Lucatelli's

When we asked the front desk at our hotel for directions and received in addition a snide comment about the hotel dining room being a better choice, we should have turned around then and there and headed in the opposite direction. Granted, it was a Saturday night, but we had called the restaurant several days before and got 6:00 PM reservations for our party of 6 without a glimmer of concern. When we got to the restaurant, the parking lot was busy -- sometimes a good sign! But we had to push our way into the restaurant, and fight our way to the hostess' desk through a standing crowd. The restaurant itself seemed half full, so when they told us it would be a short wait, we believed them. 15 minutes went past, then another 10, and we returned to the beleaguered hostess to complain, only to be told that another party of 6 had arrived before us, and were to be given preference. At that point, we were becoming outraged, and searched for alternatives. A call back to our hotel restaurant ... more

When we asked the front desk at our hotel for directions and received in addition a snide comment about the hotel dining room being a better choice, we should have turned around then and there and headed in the opposite direction. Granted, it was a Saturday night, but we had called the restaurant several days before and got 6:00 PM reservations for our party of 6 without a glimmer of concern. When we got to the restaurant, the parking lot was busy -- sometimes a good sign! But we had to push our way into the restaurant, and fight our way to the hostess' desk through a standing crowd. The restaurant itself seemed half full, so when they told us it would be a short wait, we believed them. 15 minutes went past, then another 10, and we returned to the beleaguered hostess to complain, only to be told that another party of 6 had arrived before us, and were to be given preference. At that point, we were becoming outraged, and searched for alternatives. A call back to our hotel restaurant delivered the bad news that another table would be available in two hours, and we had passed several busy restaurants on the way, so unless we were prepared to eat take-out pizza (which we weren't) our best hope was to just sit tight and steam. As people came into the restaurant from that point on, we made a point of telling them we were approaching the hour mark in our waiting. My husband, who has disc issues in his back, couldn't find a seat in the busy foyer, and I was ready to faint from lack of food and a glass of wine on an empty stomach. Finally, an hour after we had walked in, a waitress came for us and took us to our table. While acceptable, the family style cooking was no reason to stand in a cramped and crowded lobby with insufficient seating and wait for an hour. There was no apology on the part of the management, no desert or drink on the house, and even though we had asked to speak to the manager on duty, s/he failed to appear. We wanted to ask what is the point of taking reservations if they won't be honored? Suffice to say, we will NEVER be going back to Lucatelli's, and certainly plan to write to our hotel to request that they also dissuade their clientele from a potentially unhappy experience. There are too many restaurants in Ithaca to put up with the kind of treatment we experienced. less