Rizotto Italian Eatery & Sweetery — Restaurant in Town of Amherst

First I have to start with the reason I felt a need to leave a review. Our server Haily W 🦋(based on recipt ) was really one of the best servers I've had in awhile. It was our first time there she was knowledgeable and helpful in our making a decision on menue. She was attentive and genuinely friendly with out being that disingenuous fake nice. By that I mean it felt like she genuinely wanted us to enjoy our visit that it wasn't just an act to get a good tip. Great profesional demeanor. They seem to offer a good rotation of specials on different days. lay outs slightly awkward but restaurant is well kept ,clean and elegant over all. Food prices and potions are fair especially for nicer dineing. I feel like if your looking for a home style Italian comfort food its gonna leave you disappointed, its too fancy in that regard so come here with an open mind not an exspectation of a typical Italian resturant meal. The cabanara was interesting I did like the pasta itself really fun choice of pasta and perfectly cooked just to me it felt over thought and missed the heart of the dish but I came with the mind set of simple Italian comfort food. My spouce thought the parm was mediocre i thought it was pretty decent I prefered their meal to mine it was a good cut and juicey, just again we went exspecting comfort food. I do have to say it seems like they use good quality ingredients and i get the impression much of its made in house from scratch. Based on service and ambience I will definitely come back to try something else in a different mind set, the meat dishes looked really good,the table next to us seemed very happy with theirs, and based on our meals I can see where the kitchen talents would complement those dishes well. If your looking for a homie typical authentic Italian comfort food type meal its not my first suggestion that's not what this is but if your looking for a realy nice restaurant and a great exspence they knocked it out of the park on that...

On a Friday night, there was no wait, and had 2 other tables occupied. However, I did wait for 5 minutes before I was seated. There wasn't a host, and the only person who saw me was the one waitress working. I was hoping she would notify someone to come seat us. After watching her go in and out of the kitchen, I finally walked to the bar, and notified the bartender that we have been waiting to be seated.

2.The complimentary bread came with three condiment. I have no clue what they were because they were not described to us. We spent the 25 minutes waiting for our entree deciphering what we were eating.

The Seafood Gauzzetto I ordered, per the menu, comes with spaghetti. The kitchen had forgotten it. I was surprised no one caught this mistake before I was given my plate, a pasta dish....missing...pasta!! The waitress was very nice and quickly fixed the mistake. She brought it back into the kitchen and they added the spaghetti to the plate.

Do NOT order the $38.00 ribeye. It tasted weird and just wrong. We thought it was the marinate. We asked the kitchen how it was cooked, and was told it was just salt pepper and olive oil. It is either spoiled meat, OR a very very very off putting olive oil. The meat did not taste sour, but almost fermented, comparable to asian fish sauce. The potatoes were described as "garlic parm potatoes". I did not see or taste any, garlic, parm, or even salt. This dish was an absolute disappointment.

The waitress was extremely nice and very helpful with questions I had. Though, for an atmosphere like Rizotto, I would expect the servers to know the menu better. I noticed her check the menu to see if my seafood pasta dish came with spaghetti, and having to go back to the kitchen to ask about the steak.

I do not recommend this...

I went for Valentine’s Day and it was underwhelming. Once we sat down, the server was distracted that we didn’t have water that she forgot to ask for our drink orders before we ordered the food. We ordered everything at once, which I found to be backwards. The complimentary bread was delicious and warm. The lobster bisque was the best part of the main meal and that was the appetizer. The salad my boyfriend ordered was okay.

We didn’t get our drinks until after our appetizer plates were taken away. This was probably about 40 minutes after we ordered.I don’t normally ask for things at restaurants but had to since the drinks still haven’t arrived.

The main dishes were okay. They both had scolding hot plates but the food itself was lukewarm at best. This alone wasn’t pleasant to begin with. I got the shrimp and scallop risotto and my boyfriend got the brisket. Both lacked flavor. The shrimp and scallops didn’t taste like much and were soberly under seasoned. The shrimp were rubbery and almost overcooked. The brisket was well cooked but again, under seasoned. The brisket didn’t have enough sauce to account for the dryness. And the mashed potatoes were more of a garnish than a part of the meal.

The desserts were also just okay. The snickers cheesecake had a thick layer of chocolate on top. It was good though. The tiramisu was okay. It had a hint of staleness to it. I couldn’t tell if it was the cocoa powder or the actual cake inside the dessert.

My boyfriend and I both left dissatisfied and disappointed.

I will say that I understand it was Valentine’s Day and the limited menu changes the experience along with how busy it was. But it wasn’t the best experience I’ve had for a...