Acquolina Weston — Restaurant in Weston

My husband and I stopped here for lunch at the tail end of our road trip vacation. The lunch buffet sounded promising and the price seemed reasonable. The food was decent, but at the end of our meal we ordered an espresso and a cortado. When we got the bill, I was surprised to see that the cortado was double the price of the espresso for the same thing with a splash of milk. My husband and I paid our bill, and left... and the reason I can only give two stars is thus: while I waited outside for my husband to get the car, the manager (I assume, since he did not actually give his name or introduce himself) approached me and asked, “I noticed there was no tip on your bill, was that intentional?” I told him that yes, we decided not to leave a tip because we served ourselves and didn’t interact with any waitstaff other than those who brought our water, and he then proceeded to chastise me for not leaving gratuity. To paraphrase: “[waiters] only make $5 an hour, and they live on their tips. If we provide an affordable lunch, you really should leave something behind. I’ll let them know that you don’t tip.” I take issue with this for two reasons. For one, tipping is not compulsory. My money is MINE to spend, and I am the one who decides when someone deserves an extra tip for exemplary services. Had we received magnificent service, I would have gladly left something... but I will not leave a tip simply for your existence. Secondly, the gentleman’s attempt to make me feel guilty because the waitstaff make less than the standard minimum wage was highly unprofessional. If the restaurant paid their servers a living wage, or implemented an automatic gratuity charge on each buffet bill, he would not have to worry about his staff being shorted by their customers. Up to that point, I was pleased overall with our experience here. However, being followed outside and then lectured about my etiquette put a bad taste in my mouth. I understand that tipping is considered customary, but is it really worth berating people who CHOOSE not to do so? I will lose no sleep over this experience, nor will I recommend this establishment to my friends/family, or to...

I am a CHEF and have lectured many many times about fine dinning. Let me tell you something: This restaurant is what we call a clichè restaurant. In fact It's amazing to see how incredibly packed it was. Have you heard about Bellini in Weston? Ok lets not compare..lets just write facts on Acquolina. Starters and appetizers $30? Big huge NO for a plate like a Burratta and specially when its not as magnificent and half the price as Bellini's .oops! Comparing again...ok wine...first of all: when you serve same wine to more than one person please oh please bring two exact design glasses! The 1 star French restaurants would be fuming! Big NO to bring two different glasses of wine, one thick glassed and the other made of more delicate glass...what???...and please stop serving wine that tastes like fuel if you're charge $15 the glass. Food lacks substance...I ordered a grilled octupus that tasted like...well nothing...and had aprox 3 tiny, I really mean tiny, (as big as a peanut) potatoes. I honestly just discovered that those hybrid tiny potatoes exist. Lets go to the pasta...maaybe not too shaby in the tatse but presented horribly as if Im cooking for my 10 year old. Even for him I try to make it look pretty. Still, for a $40 plate of pasta NO...just NOt GREAT.... Tiramisu...at least they make it with mascarpone...or do they? I'll leave everyone with that doubt.

Terrible restaurant...this is fro people woth extra money in their pockets that have NO IDEA of fine dining. You have Bellini in the same City people!! If you're up to Italian try Bellini first...you WILL eat real Italian and good for less much less money. I havent had one complaint for Bellini except their Nutella pizza is sold complete, you can't have one slice only. If you go to Acquolina honestly you're going to go to a more expensive, wanna-be-good, too american, bad/expensive wine, fake Italian restaurant...I honestly DO NOT recommend and I know what I am...

The food was decent overall, but nothing extraordinary. One major issue was the automatic 20% gratuity that gets added to the bill. If you’re not paying close attention, you might end up tipping twice — once automatically, and then again when you're prompted to add an extra tip on the final receipt after handing over your card. The initial check doesn’t mention the service charge, so if you trust it and don’t double-check the final receipt, you could unknowingly leave an additional 15–20%. It didn’t happen to us because we were careful, but I can see how it could happen to others.

When you sit down, they bring a generous amount of fresh bread, which is delicious — but be warned, it's easy to fill up on it if you don’t pace yourself.

We were a group of five (three adults and two children) and found the portions for main dishes extremely large. We ordered the Stuffed Artichoke as a shared appetizer — which could easily be considered a main — and then three mains: the Lobster Ravioli, the Strozzapreti and Meatballs (only four meatballs, but they’re huge), and the Parmigiano Reggiano Risotto with boneless short rib. The short rib was very well cooked, but the risotto itself was not properly prepared. The other dishes were very good, and we had plenty of leftovers to take home.

Service was excellent — the staff were kind, helpful, and very attentive. That said, as someone who has managed restaurants, I found the place overstaffed, even for a full house.

Lastly, I was surprised to see that the alcohol menu doesn’t list any beers, which seems like an oversight. Not everyone drinks wine or cocktails, and a beer list would be a simple improvement.

Overall, it was an okay experience with some highs and a few things to be cautious about — especially regarding the way...