Ruggero's Family Style Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Riverhead

Please forgive the length of this review as I really really enjoyed my meal.

Tonight for my wife and I anniversary we decided to go.

The meal I had tonight far exceeded any expectation I have ever had of this restaurant. Ruggerio's is going to become a new destination for me. from the moment we walked in the door when we were greeted by the hostess who had such a pleasant smile and made us feel welcomed. We're escorted to our table where we were greeted almost immediately with warm bread and a smile.

To begin we started with fried calamari. It was light and crispy and not saturated in oil like I've had it many other Italian places. It was absolutely cooked perfectly. I luck out when my wife and I order this because she likes the rings and I like the tentacles. This was a good mix of both.

Our waiter Damien was so attentive throughout our entire meal. He made recommendations on the entrees that were spot-on. The specials were well thought of and perfectly executed. My wife and I ordered two separate meals and a plate of broccoli to share. Normally when we order broccoli we always ask the chef to put extra garlic and you might get one or two pieces this was loaded with garlic and out of this world.

I had a beef short rib pasta where are the short ribs fell apart. The noodles were cooked al dente just the way I like it. The salad was the tricolor salad on special and it was amazing. It was perfectly dressed and perfectly seasoned.

For dessert we ordered something called a chipwich. to be honest with you we expected little tiny cookies with a little bit of cannoli cream in them. This dessert I would like to gush over. The cookie was soft and the cannoli cream was one of the best I have had in a very long time.

the table next to us talked about how great of an experience it was as they were leaving and I didn't understand what they meant until we were enjoying our meal. Damien was such a wonderful server he was funny and attentive and genuinely cared about the table.

Not only am I recommending ruggerio's I would also love to give my recommendation to ask for Damien as your server. He was hysterical.

it was very nice to be able to go out without the kids tonight and we did not feel rushed at all. Then normally when I read that from people I wonder if they felt forgotten about and I will assure you we did not feel forgotten about it...

Let's start by saying that they lost our reservation for the wedding party rehearsal dinner. They had another wedding party (probably double booked or something) in the nice area with flowers in the back of the restaurant, where as we were forced to sit in the front area. (Not the biggest issue but it got worse.) No apologies, no compansation for the situation but then just kept getting worst.

The waiter by the name Dario L was very rude to some of our family at the table... He gave us an issue about ordering appetizers with the drinks. I asked to put in an order of calamari in and he was short and dismissive saying I'm going to do the drinks first and refused my order storming away quickly. Aside from all this, several items came out incorrect or was missing chicken. Parmesan was added to some of the dishes when it was asked to be omitted.

Just an opinion but, If you forget to add things to dishes... I don't feel it's right to force someone to wait longer for their food without doing something extra to fix the problem. He knew why we were there.... A dessert would have been cool to compansate the soon to be newlyweds but he clearly was judging us from the beginning and could care less... After all he tacked on his automatic gratuity of 20% so why would he. He's getting paid regardless of service. He wasn't advocating for us at all and we really are genuinely nice people. Not difficult at all... He was very short spoke with a bad attitude... Bread was not given to half the table... It also didn't arrive till halfway through the meal.

To add insult to injury, at the end, he tossed a calculator at us saying "you're giving me a headache watching you try to do math" as we calculated the bill for everyone. Then proceeded to just stand there over us watching, becoming very impatient the whole time. I honestly wanted to get a manager involved but one couldn't be seen in sight. I also didn't want to cause a seen as we were there for a wedding rehearsal dinner. I did tell a staff member that his service was extremely poor. He ruined the family event on so many levels.

Not the scale to be expected from a restaurant like...

I would have given a four or five star review had it not been for the waiter. Let me start with the positive. It was my birthday, me my husband and two children came just for dessert around 7:30.From a previous visit I remember the food was delicious. Upon arrival our hostess was very polite and seated us promptly. After being seated our server( Alex S) took our order of ONE beer four Waters and One order of fried calamari, we also informed him that we would be getting dessert. Our appetizer and dessert arrived promptly and both as expected. Now for the bad and disappointing.... Our waiter Alex S appeared to be more concerned with us being done then actually serving. Our appetizer arrived promptly as stated before however we still had not received our water and ONE beer. I would say the appetizer arrived within 10 minutes of ordering. After 20 minutes of waiting for our drinks we had to find Alex and ask him to bring us the water and beer. I wish I could say that was the worst. what really shocked me the most was when Alex came up to the table and asked" Are you still working on that calamari"? We were clearly still eating it. Perhaps the only time Alex was helpful was when I went up to the desert case to look at the deserts and he happened to be standing there and answered a few questions I had about the desserts. Needless to say Alex did not ask if we were ready for dessert he only knew because I had went to the desert case. He was also kind enough to ask my husband if he would like the waiters and waitresses to sing for my birthday as my husband had asked another waitress to put a candle in the desert because he could not find Alex. We are normally not customers to complain we are always on the waiters or waitresses side . However I myself was a previous Eastwind employee for 5 years, I know the service expected from all employees no matter what their title. I also have to add there was another waiter or could have been the kitchen server,who kept looking over the stained glass and our table enough times to make me feel uncomfortable. I do not for see us returning to the restaurant in the...