i Ricchi

[JennyUptown]

I'm heading to i Ricchi tonight.

Given that it's been at least two years since my last visit, I thought I'd check in with you, the knowledgable folks of egullet for suggestions (other than "take stacks of $$") beforehand.

I remember TORTELLONI AL BURRO E SALVIA (ricotta and spinach filled tortelloni with sage butter) very fondly from a past meal there.

On the other hand, the presentation of LE SALSICCE COI’ FAGIOLI ALL’ UCCELLETTO (grilled homemade sausage with cannellini beans and tomato) looked like pork and beans out of a can even though it tasted good.

Thoughts/suggestions?

[jm chen]

I've had two excellent meals at I Ricchi in the past six months. The best dish I remember was a rabbit papardelle; the least interesting was a sampler of three roasted/stuffed meats that all ended up tasting pretty similar. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the pastas.

There was also a dessert, I don't remember the name because I'd never heard it before -- it was kind of a cross between a tart custard and a cheesecake, very smooth and white and served with a lime and raspberry.... ooh, my mouth is watering just thinking of it.

The ribollita was nice but mine had a smoky taste to it, like something had burned on the bottom of the pot. I know it's one of their signature dishes but I didn't think it was worth wasting stomach room on.

Enjoy and let us know how it goes!

[edited to reflect that I just looked at the menu online and the good one was PAPPARDELLE SUL CONIGLIO, the bad one was ARISTA, TACCHINO E VITELLA ARROSTO AGLI AROMI, and I just remembered that I really enjoyed the delightful, lively FILETTO ALLA ZINGARA.]

Edited April 5, 2005 by jm chen (log)

[Al_Dente]

The best dish I remember was a rabbit papardelle

←

Ready for some rabbit, Jenny?

[fero style]

couple people told me that service is very pushy , hope they improved.

[JennyUptown]

Our service definitely was not pushy, however something weird happened:

We ordered dessert. Nothing labor-intensive (e.g., a souffle) or anything, and yet our formerly-attentive server disappeared for longer than expected. About ten minutes passed and he reappeared...toting two candle-bearing desserts. He said he had been told that it was one of our birthdays. Not knowing which, he figured he'd stick a birthday candle and "Happy Birthday" candy tag on both.

It wasn't either of our birthdays.

He had shown a lot of polish through this moment. Instead of laughing it off, though, he seemed pretty miffed. My friend and I were at a loss. I had made the reservation through OpenTable.com and didn't make any special notes when doing so.

Half-jokingly, we turned to the older couple at the table adjacent to ours and said "is it YOUR birthday?"

Turned out it was the man's birthday, however he immediately added that neither of them had notified the restaurant, preferring discretion to embarassment (they were English).

Perhaps the wife was trying to make it a surprise. I'll never know.

[simdelish]

Had a very disappointing dinner there Friday nite.

Although I had made the rez a week earlier and said it was a special occasion, we were seated in the bar. After asking about another table, told only thing that was available, sorry. Before even sitting down, I noticed a definite chill, wind actually. We were right under the a/c vent which was BLOWING THE PLANTS on the window ledge wildly. We asked if possible to turn down the air, and the host said no.

Because my friend was upbeat and excited to be there for her birthday as my treat, (and it was clear we were celebrating something, as I had a wrapped present with me to present at dessert), I tried to stay positive. I have had many fantastic meals at i Ricchi, but have not been back in the last few years so I was hoping for a repeat performance.

here's a (long) summation:

Waiter had an Attitude (notice capital A). Short, abrubt, kept talking VERY fast, even when we asked him to slow down a bit. He was AWOL half the time, and when he did approach our table, i.e. to ask us if we had chosen a wine, I asked one short question. He answered with a recommendation of a $150 bottle. When I said that was a bit out of our budget, and did he have an alternate suggestion, he said "I have hot food waiting for me. I must take care of that." Poof, gone again and we're left stranded. When we finally were able to place our order, we went on to eat our primi piatti with no beverage, even after asking again for the wine, and only AFTER our entrees arrived, did our wine finally arrive.

The cold breeze from the a/c was pretty unbearable, and I asked twice during the meal if there was any way we could be moved when another table became available. Just to prove how windy our table was, the 12' taper candle that the waiter lit after we were seated, kept blowing the wax and burning the candle down unevenly and too fast. We concientously kept rotating the candle so as not to have the table catch on fire. The waiter REPLACED our candle after it burnt all 12 inches right down to the nub, FOUR more times during the meal, that is, we went thru 5 candles during the meal!!! We both got so cold, at one point we both went to the restroom to warm up our numb hands under the hot running water. I put my coat back on and wore it for the duration of the meal.

The bar, of course, filled up and got quite crowded, making conversation impossible.

Apps were good, tortelloni and risotto. Entrees were lamb chops and filet (the latter you could cut with your fork and it melted on your tongue like butter). Service sucked however, was terribly slow. Dinner took over 3 hours, and we were not dawdling, as we had someplace else to go after.

Server made a real ass of himself with the dessert list. After trying to bring us the check after our entrees, I instead said we were hoping to order dessert as we were celebrating my friends b'day. i asked for the list, but he said he could tell us better. He then proceeded to give us only 3 options, when I well knew there had to be others. When I again asked to see the list, he was very pompous and rattled them off as fast as he possibly could, in Italian only, with no translations. Of course my friend looked like a deer in the headlights listeningto him, but fortunately I not only speak Italian, but am a pastry chef. SO! I asked him once again in Italian to repeat for my friend's sake, and after he would give his superfast 25-word description in Italian for each, I would say merely look at my friend and interject "cheesecake", or "plum tart" etc. His arrogance was astounding. (the tiramisu was not great, made with sambuca strangely, but the "cheescake" was delicious) And, surprisingly, no candle/attention about the birthday.

the waiter also brought us the wrong check. I said nothing, just quickly glanced enough to notice and threw down my cc. 20 min after taking the cc, he finally returned, admittting the mistake, but not apologizing.

When we finally got up to leave, on the way out I asked the same host who had seated us 3 hrs earlier(and who I first asked about another table) if I could have a copy of the night's specials (as the sheet stuck in the menu was dated, and I knew they are thrown out for the next day's.)

"Why on earth would you want the menu?" he asked

"So I can at least remember the food, as opposed to the horrible service we had."

"What? Did you eat dinner here?"

"Yes, we are the ones who have been freezing at the table in the bar, where YOU sat us 3 hours ago for our special occasion!"

So clearly, he hadn't remembered, had never gotten word from the waiter that we wanted to move, nor had ever walked the restaurant checking on customers. No comment, no apology, just a look of shock on his face.

With no reply from him, we turned and walked out to find that the valet had lost my car keys....

(which were later turned into the restaurant, thank goodness). My friend went back to retrieve them, not I!

Needless to say, I will not return. It is so amazing that poor service and unapologetic attitude can ruin a dinner. As diners, we can have ok food, but a great server, and still go back, as we might tell ourselves the kitchen was just having an off nite, but the experience was still pleasant. But -- when we have a dinner that was good, and the rest of the experience miserable, it makes it so much worse, and therefore, memorable in a bad way. There's no way I'll go back to i Ricchi, especially when I can have, as I did last week, an INCREDIBLE meal at Corduroy, with IMPECCABLE service, for $100 less. (And, I recently went to CPSteak, where I had one of my best meals of 2005, for amazingly only $10 more than I spent at i Ricchi.)