Rita Cantina — Restaurant in Town of East Hampton

Our dinner at Rita Cantina was such a pleasant surprise and a highlight of our fall trip to the Hamptons. Our son and his partner have a new farm in East Hampton (Feathertop Farm), and we frequently visit them. We often stay in the Springs and have passed Rita Cantina many times, but never considered eating there. Our motivation to check it out this time was to eat at and support a restaurant that uses farm-fresh produce from Feathertop Farm, and the entire experience exceeded our expectations - eating outdoors with our well-behaved dog, excellent service, and fantastic food (the mushroom quesadillas were a favorite). However, the highlight of our evening was enjoying a few special custom-made dishes, made with ingredients from the farm and served by the chef. We greatly appreciate this special touch, and it was such a proud parent moment for us. Thank you, Rita Cantina, for supporting the farm-to-table movement, young farmers, and the local agriculture community. We will be sure to be back and recommend Rita...

Honestly, this review isn't even about the food, which we thought was generally ok but lacked a lot of flavor in some dishes such as the cauliflower carnitas.

A bone to pick with our waiter though... I was ordering a drink and asked if they had Corona. Our waiter replied "nope," didn't say anything after, and then when I asked what else they had, she blankly replied "we have a menu, you can look at it, there's a list of beers." After that, she was terse, rude, and completely unengaged for the duration of our meal ordering.

After that, the diners next to us mentioned that "they flicked a cockroach" after being startled by it and that it might be crawling under our table. Despite whether or not this was true, our waiter didn't seem to care.

For the record, this is not the type of service that anyone should pay for...we had been once and while the food then wasn't memorable, we came back because we enjoyed the atmosphere. But the service this time was so strange, and so uncomfortably awkward/rude that this will...

We arrived for a 5:30 reservation. WE were greeted by an uninterested maitre d and quickly shown to a tiny table in the corner. Our waitress was indifferent, unfriendly, and uninterested. Was very terse when we asked if anything came with the tacos and how many were included. "nothing and 1" was her reply. Then turned around and was very friendly to the 2 young men at the table next to us (who had apparently ordered the 2 most expensive things on the menu).

the service was quick... almost hurried, no time for lingering a bit. The restaurant was noisy, some kids (to be expected at that time) and very crowded. The food was decent. If your child is a picky eater... not any options for them. Our check was slapped down with no comments from the waitress. As we left the restaurant, our waitress was in a major liplock with one of the young men that had been sitting next to us. Not very professional.

I have been going to this location for many years. That...