HakanIlhan

Really really terrible service ruined what would have been a very pleasant meal for the boyfriend and me last night at Alba Osteria.

We arrived shortly after 8pm and sat at the bar. The restaurant was nearly empty and the bar was a little over half full though it seemed that many parties had been there for some time. Even though there were three bartenders working, it took five minutes for us to be acknowledged and given menus. Then two minutes later, a second bartender asked for our order. Since we barely had a chance to look at the wine list we asked for a few minutes. It did only take us a few minutes to figure out our order but we had to flag down the second bartender to put in our order. Fortunately, the wines came quickly. Unfortunately, service disintegrated at that point. The two appetizers (cauliflower and meatballs) came out quickly and they were promptly followed by a half order of the tajarin. But the pizza was nowhere to be seen and no one stopped by to ask us if we were waiting for something, needed something, were enjoying ourselves...no one stopped by. At. All. We finally saw a pizza come out and hoped it would be ours. Much to our dismay, it was placed in front of two women who arrived much later than us. The women poked at the pizza and were about to dig in when another bartender came out and said that the women didn't order that pizza, they had ordered the one he had in his hand. We observed as the bartender we mostly dealt with took the pizza to various people at the bar (but not to us) and asked them if they had ordered a pizza. When she couldn't figure it out, she placed it below the bar as another bartender went back to the kitchen to figure out what went wrong. He came out and informed our bartender/server that the pizza was for us. Our bartender/server asked us if we ever received our pizza and we said no so she proceeded to place the pizza in front of us like we didn't see what had just happened! Both my boyfriend and I objected and told the server/bartender that we did not want a pizza that was nearly eaten by another couple and then taken around to other patrons and finally placed below the bar for several minutes. She said "oh okay" and walked away. No offer of offering a replacement, no question about whether we wanted to order something else or whether we wanted our check. Nothing. The three bartenders working proceeded to completely ignore us for what seemed like a very long time. Unless we yelled and rudely hailed one of them over, we could not even get their attention so we could get our check and leave.

Finally fed up, I went to the hostess stand asked to talk to the manager. I explained the situation to him and noted that this was the worst service I have ever received in the District. I was livid. In the end, the manager brought out two pizzas in to-go boxes and comped our meal. My boyfriend really wanted to just pay the bill and get out of there but since the manager went to the kitchen and the servers remained clueless to what had just happened (seriously) we couldn't get our check. By the time the manager came back with the pizzas and apologized again, we were too irritated to remain in the restaurant so we accepted his apologies, thanked him for comping our meal, and sped out of there.

As for the food, it was not bad. The cauliflower appetizer we ordered was really good. While dry, the meatballs were flavorful and tasty and I rationalized that maybe it was just a bad batch. The tajarin we ordered was delicious and I agree with Astrid above that it was one of the best pastas I've had in DC. The pizza...I had a slice when I got home (about a five minute walk) and it was just okay. The cheese and toppings were good but the crust was too chewy.

Had we not had such a terrible experience with the service, I think my boyfriend and I would have put this spot in our neighborhood rotation. But even if I wanted to give this place another shot, I don't think I could convince my boyfriend to ever set foot in that place again. And I don't think I could take a guest there with my current reservations about the service. 

As the owner of Alba Osteria,  I want to thank you for taking the time to discuss your experience on DonRockwell.com, it provides a great service to the food industry. I was disappointed to learn of your experience at our bar, it is not how we want to treat anyone in our home. We take full responsibility for what happened and 100% acknowledge the responsibility I have to our staff and customers to remedy the situation. Amy and Roberto have come together to create an exciting and wonderful menu, it is my personal duty to ensure the service is on par with their work. I am aware how detrimental poor service can be for any dining experience and we appreciate the feedback since it is the only way to know the areas where we need improvement.

I will say honestly that over the past few months, we have had our share of challenges.  We are continually working to improve our current staff and also actively hiring new members. The training in regards to service, food and wine knowledge is an ongoing process and we are working hard at it everyday.

In your case, we fell very short and your experience has been reviewed and discussed with our bar manager and the rest of our management team. All the issues mentioned in your comment are completely unacceptable,  for a dish to be passed around and for you not to receive the proper help is simply not correct. I understand that sometimes the situation cannot be corrected with a complimentary meal and it is not your responsibility to forgive our mistakes. We are committed to achieving a top notch service team and ensuring we provide the best setting for authentic Piemontese Cuisine in DC.  We have hired new parts to our management team and are working furiously to find the right people for our family. 

We apologize that we failed you and we would like to show you our better side. It would be our pleasure to properly welcome you for dinner, please contact me at Hakanilhan2@gmail.com if you would be so kind to give us another chance. 

Thank you again for taking the time to write about us and it is my absolutely my mission to make sure our service is meeting the quality our diners deserve. 

Hakan Ilhan