Chianti Il Ristorante

Had a great experience here about 2 yrs ago hosting my boss’ retirement dinner for about 20 of us- great food and service then. So I figured, it was definitely worth going back since I’m in town for work again…. The minute we walked in the door, smacked in the face with low quality air freshener. First off- no good restaurant would take away from the taste of the good by doing that. But second- it wasn’t even limited to the entry way, that garbage was being pumped into the air even by the bar where we were seated at a high top. Imagine a hotel that doesn’t properly clean air freshener smell. Awful. Our server was great initially, made a great dry red wine suggestion and took our order promptly. Then cue the waiting…. No bread or anything at an Italian restaurant- ok maybe we were supposed to order it as a starter? Salads come- now it’s restaurant week so to be fair I only paid $42 for a three course meal - but my Boston Bibb salad with white vinaigrette, Gorgonzola and crispy prosciutto came with precisely 1 tsp of blah dressing, 3 crumbs of Gorgonzola and 7 flecks of crispy prosciutto. My dining partner’s Caesar salad was an untrimmed romaine heart with blah Caesar dressing and 4 Parmesan shavings on top. Cue the 25 min wait until the main course comes. Her spaghetti bolognese got two thumbs up. My penne ala vodka with chicken added? I’ve had better out of a jar and the chicken was unseasoned , un-anything for a $7 up charge. Gluten free pasta available was a plus. Perhaps it actually tasted better but I couldn’t tell because “hotel new car” smell was being pumped into my nose and lungs. Cue a 40 min wait for any attention paid to our 3rd course. At which point, the server notifies us, during restaurant week, they’ve run out of the tiramisu we selected. Seriously?? Substitutions or removed from book were offered, we elected to remove. Then another 30 min wait and a direct request for our bill. My partner’s dessert was removed and I was comped a glass of wine in exchange for the tiramisu let down. Over all a very reasonable price for a let down of a meal. Not sure what changed in two years, but this was a significant disappointment/downgrade in quality of atmosphere and meal. We were so looking forward to this too.

I could not have been more dissatisfied. I ordered a Mother’s Day dinner and it appears they were running short of food as they provided half portions. Furthermore, I ordered a gluten free pasta and it was horribly overcooked. Lastly, they provided a (one) small piece of bread for four meals. For the money I paid, (over $100) I received only disappointment.