to ME by not doing my part. We ordered ricotta and honey with bread and it came out a minute later. It consisted of several slices of heavily toasted - on one side - bread with a tiny scoop of ricotta. The menu implied it was ricotta with bread as vehicle but this was definitely bread with a wispy thought of ricotta. The meals came out a couple minutes later, complete with sparkler which was an interesting - maybe confusing - touch. Everything was covered with ground Parmesan not grated. This is may be just a preference thing but I found it odd paired with supposedly high end pasta. No garnish, no attention to presentation other than the sparkler. And it was not hot. It was medium warm at best, which was very disappointing given they had just opened for dinner service. The server never came back to ask how the meal was. However, about 15 minutes later, when our drinks were almost empty but we were still actively eating he came by to see if we were ready for boxes. We hadn’t even been there 30 minutes. We gently replied that we were still eating and he disappeared again, no offer for additional drinks or questions about how we liked anything. A few minutes later, we caught him as he walked by and asked him for another glass of wine. He looked at the empty glass, seemingly confused, and said yes but didn’t ask if anyone else at the table wanted anything. We definitely got the impression that we were fast approaching the end of our reserved time despite the restaurant being near empty and us being there under an hour. The check came with the 22% (pre-tax) service charge which I’m usually a proponent of, but the suggestion of a 30% gratuity on top felt out of touch with the reality of the place and the service they’re...