La Zaza Trattoria — Restaurant in St. Charles

Long post!

Last night at Zaza’s we had an unfortunately very bad experience. I have been a loyal patron of the restaurant for 25 years with probably more than 100 visits. It has been one of my favorite restaurants with so many great memories.

My sister and her husband joined us for dinner and drinks prior to a concert, it was their first time there. We spent $75 at the bar then were seated. When we ordered our food my sister asked our server if we could split checks and she bluntly responded “we don’t do that and it says so on the menu”. My sister hadn’t seen that on the menu otherwise she wouldn’t have asked.

Then we ordered two appetizers. My brother in law had a late lunch and wasn’t too hungry. He wanted fried calamari, which he ate most of, basically as his entree. When we ordered dinner we told my sister the chicken dish she wanted was quite large and we wouldn’t be able to take leftovers home with us. She ordered the chicken and asked for a side plate to share a little with her husband. The server said they charge a “plate splitting fee of $5 and it says so on their menu”. *

*Now TYPICALLY in a restaurant if you split a plate with an extra fee charged, the kitchen does it for you and you typically get a slightly overall larger portion. It’s more work for the kitchen too. I definitely understand a split/share fee in high end restaurants where it is difficult to get a reservation.

My sister responded ok then don’t bring me a side plate, to which the server rolled her eyes. This must have triggered the “share plate police”. Never did we all discuss let’s save money and not get that 4th entree for Mike…he simply didn’t want to be wasteful.

We were brought our delicious entrees and Mike had a few bites of my sisters food and each of us took a taste of all three entrees.

When we were presented with our bill we observed a $5 “share plate charge”. We asked the server to remove it and were told no, it’s their policy. We asked to speak to the manager. She bluntly said “our manager is the one who told me to charge you because he was watching your table and saw you sharing the food”. I mean how WEIRD is that?!? It made us so uncomfortable as if we were trying to pull a fast one on them and they caught us in the act! 😂😒

My husband went to speak with Dino (manager/owner). My husband politely asked Dino about the charge to which he replied “it’s our policy and I have to protect the restaurant”. Further, my husband said “but you didn’t split the plate up for them, why are you charging this fee? We also ordered 2 appetizers, not just 3 entrees” Dino responded “You didn’t ASK US to split it, or we would have. You shared it though so we have to charge the fee.” He also said ordering 2 appetizers didn’t matter or change things, Mike had been seen eating some of the entree. 😳

How about a “I’ll reverse it this time as a courtesy but please know in the future this is what we do”. He honestly didn’t seem to care that we were dissatisfied - which was completely shocking to us based on all of our prior interactions with him.

Note: I personally hadn’t experienced this share policy at Zaza’s prior to last night. It’s the first time we’ve dined with someone who didn’t order an entree of their own.

To have managers monitoring/stalking tables to see if their guests are sharing an entree feels intrusive and like we were being nickled and dimed. Our table spent almost $300 in this restaurant, and it really wasn’t about an additional $5 it was about the way we were spoken to and treated. We won’t be...

Sunday June 18, 2023 Father’s Day My son made a 6 pm reservation for my wife, i and him to celebrate Father’s Day. It was the first time at La Za Za for us. We checked in at 5:50 and were immediately seated at an outdoor table. Lisa our server was at our table within 1 minute of being seated to take our drink orders. Since we were having wine with dinner, we all had sparkling water. We were going to have a gluten free pizza as an appetizer, but Lisa promptly returned and told us that us that was not available. She made a couple of recommendations and we selected the Melanzine Griglia, egg plant stuffed with ricotta, mozzarella & parmigiana cheeses and topped with a tomato basil sauce and mozzarella cheese. I can no longer say I don’t like egg plant, it was fantastic! There was also a bread basket with a bowl of salsa for dipping. We all ordered a glass of Justin Cabernet wine that Lisa recommended and it was quite nice. For entrees my wife ordered the 8 oz Filet with roasted potatoes and fresh mixed vegetables. Lisa expertly described the options for how well done the Filet could be cooked. My wife choose medium well and it was cooked exactly as she wanted. My son ordered the 16 oz Ribeye special, also with roasted potatoes and fresh mixed vegetables. I ordered the Vitello Sassi, pan roasted veal with sautéed mushrooms, artichoke hearts & garlic in a light brandy sauce with a side of linguini. All of these ingredients blended together perfectly. I am a big fan of artichoke hearts and in this case they were the best I had ever had. I would give them 6 or 7 stars if that was an option. For dessert my wife was stuffed and passed. My son & I both had the tiramisu and it was great. I want to highlight our server, Lisa. She had a great personality and talked to us for several minutes about non-food topics. She knew the menu very well and made great recommendations. She checked on us frequently so we were never waiting or wanting for anything. Finally, La Za Za is expensive, at least to my family. Plan on spending a Benjamin ($100) per person if you get a cocktail, appetizer, wine, entree, dessert and coffee. So La Za Za will be reserved for 2 or 3 special occasions per year. I’ll definitely look forward to them. In conclusion, I highly recommend La Za Za for a fabulous dining experience and without reservation give...

Almost 5 stars, Ill get to why not 5 later. From front desk to the wait staff our experience was warm and welcoming, my husband is disabled and the young lady at the hostess stand was kind enough to walk us around so my husband could avoid a step. Our waitress was very friendly, personable and knowledgeable. We dont drink and its always a crap shoot for NA drinks, there were 4 choices and all were fantastic, we had the shrimp scampi for appetizers and the flavour was out of this world delicious. For mains we had the specials on the wait persons recommendation, my husband had the Halibut and I had the Wagyu steak. A little background before everyone jumps down my throat for my issues with the wagyu. I worked in a Pathology Lab, having worked there, I cannot eat rare meat, the give is the same, and other visuals are too similar. I asked knowing most chefs, either wont or cant do this cut well done, our waitress said it was not an issue, but it was not well done when I received it, it was med rare. I ate around the outside for the most cooked parts, but it was inedible for me. I would have been fine if I was told well done was not possible or it would be a wait, I was not told anything. Luckily my husband was very hungry and ate mine, he also said his Halibut was excellent. I did not complain or send it back because I half expected this and the dinner crowd was coming in, so the kitchen would not have time for this. Would we go back, probably, but I learned my lesson and wont order any beef dish. I had to cook myself some dinner after because I was starving by the time we got home. This is what stopped me from giving 5 stars, if the waitress had said something I would have not ordered the wagyu and ordered a different dish, spending money on a dish I could not eat and having to cook when I got home-we go out on a Saturday so I can have a break from cooking M-F was the only thing that stopped me from giving 5 stars. Everything else with our...