Bel Rio

I don't think I have ever been to a restaurant where the service was so poor that it overshadowed food that was well prepared. Well, I hadn't until I went to Bel Rio. The service was bad enough that I will probably never go back. This is how our meal went...

It was girls' night. I was with four other fabulous chicas, and we decided to try someplace we'd never been. Bel Rio seemed like a fun choice, because the Local was packed. We parked at the La Taza lot, which was super convenient. So, good marks for parking. And the ambiance wasn't bad. The Barry White music was a little weird, but, okay, we could roll with it.

The starters were nice. Really great bread and olives. And the waitress seemed knowledgeable. We ordered drinks, appetizers, and food in one fell swoop. And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

More than 15 minutes before our really lovely cocktails arrived. We'd already commented on how long it took for the drinks to get there, because the place wasn't crowded. But, excellent cocktails, all around! We drank our drinks and chatted, and waited for our appetizers.

And waited.

And waited some more.

It honestly took an hour, and a complaint to the manager, to get our appetizers. He kindly comped us some calamari, but the waitress hadn't come back at any point to give us an update! But, again, the appetizers were pretty tasty. I had the Bel Rio salad, which had grilled peaches. It wasn't the most amazing salad I've ever had, but it was all right. The calamari could have been better seasoned, but I think calamari is a pretty meeeeeh appetizer because its almost always exactly the same as everywhere else. But it was also a little rubbery.

By now we were starving, and looking forward to the entrees. I bet you can see where this is headed...

More waiting!

Eventually our entrees arrived, and they were honestly delicious. I had a wonderful vegetable rustica with asparagus on the side. The rice that came with it was a little undercooked. But everyone was satisfied with their entrees.

And, I will say, the desserts were fantastic. The tiramisu was delicious, creamy, but with a good coffee flavor. The deconstructed lemon tart had a fantastic shortbread cookie foundation. I don't really 'get' deconstructed food, but it definitely tasted like a lemon tart when all the pieces came together.

Prices were reasonable. Really, it was the service that was the biggest turn off.

So, the breakdown, on a scale from 1 to 5:
Ambiance: 3
Service: 1
Appetizers: 3
Entrees:4
Cocktails: 5
Desserts: 4
Prices: 3
Overall: 3