Terra Rustica Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Town of Ossining

We had lunch reservations around 2pm for Mother's day a few weeks back. When we got inside, there were quite a few people waiting; many of them with reservations. It was really clear the restaurant was in the weeds bad. There wasn't even anyone at the host desk. When she came around you could tell she was juggling 3 different roles; she was very kind though. There should have been at least 2 hosts that day. People were getting aggravated that they had no one to speak with, and rightly so. A busy restaurant like that, you always need a presence in the front; even if its just to have someone greet you, take your name and give you a wait time. The bar was remarkably small, with only 2 bartenders. I'm unsure if there was another bar in a different area, but those dudes were DEEP in it. We ended up getting sat 45 min after our reservation. There were no napkins or utensils at our table, and we didnt get them until our apps came out, and we had to ask for them. The floor had some though, and a big piece of bacon. The drinks were eh...not really well thought out, just boozy, which some people like I suppose. We waited a long time for the entrees, and I wasn't surprised. I could only imagine how many tickets the kitchen had. To tell you the truth, the only food I remember was the mussels app. The other dishes were that forgettable, and weren't cheap. I couldn't help but notice I was surrounded by Argentinian Malbec; a really good producer too. I guess the distributor had them locked in for great prices. There wasn't an Italian wine bottle in sight. Well played Winebow! I dont think they were understaffed, the staff just needs more training and attention to detail. The fact that the floor had forks but our table didn't, well... Our waiter was very busy but damn, no utensils? You've probably figured out I'm in the industry by now. It was really clear whoever was taking reservations (probably for weeks beforehand) did not time the seatings well, and probably sat too many walk-ins. It really was the perfect storm. I could only imagine the dinner shift was like and the kitchen staff fighting for their lives. I'm getting PTSD just thinking about working there that day. The restaurant needs some rebranding and updated protocols for staff, maybe some retraining? I dunno, it was our first time there. Im guessing this place has a solid following and loyal regulars. There's no way it could survive if shifts were always that chaotic. It was literally the Muppet show. Cool...

Let’s just get right to the point. I have ordered from this restaurant plenty of times but the last two times have been what should be a shame on their behalf. Let’s start with what would be breaded chicken cutlet. This is obviously the selection of chicken grade below the cheapest. At 7 dollars a order when a Lb of this chicken scrap is 2 dollars. They theirs the calamari. Rubbery, bland and that’s the majority of the order. At 15 dollars an order these little tires will trick the mind into thinking your satisfied from how long you’ll have to chew them. Then there’s the linguine in clam water because that’s hardly a sauce. The only dish that came with its usual healthy serving size but shamefully taste bland as unsalted crackers. Finally we have the pasta con Parma prosciutto. I would have a picture to share but I was so hungry that the 7 tortelli they actually counted and put in there didn’t make it to the photo session. Yes they really do count them I called and asked what the hell kind of shortage they have going on and i was told people spend far more than my $70 dollars more like$500 and it’s the same serving size. We’re not going to get into how unprofessional that reply was, we’ll just focus on the empty dish. This owner is definitely drunk at the wheel and behind on his mortgage. How quickly people will choose profit margins over protecting the business. In one word this was DISGUSTING! When I checked the bag before leaving I noticed there was one grated cheese so I politely asked for another. The person asked me for 1.50 stating that it’s considered a side. I replied I have 2 pasta dishes should I not have 2 forgetting he was trying to charge me for a pathetic amount of grated cheese. He proceeded to look in the bag and when he couldn’t reach the bottom to really make sure there was only one he really began to empty the whole bag looking for this grated cheese cup that went missing. The whole half ounce of it. This should be embarrassing to this establishment. Your reputation should be far more important than this hiccup in the road of prices and an owners greed to keep profit margins...

We had a reservation for three people at 7:30 and arrived at about 7:25. The host greeted us and asked us how many and I said we had a reservation for four but we were only three but it didn't seem to matter to him anyway. He then proceeded to help someone else and we waited about 5 minutes and he came back. We were seated at the very back of the dining room that's enclosed by glass right next to an exit. We were served water immediately and constantly refilled throughout the whole night. There was water dripping from the ceiling so we had to move the table and I had to move my seat. We ordered a bottle of prosecco and then order entrees. My wife ordered a chicken special and I ordered family style penne vodka with grilled chicken for my father and I. The food was taking a long time and the server came over and brought a salad to appease us and told us that the entree should be out soon. , We did have a variety of bread and breadsticks on the table as well as bruschetta. We received our entrees at about 8:40pm. The entrees were steaming hot and pretty tasty. However, after waiting nearly an hour HS degraded the experience. The server was apologetic but no one from management or the host who seemed to be possibly a manager/owner came to the table. However, the host manager did go to the table right next to us and apologize for the delay in their entrees.

We had high expectations for this place as it was a location that my father frequented many years ago when it was called chateau Lafitte. As we left and saw members of the staff up front, no one said good night or goodbye.

Very disappointing experience, especially having grown up in this area and worked in restaurants and learned the trade in this area. Surprisingly, the place was quite busy when we arrived. I am still in the restaurant business and own several different concepts and the whole idea is to bring in repeat customers. And of course the way you do this is through good food and good service And overall good experience. Needless to say they did not gain a repeat...