Asti Trattoria

Was New Years Eve Ripoff-An Overall Frustrating Experience. My wife and I discovered ASTI about two months ago. It was pleasant, the food was unique and somewhat reasonable. The first time we dined with her mother the bill was $128, which is about the maximum I'd want to pay for 3 dinners (that included two glasses of wine).

Fast forward to New Years Eve. My wife had called in 4 days earlier to make reservations. The next day someone called back to confirm we would be there and wouldn't stand them up. We said we'd definitely be there. Then the next day someone else called and said they needed our credit card number, that if we didn't show up they would bill us $45 per person. Reluctantly we gave them the number.

On New Years Eve we showed up on time (6:45) and were seated promptly. However, when we saw the evening's menu, we were shocked at the prices. Instead of the usual price about $20 per entree, you had your choice of an appetizer, entree, and dessert for $65 per person. You could add a pasta onto your order and the price was $85 per person.

We wanted to walk out, but wondered if we were trapped. Were they going to charge us $45 per person if we did? My wife's 80-year-old mother was with us, so we decided to stay. Surprisingly, the food just wasn't as good as before, nor was the service. When they brought us the check, they tried to overcharge us by $24, but we caught it. While I was paying the bill, my mother-in-law went to use the bathroom, and was gone about 5 minutes. She came back and sat down at the table so she could rest a minute before we left. At that time the OWNER of ASTI came over and asked us to leave, saying they needed the table for another reservation (even though we counted three empty tables on the way out). We were shocked that after spending $231 (no alcohol) for 3 persons, we were asked to leave at 8:10 PM. Never again will we dine at ASTI. Not only did we feel ripped off, it was rude and insulting to be asked to leave in that manner. Any experienced manager, and especially the owner, should have been able to tell we were ready to leave anyway without him having to tell us so rudely.

UPDATE: After two very prompt Yelp responses by ASTI's manager Brian Stubbs, we decided to call him, as he stated he wanted "our side of things so he can rectify this situation so we may return to ASTI in good conscience." After about a 20-minute phone call where we discussed the mistakes of the evening, he then said the issues were discussed at that day's meeting between employees, management and the owner, so they could do better in the future. He said the special menu and their prices should have been relayed to us when we made reservations. I reminded him there were 3 phone calls total, and that message wasn't relayed in any of them. Unfortunately, Brian offered no "rectification" to us, saying he didn't know what else he could do. We didn't understand the whole purpose of "needing" to talk with us, since he offered no remedy, solution, refund, adjustment, free meal, nothing!! The whole conversation was a total waste of our time and only made us feel more frustrated with the whole experience and strengthened our intentions of never again dining at ASTI. There are so many good restaurants out there that appreciate our business, we'll frequent them instead.…

Top 10 reasons not to eat at Asti. 1) Sorry for standing in the doorway as I wait for my table. Oh that's right, there is nowhere else to stand. 2) Rib-eye was about as thick as my finger. $21 "A la Cart" 3) Food Quality, about par with Chili's. Price for table of three $170.



4) Can I have some Potatoes with that Parmesan. Heavy hand on the flavors. No need to overkill.



5) The only wine they carry is from Italy. No where else. What country are we in again?



6) No Ac/ and when you order water, it comes half filled with little ice. Not to mention the 15 min refill time.



7) Great Reviews, Bad food. Calamari was like rubber. What happened to this place?



8) If you are going to have a limited menu with only one option per meat, try to make it good.



9) Waiter with an attitude from the start. " I think he thought we were going to be cheap because we had our own wine" What he didn't know was the wine was over $100 a bottle. Retail.



10) It appears they write their own reviews.



Before today, I had not written an on line review. Normally I brush a bad experience as "maybe they were just busy". This was different. The place has an ego, and it has gone to their head.

Important-

By the way, do not use the Restaurant.co m gift certificate here. As soon as you give it to them. It all goes down hill. Way to get repeat business from first time customers. Other reviews on here say the same thing. The bad thing is, the server gets an auto tip off of the original bill. Our server made a $25 dollar tip on a 3 top.…