I've heard that this is a great fine dining...
I've heard that this is a great fine dining eatery hdere in Guelph. After living here for only a year we decided to give it a try. We were accommadated on short notice, only after they recieved a cancelation. (only later to discover we had originally been turned away when the entire dining room was sitting empty! Strange way for a restaurant to turn away any business during these tough times). We well greated and sat quickly. Our server was nice and seemed atentive at first but was interested in talking about themselves, and their family. When placing our orders a large group arrived and was seated at the adjacent tables. The new large group seemed to be beyond the capacity of the staff and management to deal with. With 10 minutes we could no longer carry on a conversation as we could not hear one another over the noise. The staff and managment took no action and seemed to return to the terrace only to run food. We would have walked out at this point but had been served our wine and wanted to be fair and give the kitchen a chance to win us over if the service staff could not. After being moved to the empty dining room at our request our food began to arrive. Only over 1 hour into our visit. The grilled calamari was not what any of us expected, we were served cold sliced calamari that grilled at another time. the arugula that it was served on was wilted, browning and flat as far as flavor, the only seasoning used was lemon. A poorly cut slice lying forgotton on the side of the plate and some wdeges hidden in the greens that came with a generous portion of seeds, no seasoning. A cold app when we all expected a warm grilled app, and referred to that when we ordering. The pasta and gnocchi course was acceptable, however with the wait, now over 1.5hours our group was not won over. We felt we were forgotten about, and were left wanting a wine list for a second bottle (again strange business practice not selling wine) or water refills. Our mains would be easliy forgotten had they not been cooked incorrectly, the temperatures were not close 2 MR's were MW's, the potatos had not been roasted that night. For the cost of mains (which is still a reasonable range) I certainly did not recieve what I was billed for, 2 lamb chops, 2 small new potatoes and 1 small patti pan squash. All I can say is well done! This experience was consistantly bad and bland throughout the evening. The follow up on our complaint that we not served what we ordered was clumsy at best, were offered desserts that we did not want and had to ask for an alternative solution then were given desserts that we had said that we did not want! It seems very arrogant to assume that you already know what would make your customers happy instead of listening to them when they are trying to tell you. If La Cucina already new how to make us happy we would not have been complaining after allowing every them every chance to make us want to return. We had to point out after the mains arrived that we were waiting for the wine list so we could have something with our meals. What is written on the menu did not translate to what came on our plate. The service was inconsistant, Customers should not have to turn in their seeats after becoming frustrated from being forgotten and ignored. We would have no problem sitting for three hours for three courses had they all been well done and cooked entirely during our visit. La Cucina, sorry you have a great space, ok concept but displayed poor judgement on how you run operations, I was embarrased for you since you did not display enought sense do be embarrased by your own poor performance. Never again,