redsauce
 

Hubby and I went to redsauce last night during their soft opening. We were impressed. The service was excellent, our waiter, Jason, was there for our every need, the food was very good and served in a timely manner and most importantly, hot! We shared a cup of Pasta Fagioli and that was very tasty and served piping hot. Hubby had Speghetti and meatballs and said it was very good. I had the Lasagna and that too was very good. The prices are very fair. Our bill including two drinks, was $32. Other than a couple of "bumps" not even worth mentioning, I would say they had a successful opening. :pepper2:

Not so fortunate
 

We arrived around 6 and the hostess told us about 40 minutes, and at 40 minutes we were being seated. A very good start, I thought! Our waiter came shortly after we were seated and took our drink order of 2 glasses of wine. We ordered Mozzarella and tomatoes at the same time and indicated when he returned with the drinks we would have decided on an entree. 35 minutes later, no drinks, no Mozzarella, no water and no waiter!! Warm bread came and wasn’t bad. Finally the drinks came at about 40 minutes and 10 minutes later the salad. The Riesling was warm, the Mozzarella and Tomatoes was not too good, the tomatoes were green, hard, and had absolutely no taste. I’m thinking a Restaurant called Red Sauce should really know what a decent tomato looks like, my mistake. At an hour and one half no dinner yet, still no waiter. I asked the hostess to send the manager over and although he was at the hostess station she went towards the kitchen??? I got up explained the situation to the manager and asked if he could expedite our meal. He was full of excuses; I told him that was just fine but please get the meal to us. My Rigatoni Bolognese was very bland, virtually no flavor, remember this restaurant is called RED SAUCE. They did however put big chunks of sausage in the Bolognese lots of gristle in these babies, not what I was expecting. My partner had Fettuccini Alfredo with grilled chicken, same issue very bland and the chicken was over cooked to the point of being bitter. Cut them a little slack for being new..sorry these issues run deeper!!! They charge me full price, I expect full service and a good meal! I was truly looking forward to a nice Italian dinner, sadly I was disappointed.

We went last evening. No great positives or negatives. One peculiar thing did happen... a gentleman in our party ordered one of their beers on tap. About 20 minutes later he asked the waiter where his beer was and was told, "there's a back-up at the bar????". I'd go back and I suspect the frenetic pace of activity that goes with a new place opening in TV will have passed and things will come together.

I would have been gone before the 35 minutes. Just gone. But I would have stopped by the main desk and told them why - loudly. Sorry. That was worst than poor service.

I would have been gone after 35 minutes as well. After living here for three and a half years and watching restaurants open, they invariably go through problems, generally kitchen related which flows over to service. I've gotten a bit more charitable and am willing to give these people some time to get it together. Havana is still struggling. I won't post a review until I have been somewhere three times..just a personal policy.

Red Sauce Pasta
 

So they had their soft opening and like so many other new restaurants, they don't have it right when they open the door and so many Village people can't wait to try the new place and come away disappointed. Maybe things would work out, if folks waited a few weeks before trying a new place and submitting their "reviews". Unfortunately for the new businesses, first impressions do count and quite often last.

:agree:

I actually agree with you...I think the key here is that these new restaurants don't seem to understand that they are going to get slammed when they open and, if things don't work out, are immediately hammered in talkofthevillages.com. This creates a difficult situation for them which, of course, is entirely of their own doing. The Villages economic due diligence is different than most other places. I tried to make that point to Crossman but they don't care, they just want to sign a lease. :ohdear:

Interesting that you say "like so many other new restaurants, they can't get it right when they open". Read the thread on Red Lobster. They got it right day one because they trained their staff before opening. More places need to take that approach as it takes way to long to get back a lost customer. It is much better to have someone come and have a good experience then start with a bad one. Once you have a good experience, you will be much more tolerant when sometime in the future they mess up.

Wow! I too would be less than thrilled too were the owner/manager to offer "excuses"! Being a host at Red Sauce, I have heard 99% positive comments re: food/service. The
owners are on the floor nightly and yearn for and work diligently to assure customer satisfaction.

