La Brata (Closed)

Item: La Brata
Rating: 2
Author: kzai

18 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

2308

Central

$201-400

Italian Western Pizza Salad

kzai

Level2

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No one goes out to dinner seeking a bad time.
This statement is what I tell my staff regarding customer service. Your wait staff truly is in the frontline that helps create a great night or a bad night for your customers.
I think the management at La Brata could learn to treat their customers equally and with a much better attitude. Training really does help.
For the 1st time for a long long time, my husband and I had a Friday night off to enjoy with our friends. We were a table of 8 that made a booking for 9pm. There was a delay with the table but we didn't mind. We were looking forward to a night of great company with yummy food and drinks.
We called ahead to inquire about corkage because we were gifted a bottle of wine for my Husband's birthday by a customer of our restaurant. We wanted to share it with our friends. We intended to order wine at the restaurant as well. Before we were even given the wine list, our server (who acted and looked like the manager) had already came by to berate the bottle we had and scoffed at us.
It didn't get any better from there.
We ordered the 1 meter cold cuts and Cheese board at $598. We had decided to order a bottle of their wines best suited for the board. Instead of flatly stating they no longer carry the bottle we chose, the same rude server stated they are now using another wine for by the glass. As we were ordering a bottle, we were confused by his statement. Anyway, we just ended up ordering what he said was the new house red.
We also ordered their Burata cheese plate. Which was ok. I've definitely had better but it was still quite creamy and a pleasant appetizer.
However when the Cold cuts board came, the server dropped it off and left. We had no idea what we were eating for the meats and Cheese. No explanation, no service. It felt like we were tolerated instead of embraced as guests. Our friends noted we were the only Chinese table in the restaurant.
Next we ordered a pizza. Pumpkin sauce, Pancetta and smoked cheese. It was quite good but light in flavor. Still perfectly enjoyed by all of us. We added a Duck ragu pasta dish ($160) and their Porterhouse ($800) for Medium rare.
Duck ragu was overcooked minced meat and overcooked pasta. Little sauce and bearable.
Steak....we were all shocked at how well done most of the steak was. So I asked the same server what temperature we ordered it. Medium Rare. Well, it wasn't, so he huffed and took the steak back. After a while he came back and said it was not possible to cook our porterhouse to medium rare so we should order another steak. I don't think I've ever heard of that and I've worked in a proper steakhouse. Fine, we ordered the steak he suggested for Medium Rare. He smiled at us like he had a knife to his back. If it was any more insincere, he could have just swore at us.
The steak that finally came was cooked medium well. Because the server never came to ask if the steak was ok, if we were ok. We were hungry enough to just eat it. I could only eat half of it because it was so tough and chewy.
By now the entire table was pissed at the service we were getting. We noticed a very different attitude and service compared to the all the other customers. I know in most traditional Italian restaurants, Limoncello is served complimentary to guests at the end of the meal. We saw others get it, we didn't. We didn't really care about the Limoncello, but what we cared about was how our entire table was treated.
Unluckily for La Brata, I'm a 20 years veteran in F&B. I've worked in every position from Chef to Server to Bartender to Manager to Owner. I've never encountered such a disregard of customers in restaurant this small.
This guy single handedly ruin our entire table's night out. We went in excited and happy. We left upset and angry. There are like a zillion Italian restaurants in HK, blindly pick one and it would be better than La Brata. I'd rather pay double to eat at a place like Spaghetti House than ever step foot inside La Brata again even if it was free.