This is an English review. Date of visit: November 2010. As a long time customer, I was shocked when I cut into my steak. It had a bad smell. The waitress took back the plate and suggested that I order the veal, which I did, as I did not wish to try another steak at that point. Suddenly the owner, whom I have always respected, arrived at my table with a slab of meat and told me that my steak had been cut from the same piece. So what! My steak smelled bad, and I did not want to eat it and get sick.
For me, this was a first. I rarely complain about anything in a restaurant. It embarrasses my partner if I do this, so I don't. But in this case, even she agreed with me. The meat smelled bad.
I have never had to argue with an owner before, so we were pretty upset. To add insult to injury, I was charged the price of the veal, which was more expensive than the steak.
Seeing as this was not my original choice, and it was not my fault that the steak had to be returned, I felt cheated by having to pay more than I wanted to. And, the veal was not that great, but.....
The trouble is that La Dolce Vita has lost me as a client. We went there about 6 to 8 times a year. Maybe that is not important enough for the owner, but, as I saw in other reviews, I am not the only one who has had a bad experience there. Really too bad, because there are not too many BYOB restaurants in the area.