Red Sauce... inside information.
 

The parents of one of the owners (and chefs?) of Red Sauce frequent one of my daily hangouts and it seems like Red Sauce is doing extremely well business wise even in this cold and did train their staff extensively before they opened.

I would just give it time to get off the ground.

The Villages Gourmet Club now has some entries about Red Sauce.
 

Good Food / Good Service
 

Was there tonight for the second time - had good experiences both times. Tonight went with neighbors - got there a little after 4:40 - they opened at 4. Were seated right away - but they were filling up fast. Our server greeted us in a timely manner and brought water for the table with her. Really enjoyed the dinner - started with the fried artichokes - arrived quickly and were very tasty - enough for the four of us to have 2 each. Hubby and I split the caeser salad and a lasagna dinner. Plenty of both for us - and no split charge. Might even just split the dinner side salad which was $3 instead of the menu caeser salad which was $6 and was a huge bowl of salad - almost too much. One of our neighbors ordered gnocchi and asked for a different sauce other than what was listed on the menu and they willingly obliged and the other had the lasagna also. Everything arrived hot, tasty and without a long wait. Only good things to say about red sauce – can’t wait to go back and try some of the other items. A pleasant addition to Sumter Landing – hope they can keep up the good work. Only thing missing is happy hour and I am sure that will be coming!

It's so true. The customers need to understand that there are growing pains with starting up new restaurants! Either wait until they are able to get a handle on it, or stop expecting perfection from day 1! :agree:

Quite a few people have bad opinions of Red Lobster too, whether or not the post them on TOTV. :icon_hungry:

I stand by my original post. We've been back threre twice since my favorable review and it is still very good.

We ate there last night around 8 PM. Good service, good food, good price. Well worth going and we'll be back.

Red Sauce!
 

Wow, sounds good to me. I was one that loved Red Lobster too. Quite honestly, we've only had two bad experiences in dining in the 14 months we've been here. One was as Whiskey Creek (Gone!) and the other was at Havana, very bad service and undercooked Salmon. All though I went after that to a luncheon and the food and service were very good.

We are not really picky though. Looking forward to trying Red Sauce. I actually liked Dominic's too! Never had a bad experience there. :smiley:

Is something weird happening?
 

First of all, I ain't accusiin' nobody of nuthin'. Recently in another forum, someone suggested that a plethora of negative comments about the place (Havana??) might be the result of some ulterior motives. I make no such claim or innuendo. And lastly I am certainly not denigrating the integrity of new members of TOTV. --- okay, caveats over ---

Anyone else notice that an inordinately high number of recent restaurant "reviews" have been posted by people with 4, 5, 6, or 7 previous posts on TOTV? While most seem to be of the negative variety, some are defensive of the establishments. When Chelsea or Taz with their 9000 previous posts have a comment, that's one thing, but when a person's intro to TOTV is to torpedo a business, it makes me wonder. At least one poster admitted to being an employee of the restaurant, and I could totally understand his/her defense of the place.

Bye the bye, this is not a comment about this thread per se. I've noticed it in other restaurant threads. Maybe, as usual, my mind is off track, but it just struck me unusual, and a bit bothersome. I could, of course, be wrong.

red sauce follow-up
 

Let me begin this post with the comment - we wanted to like this place, the Villages needs another good Italian restaurant.
A group of 8 went to Redsauce Monday around 5:15. We were seated immediately. Server was attentive however wasn't very helpful when one of the diners asked about the Tomato Tarta...could not explain the dish. He "forgot" to bring us bread. (which was disappointing when it arrived). Requests for water refills were ignored. One of the diners ordered the house salad, but wanted it without dressing because of dietary limitations. The server was questioning why and that he would "have a hard time explaining it to the kitchen. Overall, 3 people had meatballs and spaghetti - rated ok, nothing great, Eggplant parm. - another ok, house salad dressing was rated too sweet, sausage/pepper and onion appetizer was the best dish of the group. Another had the grouper putanesca...nothing to write home about. Mozzarella,tomato and basil salad was also disappointing. We realize this place is new, but I doubt any of us would return for quite a while.

redsauce ok
 

We ate at redsauce on Tuesday night, February 10. We were seated within a few minutes as promised, & the service & food were good. We'd eat there again.

