Roberto's Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Vienna

As many of you (me when I come back and read this later) are aware, my wife and I take our date night locations seriously and a few nights ago we went out on a limb and decided to try Roberto's on our most recent outing.

You're always taking a risk when you go to a restaurant when you're not able to pronounce half of the things on the menu. Some might say that's a sign of authenticity...some might say that's a recipe for embarrassment. Either way, we gave Roberto's a shot and, overall, we're glad that we did. I'm not an Italian expert by any stretch of the imagination, but even my uneducated palate could have told you that this place was miles better than 80% of the other Italian restaurants I've been to in the past (Olive Garden included, I'm sad to say).

From the outside, Roberto's is a pretty cool looking place. The restaurant is pretty small, but the large Italian flag waving out front gives away its location pretty easily. We made a reservation online pretty easily.

Overall, we had a really good experience here, but walking in almost ruined it for us. When I had booked our reservations, I did not anticipate bringing our children with us (both under 2). When we couldn't find a baby sitter, we called an audible and brought them along which I thought would be fine because they're literally like 20 pounds combined. When we came and checked in we were almost instantly greeted with a pleasant, "You know we don't have high chairs, right?" Which I didn't know (not sure how I would have). There was a minute or two of adjusting because we had two extra "people" with us who didn't take up chairs, but we were then pretty quickly led to a booth.

I had made a mistake and maybe I was just getting a taste of Italian hospitality, but I was a little unhappy about that first impression. Nevertheless, from that moment on everything got much better.

The main dining area of the restaurant is essentially a large room with tables laid around the walls and a big serving section right in the middle where the waiters grab supplies and things. That was a cool layout that I hadn't seen before, it also meant that we were helped pretty quickly. We had our water within a few minutes and fresh bread only a few minutes later. Not unlimited, but unlimitedly delicious.

After a few minutes of translating the menu my wife and I ordered. I went with the Fettuccini (because it was literally the only thing I could pronounce) and my wife ordered the gnocchi. Within a few minutes, my wife's food was out and my pasta had made its way to the center island thing in the restaurant. From there, the owner of the store (or manager?) put the pasta into a giant wheel of parmesan and personally created the alfredo sauce in front of us while explaining the process, that was pretty cool.

The food itself was incredible. Both the gnocchi and the fehttuchini alfredo were wonderful. The portions were a little smaller than I would have liked, but enough to leave you feeling like you were satisfied. We ended the meal with a little espresso and chocolate gelato which, I kid you not, is the best I've ever had.

While the hospitality coming through the door wasn't great, our servers were wonderful the whole time. They were attentive, helpful and kind. I was also impressed to see that the owner/manager/woman in charge made her way around to each table to check in on folks and make sure they were enjoying their meal and have a short conversations with them. That was a nice touch that, honestly, hasn't happened to me in a long time.

The last thing I'll discuss is the price. You're getting good quality food but you're not paying Olive Garden prices for it. Both my wife and I's dishes sat around $30/pop. For a group, you're talking some big money.

Would I come back to Roberto's? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Yes. Would I come back often? If I was rich...maybe. It's a fun place for a date night, but probably won't be our regular haunt unless we come into a windfall of money. All in all, well...

This place was very elegant and the food tasted quite good, however for the cost and the overall service, I would probably only go back for a quick drink or if I'm really craving the bread.

I decided to dine here on whim with my friend and host on the phone was quite nice and accommodating to the fact that we were walk ins. However, from the moment we sat, to the end of our meal, our server (the bartender) was pretty much absent. He was nice but was busy with one guest at the bar. It was obvious to me that since we were not dressed as fancy as everyone else in the establishment, we were not going to receive the same overreaching incredible service as all the other tables. Later in the evening, a couple came in and started ordering gin & other spirits/apps right away. Their bill was definitely on track to exceeding the tiny bill my dining companion and I had since we only ordered three drinks and two entrees. They were given first class service and I even had to flag down their attending server to ask for something.

