La Spiaza- Westfield

[andyabramo]

I posted to see if anyone had been here...the old South Side Roman Bistro...got no response so tonite we are trying it. Supposedly the chef came out of some restaurant in Hoboken.....so we shall see. I usually like to hear feedback before trying a new one!

[andyabramo]

I am upset that I had to be the one to find this out. ABSOLUTELY AWFUL.

I really hate to leave a negative review....but......we sat down at 7:15pm....we walked out at 9:30pm and never had our dinner. We were a party of 6. It took them 3 tries to bring me my appetizer of Mozzarella , tomato, and peppers....and even then it wasn't what it was supposed to be! After being frustrated waiting for this the waitress said she found out you get a side salad with your meal!!!!! So why did we order salads!!!! Atone point we looked around and not one table had food on it! We saw other tables packing it up and one table we heard the guy say his lamb tasted like fish and left.. Amazing that during all the delays no one came over and apologized or did anything. Finally when we said we were going to leave the manager came from the kitchen and said they were sorry but the chef had cut himself and they were backed up. (I heard they were 3hrs behind last week) Well that really put a dent in our appetites! To much information. Then he said he would give 20% off our check....big deal. Finally brought 2 dishes out.....ordered Tuna rare.....was not rare nor did it taste like tuna......being the other dishes did not come out.....we just walked out......Never , never has this ever happened. I should have followed my gut ( like in egullet) reaction.....and not try new without some feedback.

[scarlet knight]

I guess that the key to trying a new restaurant is to wait until the kinks have been ironed out. I don't think that this restaurant will make it to that stage. We appreciate your pioneering efforts; hopefully, you'll get a good tip from another e-gulletter to make up for this disaster. When we look back on our disastrous experiences, we usually find them funny in retrospect (but not at the time).

[tommy]

sat down at 7:15pm....we walked out at 9:30pm and never had our dinner.

you've got more patience than me.

[Lreda]

Is it a BYOB? If it is perhaps a egullet dinner is in order. After all a free place to drink, we can pour our own, who cares if food is brought out, maybe we could bring picnic baskets and hide them under the table.

Seriously, as a restaurant owner in this fine state of ours it boggles my mind that stories like this are constantly conveyed to me but people continue to try places that don't put up the good. This has been a hard winter, the weather is lousy, business is tough, not many people are going out and I have to come home after the only night this week that I was full and listen to ANOTHER poor dining experience. Hellooooooooooo.............

Support your local favorite restaurant before they're closed and you shake your head and say what happened to that place, we were just there 5 months ago.

No offense andyabramo

[andyabramo]

Lreda.....Support your local favorite restaurant before they're closed and you shake your head and say what happened to that place, we were just there 5 months ago.

We do go out every sat nite...and some......we usually stay in town or within a few mile radius.....I go out to lunch locally a few times a week. Happens that we tried to get into several other restaurants and could not get a reservation. Restaurants are filled in this area and people are going out.

This was byob......I really don't drink and if all we wanted to do was drink we could do that at home......we were just looking for a nice dinner....some of our local favorites...that are filled constantly....mojave, lime, freshwaters, novita, acquavive,giovannas,roberts and 89.

So...to sum up.....we will not bring a picnic basket, we don't go just to drink, we do support our locals....that all have had a great winter.

Next time we will let some one else be the judge!

[Rosie]

Info on the chef has been on Table Hopping With Rosie since January.

Chefs on the Move--Ed Soto is the chef at La Spezia, 338 South Ave E, Westfield (908-233-5334); BYO.

So sorry that you had such a horrific experience.