It is a shame to give 2 stars to a restaurant that is so close to being 4 or 5 stars, but...(1) My wife and I visited in mid-July, and while we thought the food was divine, our service was horrible. The couple seated near us was seated only 3 minutes before us, but they were practically done with their dessert (they had a different waitress) before we had even gotten our salad course.
(2) My wife and I visited again on the evening of October 14th, and while the service had improved, I ordered the `salt dome` sea bass special (spigola). Can you imagine my disappointment when the amount of resulting fish was about 4 ounces, the side of potatoes consisted of little `tater tot` chips, and the price -- an outrageous $39 ! ! ! If you're going to charge that embarrassing amount for a `special`, then the wait staff should make it a point to say `...and our sea bass special, which is $39, consists of...` (Later, the owner Elena would reply to me, that it was unthinkable that I had less than 8 ounces of fish, and that they don't quote prices on specials so as not to `offend` customers. What? She even had the nerve to say that my personal assessment of one of their signature dishes was `irrelevant`!)
(3) The wine sommelier -- literally -- rolled her eyes at us when we `only` ordered a $25 bottle of shiraz.
(4) I had e-mailed the restaurant three times about another issue -- a charity fundraiser that would have resulted in Girasole getting the dining business of about 15 affluent adults who will be in Atlantic City on November 11th. Elena failed to respond to any of the three e-mails.
I'm not trying to be harsh, but we showed three good attempts to be a `loyal customer`, and considering the four scenarios above . . . why should we be loyal any more?
