The food at La Rustica is fantastic, however, the experience can be so frustrating it can ruin the evening overall.
The biggest complaint is that it is so small, that the wait is an hour (at least) on all nights, and at all times. However, this is due to a very popular restaurant inhabiting a very small space. But to make the wait shorter, they\'ve crammed so many tables in, that most of the tables are extremely uncomfortable. The other night, sitting at one of the center tables, I was bumped by servers four times (twice causing me to spill food).
However, what annoyed me the most was the menu structure. They intend the pastas and entrees to be stand alone dinners for one person only. They charge a $4-5 fee if you intend to share with your friend.
If you order a pasta, it comes with a (rather boring) green salad. And if you order an entree, it comes with an ok side of pasta and the boring green salad. It discourages you from sampling the rather impressive salad and pasta options they have on the menu.
My wife and I wanted to split an appetizer and an (interesting) salad, split a pasta dish, then each have an entree. But if we\'d done so, we\'d have been charged an extra $5 to split the pasta, and had been served an extra salad and pasta each. Instead, we had two appetizers, ignored the boring green salads, and each had our entrees.
They should drop $4-5 off the entree prices, and ditch the salad and pasta side (they already serve potatoes as part of the mixed vegetables). Same thing with the pasta dishes. This would encourage people to order salad and pasta courses before their entree. They would probably make more money in the long run also.
However, even if nothing changes, I\'ll probably still go back every once in a while for the veal wrapped shrimp. It\'s one of the most decadent and wonderful dishes I\'ve ever eaten. I just wish it was easier to get.
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West Seattle Blog
West Seattle Blog
