Z Cucina di Spirito Dublin — Restaurant in Washington Township

Our family has been enjoying going to the various restaurants in this area of Dublin for the last year. My wife and I decided to enjoy a night out and reserved a table at Z Cucina di Spirito on April 3rd, 2023. It was a Monday night and the environment was relaxed. As we walked in the door we were greeted by the host and had a wonderful conversation with him. He showed, in 2 minutes time, how much care, passion, and joy he has for Z Cucina. We sat down and were quickly greeted by our server. As we were admiring all the options of the menu, the server sparked conversation of what we enjoyed and helped us make suggestions on what is available. We ordered drinks and the mussels for an appetizer and we weren't sure which we enjoyed more. Both drinks and the mussels were delicious. My wife and I talked, enjoyed the environment, and relaxed. It was wonderful. The server inquired about our dinner ideas and my wife was indecisive about some of the options. The server was absolutely wonderful at getting us what we were so curious about. My wife ordered a medium rare Filet Mignon with blue cheese risotto. The steak was beautiful. A large portion and well cooked. Each side of the piece was seared properly. The internal portion was perfect, not over done and not underdone. The flavor wasn't masked in a butter sauce, it was perfectly seasoned, the true taste of the steak came through and melted in our mouths. The blue cheese risotto was wonderfully balanced and the initial flavor of the blue cheese danced on our tongue as the creaminess of the risotto smoothed out the rest of the flavors. I enjoy risotto but rarely find a place that makes one I find to represent what risotto is; this was what I would expect risotto to be. I ordered the Wolf fish and it was a piece of white fish with flavors of shrimp and crab. Light, creamy, and mildly sweet. It was served on a bed of mussels in a type of pasta risotto. The balance of the two played off each other perfectly. The skin on the fish was crispy and enjoyable. Once again, everything was perfectly seasoned. After letting our food settle, we could not pass up the option for dessert. Everything, from the appetizers to the drinks to dinner was perfect. We ordered the Tiramisu and Bread pudding. The tiramisu was largely portioned with a good ratio of mascarpone cheese to lady fingers. All the flavors were, once again, perfectly seasoned and so enjoyable. The bread pudding was the only thing on the menu that we did not find appealing. It was served warm with ice cream. The bread was dry and crispy. Bread pudding should lean more towards soft, french toast like pillows of cubed bread. The dessert would have benefited from a warm, zabaglione custard being drizzled on top. All the other elements of the bread pudding were there but it just needed a little more to it. I would happily take away the ice cream for the custard and keep the caramel drizzle. I enjoy bread pudding. It has to be one of my favorite desserts and this one fell a little short. After all that, the environment, the servers, the bartenders, the cooks and chefs in the kitchen, all did an amazing and harmonious job. We've talked so much about our experience here to our coworkers, friends, and family. It was beyond just a memorable place, it was a place that made an impact to us. We look forward to taking our kids there. We look forward to relaxing there. Thank you all at Z Cucina di Spirito! Thank you for making such a wonderful night for a parents date night. Keep doing what you are doing and know we appreciate all the effort you have taken to make your restaurant such a...

