Italian Prime at Salvatore's — Restaurant in Town of Lancaster

They did not have a table for one in the dining room so I sat at the bar. Promptly got a soda with lime, and a menu. Probably took about 5 minutes to look at the menu, decided, and waited nearly 15 minutes and finally asked for someone to take my order. They were pretty busy at the bar, however, at one point I watched a man with his mask below his nose carefully arrange and rearrange bottles on the corner of the bar preparation area. Never looked around to see if anybody needed any help. A regular nearby told me that he was the manager of the bar area. He was a little bit too far away for me to shout and make a spectacle. Should be five stars for the cost. $15 for a Vermont salad, which was quite good. Mixed greens, cranberries, candied pecans, very generous on both, sparsely garnished with shredded gorgonzola, nice light dressing. $15 for lobster bisque. It was probably about one cup, it was in one of those crooked looking bowls, and it sure didn't look like much sitting in there. It arrived lukewarm, almost cool. However it was delicious, and there were very generous chunks of delicious lobster. I was only half done with my salad, the bartender said my prime rib was ready, did I want him to keep it warm. I said yes please keep it warm. It did not arrive warm. $29 for 8 oz prime rib, medium rare came kind of lukewarm cool. The broccolini on the top was practically raw. I have had prime rib that is absolutely luscious melt in your mouth, and definitely warm. This was just ok. It came with a nice horseradish sauce. There was a lot of fat on it and the edges were quite tough. At one point I asked for another soda with lime and did not get one. So I asked again, and this time a tall one. I did not receive it. I had to ask again. The server was pleasant enough, but it looked as though everybody was getting tag teamed, there wasn't any one person that was specifically taking care of me. The total bill came to $64. I had a $50 gift card, so my balance was $14, but of course I left a tip of $12, roughly 20%. So the meal technically cost me $26. Frankly, I should have complained to management, and should have left a smaller tip. I just wasn't in the mood to complain or haggle. I had had a long day. The place is really spectacular, lavishly decorated, and that is putting it mildly. I feel as though they should maybe take some of that money and hire a few more people for the bar, and get some kind of a system that can keep a prime rib warm. And also make sure that soups come warm. They make a fanfare of giving you a placemat with silverware. I was there a few months ago in the dining room, and it was quite the show for the waitress to pour coffee from about 4 ft up. Oddly, the coffee wasn't that good. And, the food was not spectacular either. A couple sitting next to me asked me how I liked my meal, because they were considering ordering what I had. So I gave them the lowdown. Honestly, I'm moving cross country soon. But if I wasn't, I honestly don't think that I would bother to come back. Fanfare is fine, but warm food...

Almost every year since 2013, me and my wife have gone to Salvatores for our Anniversary. Its always been friendly and pleasant and a great experience. The place looks nice as it's freshly been updated. Until last night when we went. Last night was our 10yr.. we made rsvp's a few days ago, stated that it was our 10yr and then we went. Person at reception was pleasant, they sat us and another couple in some side room with a tv fireplace on the wall.. assumed it was for like a special occasion like an anniversary or something. We sat, got our drinks ordered were staring at the menu and then some woman with glasses(a manager?) was kinda rude, came in and told us we had to leave that room, as it was a private room.. this same woman and the person at the checkin desk, put us here.. now were being kicked out.. us and that other couple. They sat us in a different area.. had to redo the entire sitting experience.. she didn't offer any comps or anything to make up for that mixup she did with seating.. whatever.. we sat. Took like 15mins before that waiter came to us, ordered our food, and as were sitting there.. other couples came in and were seated, the waiter, bartender, other waiters randomly came up to these other couples and made some small talk.. hows ur night? what brings you in? things like that.. we didn't get any of that.. in fact.. when a fresh couple was seated next to us.. our waiter was overly chatty with them, us... nada. Even the other waiters sporadically came up to these other couples and made small talk. That woman with glasses even went around to couples and made small talk.. we had more talk with the person filling up the waters... Even at the end of the night, we got our bill and off we went.. waiter was pleasant but didnt make any extra effort. This was one of the worst experiences we had coming here.. It was no different than going to olive garden or carabbas but 3X the amount of money. For me and my wife we spent like $160 plus tip. Tip was supposed to be 18-22% or something.. normally I'll toss an extra $100 for the effort these people do.. not last night.. I gave like $25.

One last rant.. There's an episode on the Sopranos where Tony and Artie are at a fancy restaurant. Tony looks over and sees a guy wearing a baseball hat. He goes over and politely asked the guy to remove it as "they removed the hotdog stands".. point is.. WNY doesn't have alot of "fine dining" places.. They really need to start enforcing dress codes at this place. People in hats, people in cargo shorts, people in sports attire, people in flip flops and birkenstocks, people with holey jeans and rock concert shirts.. Like if your going to spend $100+ dress up and the waiters are wearing tuxedos... dress up! Its so annoying being dressed up, eating expensive food, and being seated the 2nd time mind you, next to people in beach ware.

Think next year, we'll try Russells. Think the Era of "salvatores" is over, it wasn't a $160 experience. Could have gone to Olive garden and have it be 3X cheaper. We...

First, I would like to qualify this review by saying that I have been to Salvatore’s numerous times for dinners and banquets which has spanned decades. The quality across the board is definitely not what it used to be. For the last two years, my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary here, and each time we left disappointed. Last year, and again last night, the service did not reflect the standard I would expect from this restaurant: we waited an hour for our main entree, guests who arrived after we did seemed to receive preferential service, our waiter “disappeared” for extended periods, and aside from taking our order and serving our dinners, we didn’t see our waiter again until we received our check. Two younger wait staff refilled our water glasses, cleared our table, and served our dessert. Nothing complimentary was given to us (staff were aware it was our anniversary) in sharp contrast to another guest who received a complimentary dessert by the same wait staff. I vividly recall seeing Russell himself, on many occasions, (and continues to do so at his restaurant, Russell’s Steaks, Chops, and More) walking amongst the tables asking guests for feedback. Why isn’t the current management doing the same thing here? Even a lower scale family restaurant/chain such as Texas Roadhouse has their managers seeking guest’s feedback. The high standard of service and quality of food begins with management. In terms of the food, the menu is streamlined with very few Italian choices, and our favorite appetizer, artichokes francais, are no longer on the menu. While our house and Caesar salads were good, the main entrees were fair. My husband ordered an upgraded prime rib ($16 extra for the upgrade), and it was fatty and tough. He didn’t want to send it back as we had already waited an hour for our meals to come. If measured, about a cup’s worth of what he trimmed off, remained on his plate. So much for the upgrade. My salmon was good, not a huge portion, but enough for me. It was served over a pea risotto, and broccoli rabe side. Last year, the risotto looked like risotto with peas in it and it was delicious. This year, it was green in color - looked and tasted like puréed peas, not risotto. My husband said it looked like split pea soup. While Salvatore’s is still considered an up scale restaurant, especially as reflected in the prices and ambience, the quality of food, and size of portions do not measure up. Our favorite part of the meal: salad, broccoli rabe, and mini dessert plate. We would have had a glass of wine to celebrate our anniversary, but the price of $15, while standard now, is high in my book. We could have gone anywhere to celebrate our special day, and gotten much better service, wine, and food for a fraction of the cost and time we spent here. Our reservations were at 6:30 - we didn’t get into our car until 8:50pm- nearly 2 1/2 hours for 2 of us. We’re sad to say that we won’t be going back to Salvatore’s- too bad- definitely not what...