Gusto Osteria — Restaurant in Tucson

Let me begin by stating an establishment can only be as good as the staff who represent it. Upon arrival at the restaurant we were required to wait for our table, which would have been fine if we did NOT have a reservation. Next, we were seated in a table/booth row seating area between a gaggle of obnoxious teenagers and a older loud couple. Both my husband and I had to practically yell at each other to hear, the above stated is minute compared to the fiasco which awaited us. It took approximately 15 minutes for our drink order to be taken and bread to be brought to the table. Our waiter was always MIA he finally took our order and was trying to quickly go, my husband had to stop him and say we would also like an appetizer. Our drinks came quite quickly, although just the appetizer took approximately 25 min. When our appetizer came I will give credit it was delicious although again our wait staff was MIA after we placed our dinner order. Our food took nearly 45 minutes to come out, ok you're busy however proper protocol is to at least check in with your patrons which did not happen. When our food finally arrived we had to again stop our waiter from scampering off since some of the order was not there. Once everything arrived and we began to eat, the food was extremely good we lived between Phili and NYC so I know good Italian food. I would rate the food a 10, although again staff make the restaurant since they are your representative to customers. We had just began eating when the elderly couple next to us were leaving. Upon retrieving her belongings the woman's shawl hit a wine glass on their table knocking it to the ground and glass went everywhere. Our son was sitting across from me and glass ended up on our table and as far away as the obnoxious teens next to us. A gentleman who I believed to be the manager came over to make sure everyone was ok and he also saw glass on the table and thought it best as did I to replace the food since glass was literally everywhere. A younger gentleman came to sweep up the glass, it was at that time we asked to move to another table. I was perturbed by his attitude regarding our request which was NOT asking to rewrite quantum theory. After we moved the same young man brought us new glasses of water, and plates which he practically threw onto the table along with the rest of the table setting. Why he would be contrite with us is beyond me, we did NOTHING wrong. To that I say if you do not like your job find a new one. It was shortly after that our "newly" prepared food arrived which gave me pause due to the first plate taking so long. At this point I had lost my appetite and asked if they could kindly box it up. We paid the check and we left, I have a heart so we still tipped the waiter even though I wanted to leave just a penny he still received 10%. After we left we went to another establishment to make up the disastrous events to our kids with ice cream. It was at this time we realized the waiter did NOT give us back our debit card. We quickly purchased our items and went back to the restaurant to retreive our card. Upon my husband going into the restaurant our waiter met with him at our last table and asked "did you drop your card?" my husband responded with "no you never have it back". The waiter then went back behind the bar and did something? then reappeared with our card RED FLAG!! My husband asked for the manager who apologized, that's nice but did nothing to make the birthday dinner experience any better. To add insult to injury the food that was "remade" was the old food simply placed in a container, hard to dispute when there was a bite out of previously eaten chicken! I'm at a loss for words this was our first and last time at this restaurant, sad because we live just north of there. In any event it appeared to be a perfect storm which ended in an extremely bad experience...

Went here for my eldest daughter's birthday. I had hoped it would be good. I was sadly disappointed. This place had a nice atmosphere but was very empty. That being said you might think the service would be top notch however we didn't see our waiter for a good ten minutes after we arrived. When he arrived he was very pleasant and made conversation easily. As a human being, he was very likable which made me feel very conflicted in the end. He rarely returned. We had a party of eight and thus was a great opportunity to make a nice tip. He never refilled any drinks he offered us bread but didn't bring it until our food was being packed up and my husband had asked for 3 times. The food was hit or miss. My daughter who got eggplant parmesan and my husband who tried the veal special liked their food. I tried the scampi from the appetizer section (which didn't taste like scampi) and had it turned into an entrie the portions were small for the price and lacking in flavor. My youngest ordered Alfredo and we had to salt it. Overall cute place tucked away in a corner lots of opportunities but in need of service and maybe some help...

stopping at a standard retail strip mall, and going to an out of the way Italian restaurant, anticipated a ho-hum experience. Man, was I surprised! First, to have the door opened for me - who does that anymore? And the setting, quiet, intimate, with beautiful artwork throughout. OK, fine... the decor is nice, but the menu? Dang, surprised again! Southern italian dishes you won't see at Olive Garden, that's for sure! I was having trouble deciding until I heard the specials for the day, which included sea bass. That's really taking a chance, because bass can be done so poorly. But, I had to try it. It was PERFECT. The rice pilaf was delicately seasoned, with a bit of broccoli. Nothing to overwhelm the fish. Moist, firm, melt in your mouth deliciousness. My gosh, my taste buds thought I was in a five star restaurant. Service was awesome, and I only wish I were in town a few more days to try out their other offerings. Can't recommend this place...