So you go to an expensive place like Zcucina, you think you’ll get the same service you get at Marcella’s or a Guild House or a Hen Quarters. Unfortunately, not quite so. I was at Zcucina earlier tonight with a few friends. I am strictly Vegetarian due to an allergy to poultry and was glad to see so many Vegetarian options at zcucina. I ordered the sweet pea gnocchi pasta which was a vegetarian option by default. Safe option.. couldn’t go wrong. Was I wrong or what? After 2-3 bites, I notice a big piece of chicken in my dish. I assumed it was an artichoke that was part of the dish. After a couple more bites, that piece is the only supposed artichoke on my plate. Now I am worried. I stop eating and wait for our server to come back. After 6-7 mins we wave in her direction to get her attention. She stops by and I tell her what’s wrong. Her response - “ummmm that does look like chicken. It’s not suppose to come with that. I wonder why they put it there. You wanted it vegetarian right? Umm I don’t know what to do. Is that the only piece you saw??? I mean is there more there. Or just this piece??” Her last sentence made me so upset. This was a $19 vegetarian dish. Yes, a $19 VEGETARIAN dish. When you spend that much money on a damn vegetarian dish, it better be vegetarian. When it turns out that it’s not, your server asking you how many meat pieces fell into it by mistake is not something you want to deal with. She asked me twice if that was the only chicken piece that I saw. I told her it seemed like it was. She shrugged and said it must have fallen off of another plate in the kitchen. She asked me if I wanted another plate. By then my friends were half way through their food. No, I don’t want it remade. My appetite is gone. I’m worried if I ate any chicken by mistake. I am anxious. I don’t want to eat anything at all. I made it evident that I wasn’t pleased and refused a new order. She shrugged and said “well ok.” I am now just sitting and waiting for my friends to finish their meals and have my dish sitting cold in front of me. Our server notices this... I catch her noticing my untouched plate as she walks by. What came next ruined my mood even more. You know when you’re at these fancy restaurants and you have the server come to your table asking you how the food was and if you’d like any boxes? our server avoided that conversation and sent someone from the kitchen to pick up our plates and ask me if I wanted a box for my food. I say no to him and don’t share any feedback about my experience because he doesn’t have any background. Our server then comes back with the bill. What was I charged? A full $19. For 3 bites of an order. What would a Marcella’s or The Pearl do here? They would have either given me a discount to compensate for a bad experience or would have taken the entire amount off the bill to acknowledge an error on their part. Even if they didn’t do that, they would have at least apologized to me for the mistake on their part. However, I walked away paying a tip on my bad order. I have to be honest... I didn’t leave much.. just 10% because I was furious (regularly, I am a strict 20-25% tipper).. but even this made me feel cheated. I hated not being asked if I was dissatisfied with my experience. I hated how no one acknowledged how my expensive experience was ruined. I guess it’s just a lesson learned for me. I need to make better choices next time and expect quality from real...

My bride and I have been to Z Cucina several times and have always loved the top-notch, family-like service, the food, and wonderful cocktails & wine. However, we recently had an EXCEPTIONAL experience that requires public attention, especially in a world where convenience and laziness, not to mention the proliferation of an "I want it perfect, and I want it now" culture, created by the internet and social media.

I ordered a take-home dinner for my extended family from another well-known, local Italian restaurant and called them around 3:30pm. I explained that I'd probably be there close to when they close (at 6pm), but that I'd likely be a little late. They assured me it wasn't a problem, and that my food would be ready to go when I got there.

Instead, I arrived to a locked door and three young people inside, two of which made eye contact with me and walked away into the back so as to avoid having to talk to me or let me in. I even called and made eye contact with one of them, waving my phone thru the window, and I was completely and totally ignored.

While my family would've been fine if I ordered pizza and picked it up super-late, I wanted to pull thru with my promise for an Italian dinner, so I called Z Cucina and Rick (the owner) picked up, as he often does. He remembered me, which is always a surprise, and I asked if I could order a bunch of chicken parmesan for my extended family, along with some garlic bread and dipping oil... to which he responded, " you know... we're actually completely packed and double-booked for two private events, and we don't even have the kitchen ready. I'm really sorry."

I was so bummed... but proceeded to tell him the story about the other restaurant and how I was ignored, ending my story with, "I guess it's just my luck today, but no biggie!"

Instead of saying good-bye and hanging up, after hearing my story, Rick INSISTED that he turn on their ovens, make dinner for our family, and he invited me in to his (closed) restaurant and offered me a drink while I waited for them to make dinner, JUST for my family.

A good review isn't enough for this type of kind, warm, personal service. Treating your customers like this is the kind of behavior that - if possible - deserves the ability to remove old, less-than-perfect reviews!

However, since this isn't possible, instead, I encourage you (if you've made it to the end of this review!) to check out Z Cucina, frequent their happy hour, and visit often. They're great people who truly care about their customers, and Rick is the kind of business-owner that we all wish existed behind every sign on every building...