La Cucina

Food was not worth the prices they charge, very cold atmosphere and staff very cold as well would not go back anytime in the near future but will stick to my "old haunts" where you get what you pay for! And agree with the comments below

First Time Disappointment

My family and boyfriend have raved about La Cucina before- I have a cousin who got engaged there several years ago, and ever since, I've been dying to go. We got there for the 8 pm seating on Saturday, October 6th, with another couple behind us. As soon as we got there, the hostess welcomed us and took our coats. She then attempted to seat us at a table in the middle of the room, even though there were tables to the sides. A gentleman suggested she took us to a table to the side. Thank you for that- no one wants to eat in the middle of a restaurant. It took us a while to be served. We were offered water immediately, but then had to wait over 15 minutes before being offered wine or our order being taken. I noticed the couple behind us were being wined and had their bread a full 10 minutes before our server even came back to us. For our appetizers, we ordered the prosciutto and caprese salad. As soon as my boyfriend touched the prosciutto, about 10 fruit flies came from the cantaloupe and lingered at our table for the duration of our stay. Well after our appetizers were delivered, our server came back and asked how they were- you must know you have a fruit fly issue. That was the reason I pointed it out. She was overly apologetic to the point where we felt condescended. If she would have (or anyone for that matter) come by to see how our appetizers were, the problem could have been handled immediately. Everything else was fine- I enjoyed myself, but the fly situation disturbed my date and he lost his appetite. We had to wait about 1/2 an hour from the time we received our desserts and espresso until they billed us. The server who billed us had not been serving us at all last night- we found it uncomfortable when he was suddenly billing us and rushing us out. On the way out, the server who was taking care of us said she forgot to do something with our bill- this was not our intention- we didn't want anything for free, we just wanted to point out the issue. The male server stopped us after we had our coats on and were leaving and told us to mention his name the next time we were in. Frankly, we won't be back. The next time we go out somewhere we want to have a romantic night out and spend the $200+, we'll go somewhere cleaner where we won't feel patronized by the serving staff. What makes matters worse is that I emailed the restaurant directly and have not heard back from them. This tells me they do not care about their guests experiences.

I LOVED IT!!!

Spent a Tuesday evening on the patio - the food was awesome - I had an Italian meat and cheese platter to start - one word - GREAT - Ravioli was my pick for pasta - the waitress told me it was one of the places highlights - and it was. For my main I had the filet mignon in a wine sauce - and the cut of meat was def one of the best to be had in Guelph!!! Finished dinner with homemade tiramisu and a cappuccino and my night was complete!!! Will definitely be back - ha - forgot to mention - Tuesday just happened to have wine for 1/2 price which was AWESOME!!! Will be back soon!

April 2011

Food was bland, service was slow, portions were small. Ordered medium rare lamb, got well done beef. Won't be back. Room was small and noisy.

Good food, small portions, pretentious service

I went with a group of 6 from work. We were surprised when the waiter said they couldn't give us separate bills. One person volunteered to pay so we could all sort it out later as some people were having drinks and others were not. At one point the waiter became agitated when one person in our group was trying to decide between two dishes. We were the only customers in the restaurant at that point, so it's not like he was rushed off his feet. I think this waiter may have made the wrong career choice. While the food was good, the portions were incredibly small. We weren't expecting large portions by any means, but some portions were laughable. An additional pasta and meat selection would have been nice as well to account for varying tastes. The summer menu which was still listed on the website even though it was November had more choices and at different price points than the autumn menu which was quite limited. All in all, it was a disappointing experience. La Cucina has great potential, but customers should be treated better in order for them to return. Many restaurants are happy to have your business and show you with good food and service and make you feel welcome. We did not have that feeling here.