Russell from R. Kassman

On a “staycation” while my house is being painted, I was looking forward to a leisurely nice lunch on the Riverwalk. I know, it’s touristy but I had been to Paesano’s off 1604 and it was good, so I assumed the service and quality would be close to comparable. WRONG! It started with a waiter who had a filthy apron, and not clean nails, bringing a plate of herbed olive oil to the table, with his finger firmly planted in it. I ordered a favorite salad of Pear, Gorgonzola and Balsamic vinaigrette with Salmon, which I requested (three times) well done. He brought some bread which he claimed was “fresh baked”, and having been in the restaurant business, I know bread that has been in plastic from the fresh baked….this was NOT fresh. But the worst was the salad. It had a ton of emulsified balsamic dumped on top rather than a freshly whisked vinaigrette (I’m betting packaged) and the salmon was too raw for my taste….yuk. To his credit, the server did get the manager to discount it as I did not eat much, but really sad that they try to pass this subpar food on unknowing tourists. For a $30 salad, I expect better. Actually, for that money I expect exceptional, and this was exceptionally bad. The beauty of Italian food is fabulous ingredients prepared simply. This was simply a mess.