I don't like to write negative reviews; in fact I rarely do unless I'm absolutely sure that the negative experience I've had wasn't a fluke. So it is after the second straight time at Bricco's where I left the restaurant with somewhat of a bad taste (literally and figuratively)that I have come to the come to the conclusion that, this restaurant, is really not up to par. The location is great - amazing - in fact, but unfortunately, that is the best thing they have working for them. That, and the decor. When I walked into the restaurant, both times, I enjoyed the design. It gives the place; a good hip, in-crowd feel. But the pleasant feelings I get from the location and decor are quickly diminished. In this review, I will only recount the experience of my latest visit - as my first visit was more than 2 months ago, and I would feel bad if my absolute details were not there. Yesterday's visit will be the focal point of this review though.
Walking in with a few of my buddies, we were in a good mood. We had tickets to the improv club later on in the night; and were looking forward to the stand up comedian we were about to see, however, the hostess acknowledged us with a very tired and uninterested greeting; almost as if she was too tired to work. It was 6:00pm on a Saturday night; and the place had 1 table; come on, get some energy!
Anyways, we ignored the monotonous greeting and sat down; hungry and eager to get our eat on. Water glasses were quickly filled, but our waitress took her time coming by, but eventually got our drink orders in. Surprisingly, we were only told of the "red snapper" special, and she quickly left. No worries because there were plenty of choices on the menu already. The waitress took our orders; with a very defined lack of interest; which all three of us were rather surprised because we were extremely polite and cheerful at the moment. What really got me though, was a few minutes after we had placed our orders and another table was seated next to us; their server gave them a much more descriptive run through of the special which included much more than just the red snapper, which left us surprised and somewhat annoyed as a few of those specials sounded quite appealing. Annoyed we didn't get to hear about those choices; and surprised they have such a difference in service between servers. But anyways, onto the food:
I know, I know....I always mention that I don't talk or care too much about the bread service. But, I always eat the bread at the restaurant and I believe that its a good indication of how much care they take in their details and the small things. Bricco's obviously did not care. The bread, must have had good intentions at one point; it was solid italian bread; crusty outside and soft in the inside....AT SOME POINT. But not when we were served it last night during our bread service. Our bread was stale, and tasted like 2 day old bread they sell on sale. The butter, also had good intentions....it was a honey flavored whipped butter, or it was intended to be; but it was kept in the fridge for so long or chilled too much that it came out solid instead of whipped and when we dipped our butter knives into it; the butter basically crumbled into small bits and pieces. Oh well, we tried to salvage this by asking for olive oil - which was greeting with....a heavy SIGH. really????
Next, was my salad. I chose to get a spinach salad with bacon bits, cheese, eggs and a warm balsamic vinaigrette. It wasn't bad. Good portions, lots of spinach, plenty of toppings and the sauce wasn't bad at all. In fact, I would say the taste of the salad wasn't that bad at all. At a price of $8, it was passable. Nothing to write home about, but I would recommend getting the salad if you do end up at Bricco.
For my entree, I decided to get a pizza because I had tried their entree last time and had a very bad experience. 2 very bad experiences in one sitting last time, in fact, because the entree I ordered last time had to be sent back once because they forgot to heat up my food (literally, the side dishes were premade and was still cold) and the second time because they prepared it the complete opposite from what I asked. Thus, this time, I chose to go with the pizza - a meaty pizza with three different meats; and the red sauce. I was actually quite looking forward to this pizza as the description was quite enticing. So the pizza arrived; nice and hot. At least it was fresh - I'll give it that. And honestly, the pizza wasn't terrible, but you would expect more than "not terrible" when you go out to eat right? The pizza had all the toppings they listed; the chorizo, the bacon, the ham, and red marinara sauce. But it just didn't come together. The sauce was so spicy that it overpowered everything, and I basically couldn't taste the flavor of the meats. It was more a textural feature that told me I was eating a meaty pizza rather than the taste. And I can eat spicy food. I've even had the infamous ghost pepper in my curry before and lived to eat another day. But the spiciness of the sauce just overpowered and lost the pizza entirely for me. The big thing for me was; I couldn't even taste the tomato from the marinara sauce. With great expectations - I was left rather unimpressed.
We ended the night with coffee's all around, and at least that wasn't a problem. We left, stomachs full, but tastebuds - disappointed, and overall unimpressed. The service was rather lacking; to a point where I felt it was close to borderline rude. The food was plentiful, and location great, but next time before a show, I think I'd rather choose another venue to eat.
1438 Euclid ave
Cleveland, OH 44115
(216) 862-2889