I would like to entreat the owners and staff members of this establishment to either post that they have a dress code, or to tell patrons at the door that there is a dress code. No staff member or owner was mean to us; however, it was very obvious that we were underdressed and the treatment we faced was in stark contrast to the rest of the other diners. The kind female hostess (I believe she was the owner) definitely tried her best and I could tell she noticed that we were not being given the same level of service as everyone else as she was the only one to check on us and to look over at us periodically.

Now, I understand that Vienna is a slightly more upscale area, but as an individual with over 8 years of Food Service Industry experience, and experience in a semi- fine dining space, I also know that customers wearing T-shirts and jeans can be just as generous in tip and in food sales, as the customers wearing Gucci. It was very disappointing and I felt very out of place knowing that those who walked in with designer clothes were being waited upon hand and foot. Because of the lackluster service, we skipped apps and desert because it was too difficult to get our server's attention. He spent more time with a single woman at the bar and checking up on her and I had to flag down a server assistant to receive the bread.

We ordered the Veal and the Risotto dish. The Veal was the perfect temperature (according to my dining companion); however, the accompaniments to the veal were a little sparse. Nonetheless, the portion of the meat was quite excellent so this is a big win!

I ordered the Risotto. This dish was light and I enjoyed that they didn't cake it with tons of cheese. The food took a while to get to us so I have to be a little nit-picky due to the high standards this place has and due to the prices to say that the risotto was somewhat overcooked. Again, this is understandable since the risotto had probably overcooked whilst waiting for the veal. I would recommend maybe next time to start the risotto after the Veal starts cooking since the veal is such a large item to cook.

I absolutely LOVED the bread spread that they gave us, however; I was slightly disappointed with the flavour overall of the entrees. Now, it could have just been that the common patron of this restaurant enjoys a more subtle flavour profile, but I had expected the main courses to be packed with spice. One incredible upside however; they have delicious spicy peppers and I probably ended up consuming 10 of these so this was definitely an upside. 😊

Overall, this restaurant is a gorgeous place. The owners clearly put the time, energy, and the work to make Roberto's. They are definitely in the business of creating an experience for their patrons, and so with that being said, I feel it's important to highlight some potential shortcomings of providing differing types of service to individuals based on their appearances and overall...

Synopsis:

Fine dining experience hitting all of the marks. Hospitality is formal and attentive; service precise and professional. All ingredients used in recipes are fresh and high quality. Herb and spice seasonings are subtle and masterfully balanced in my opinion and experience. I believe Roberto’s recipes are imaginative, skillfully prepared and artfully plated. It is what I come for and hope to receive in a fine dining experience.

Detail:

My first visit to Roberto’s Saturday, September 17. Dining early, at 5:00 PM opening, dining solo at the small bar that seats 6. The bartender, Miguel, accommodated me using my Negroni recipe (1 shot gin, 1/2 shot Campari, 1/4 shot sweet vermouth, stirred and served on rocks) for my drink order. Bread service accompanied my Negroni. Bread sets the tone of what to expect. Roberto’s makes it clear with the bread that you are about to have a terrific dining experience. Miguel said that bread is made fresh daily on the premises. The white linen lined basket consisted of grissini, sfoliata, focaccia. Three types of bread having three distinct buttery flavors, textures and shapes. I enjoyed perfectly pan seared fresh Alaskan Halibut entree that was beautifully plated and had elevated flavor. Combination of nicely caramelized onion, confit tomatoes, fennel and fennel pollen was balanced. Semifreddo Al Miele dessert was honey semifreddo, fig sauce, fresh fig, lemon crisp and ricotta in place of ice cream. Lovely combination of flavors. I paired dessert with a shot of espresso and a shot of Kahlúa on the side. My entree arrived so fast I did not have time to finish my Negroni and order wine. Oh well, Negroni all the way through dinner to dessert.

Service dishes are a combination of bright patterns and solid dark colors. To my eye the patterned dishes compete for visual attention and in my opinion distract focus away from artful plating of the food. I think white porcelain dish ware is a better choice to concentrate visual focus on the food. Miguel suggested that I might enjoy their Aperitivo Hour that is Monday through Friday and restricted to the bar area which I did last Friday finding it consistent with my earlier...