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From: Stephanie
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 15
To: Eater Complaints Dept.
Subject: White Truffle Season
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Just saw the post about white truffles and wanted to write. My friend and I wanted a nice Italian dinner so we went to Via Veneto in Santa Monica on Friday night. We had been warned about the service, but were seated quickly at a good table. The waiter, with a very heavy, I think somewhat put on accent, lists off the very long list of specials culminating in truffle season. We ordered the beef carpaccio with truffles and melted fontina cheese. Needless to say it was amazing.
When the bill came, we had an intense case of sticker shock - $118 for our appetizer. Now, we've had truffles and we appreciate them price and all. I've had them at Giorgio Baldi, and in fact, think they are better there. Now my question is, we took issue that the waiter did not tell us market price when ordering the appetizer. In your opinion, should he have? Everything else on the menu was normal – salad $12, pasta $25, lobster pasta $34, and $55 for wine. We paid, but feel we were not given sufficient information. I realize its our mistake for not asking, but what part does the server play in this? When we took this up with the waiter he seem unfazed and the manager was very dismissive, saying its rude to give prices to diners.
We kindly just asked the manager that next time he advise diners about the special price since it was so out of line with other prices (including other specials). He asked our name and said if we come back to ask for him. That simply was not the response we were looking for and felt we were not listened to or taken seriously at all. They made no attempt to recognize our concern. Would rather go to Giorgio Baldi for better Italian food next time.
Sincerely,
Stephanie
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