mistake. my boyfriend paid $140 for two drinks and a beer that we ordered; two drinks that we did not order; a dish that we never received and %18 gratuity for some really “one-of-a-kind” service. after that experience i would not recommend casa tua to anyone. in fact, i would strongly suggest that you avoid casa tua. i have eaten at some really amazing restaurants with james beard awarded chefs in 4 and 5 diamond settings and have never been treated in such a way. i have never experienced such poor service paired with even worse attitudes. i cannot critique the food—we never did receive any during that two hour fiasco. the décor is classic and beautiful; the setting is gorgeous and candle-lit...but i do suppose that anyone can put lipstick on a pig.
upon arrival at 8:50 pm, i gave my name to the hostess (mind you i had called and confirmed these reservations earlier in the day for two at 9:00 pm at an outside table in theirgardenarea--which of course was “no problem”), she found my name on the list but did not mention the fact that i had requested outdoor seating (specifically requested--two weeks in advance). i politely reminded her that i had asked for a table outside and she said that we could wait in the bar for just a few minutes until our table was available. we went to the “cute” but too small bar and ordered two drinks. eventually more people arrived and were also directed to the bar area—which is adequately equipped to only sit about 8 people, tops. at this point a gentleman and his wife offer to buy me and my boyfriend a drink—we need to refresh our drinks any way (which reminds me of how long we have been sitting in this bar), so we courteously accept. when i go to see about our table i am told that they are still waiting for people to finish and am shooed back to the bar (though we’ve seen other people seated outside). at this point it has been an hour and fifteen minutes and i’m mildly annoyed but still want to experience this meal that i had spent so much time planning and had been so excited about. the other people in the bar have now been seated even though they had been waiting 15 minutes and we have been waiting an hour and a half.
finally, we are reluctantly called to be seated at 10:30 pm. my boyfriend is then told that the tab at the bar cannot be transferred and is charged for the drinks the gentleman had bought for us, in addition to our previous round—he makes no fuss and pays. by this time my boyfriend, who is being a great sport, is not hungry (who could blame him—it’s been an hour and a half and the staff and service have been lackluster) and orders a beer while i order two dishes-the gnocchi and branzino. alas, it starts to rain and we move to another table outside (which was open) with an awning and umbrella—to which the latter is just funneling water down my boyfriend’s back. the waiter fails to see this as a problem. at this point, i am no longer willing to make the best of the “casa tua ambience” and we decide that we’d like to just cancel the order (which has not been prepared), pay for the one beer and leave.
then, the waiter tells my boyfriend that we can move inside, but cannot leave because i have ordered (an order that we have not seen, nor that has been prepared). my boyfriend wants to pay for the drink and asks for the bill. the waiter goes inside and another gentleman arrives with a bill for $100 and demands that we must pay for food that we never received and that we could not leave until we did so. my boyfriend says he will pay for the beer he had but not the two dishes that we never received. now the gentleman says that he will knock off the branzino dish but that we must pay for the gnocchi (that we never got) and the %18 gratuity (for the wonderful service we received, i guess?). at this point i am so upset and desperate to leave that i’d pay anything just to get the hell out of there. the man then snatches my drink from my hand, tells me i’m intoxicated and that my boyfriend has threatened him (we’ve had two drinks and my boyfriend has barely spoken more than three sentences to this man). i am fighting the tears back as best i can and take out a credit card...which is also then snatched from my hand.
we left directly after we got the card back.