rusconi's american kitchen

went back for dinner and it differed. last year i ordered the salmon brunch plate that's pictured here. this year i remembered how tasty it was and ordered the scottish salmon dinner that is very similar also pictured. my dinner cost a few bucks more and was smaller than the brunch plate. the salmon was good but not as succulent as the one i enjoyed last year. the one and one half fingerling potatoes that came with dinner seemed funny to me because that doesn't seem like a correct serving for dinner.
this time ok but not great.......


-----14 jan, 2013-----

brrrrrrrrrrrrrr. i tried a salmon plate with fingerling potatoes and brussels sprouts. the salmon seemed like high quality salmon and came out with a nice crust on it. it was also generous in portion. the poblano chile sauce gave the meal a little kick. my husband had a pasta with chicken dish. he said it was tasty but a little oily and he would have preferred more chicken but it still was good. yesterday it was very cold here and i don't think any heat was in therestaurantbecause when i left it was 43 degrees and it didn't seem any different than the dining room.

we were hesitant to try rusconi's because of the relatively low rating. however, we were very impressed. everything was top notch. service, food, ambiance, etc. we enjoyed an amazing burger (caramelized onions w/ goat cheese) and salad (pistachio, arugala, prosciutto). can't wait to return to a neighborhoodrestaurantin a neighborhood needing more high quality options like rusconi's.

food is okay, but service will drive you away. rusconi's is a neighborhoodrestaurantfor us; we've been there a dozen times, but what started well has evolved into a service disaster. the last two times (why i went back after the first bad experience, i don't know) have been absurd.

bad experience #1, we went for happy hour and one of our orders was the short rib sliders. over the hour we kept asking the bartender where our order was and kept being assured they were almost ready. finally they showed up one hour later and were burned to a crisp. we weren't alone as i looked down the line at the other diners, who also couldn't eat what had been brought to them. the bartenders knew the food was substandard and that noone was eating it, but ignored the situation.

bad experience #2, we went back for happy hour. for the first 10 minutes there was no one at the bar; the servers were all hanging out by the kitchen. when we finally were able to flag down a server they occassionally took our order. food was okay (actually the pork belly was a huge improvement vs their opening) but the server treated every customer seated as if they were an inconvenience. it took over 20 minutes just to get our bill at the end of the night, and they were not busy.

you may like the food, but the service will negate any positive part of your experience. take the time to drive another 5 minutes and go to blt for your night out.