I noticed the same thing. I think all reviews should be considered just one man's (woman's) opinion. However I give less credence to those who's only goal seems to be either promoting one restaurant or tearing another down. Sorry but we just don't know them as well yet so we have to take what they say with a grain of salt (food pun intended).

Russ

So if you don't know someone, those opinions shouldn't be taken seriously? And if the unknowns post more than once or twice on TOTV there is an alternative motive?
Maybe some of the unknowns are tired of reading all the negatvie remarks and want to post the positive.

Twynsmom, I agree with you on this one. The number of postings a person has should not matter. I only have a few postings but have been reading Talk of the Villages for a good long time. I just don't post my opinion on things unless I think I have something worthwhile to say.
I have posted some very positive things about other service providers in the Villages. My earlier post here was just based on my experience.

I just don't post my opinion on things unless I think I have something worthwhile to say.
Thats good advice!

I believe...
 

I think the point Muncle and Russ were trying to make is that, in the past, people have joined and posted strictly for their own agenda. Competitive restaurateurs or business owners would post bad reviews or good reviews accordingly. Whichever helped them out the most. I don't think they were picking out anyone in particular, just to be wary of new postings that can damage a new business before it's had a chance. This is a free forum and not hard to join, so just asking to take reviews from newbies, both good and bad, with a grain of salt is a good thing. ;)

That was my point. The newbies may have a valid point but I wouldn't avoid the place based solely on their review since they MAY be a plant. It has happened and it can't be stopped but just be forewarned.

Now if I get a negative report from someone I KNOW is not a plant because I know the person then I take that more seriously. I might still go to the restaurant but if I have a bad experience then I know it is something that may not just be coincidental.

I just said that i give less credence to an opinion from an unknown.

My policy is to form my own opinion (60's rebel spirit). I had a friend knock the food at a place the wife and I hadn't tried. We do consider ehat we hear but like to form our own opinion.

On one particular day while in LSL she suggested we try the place. Needless to say we both real enjoyed our lunch and will go back often.

Moral of the story is consider all the opinions but make you own informed decision.

:icon_hungry::icon_hungry:

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Rumors
 

I hope that everyone would make a decision for themselves on where to go to eat. I think that this is a good forum but it should not be the be all or end all of any establishment. Red Sauce just opened. Give them a chance. We were just at Amelia's at the Waterfront after "hearing" they were going to close down. After enjoying our breakfast Ed our server told us that their sales are up over last year and just receieved a successful corporate visit. Go Figure!

Yummy!
 

We went to Red Sauce tonight with 3 other couples and everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals. And our waitress was a sweetie! She said they were opening up "The Market" which is just around the corner next to Ambrosia. It will be like an Italian Deli, also have some dinners to heat up at home, and Italian Bakery! I think Red Sauce is a wonderful addition to TV. :coolsmiley:

:icon_hungry:

An Italian Bakery that is great news, we love Italian Pastries and Breads.

:icon_hungry:

Rebuttal?
 

I am not one of those who has 9000+ posts, but I do have my opinion on some things and I thought that is what this site is about. I like to read the posts both positive and negative and then decide on my own. I know that food service is one of the toughest businesses out there. I worked for a company that owned 3 restaurants in the same town. My bosses welcomed feedback both good and bad. That is only one of the ways businesses know what they're doing right and what is wrong and where changes need to occur. From some of what I read in a number of the posts on Havana (yes, I posted one), I saw for myself. We had both good and bad experiences within our group. What we all did agree on was the waitress....she was terrific. My intent was not to "torpedo" the business and I'm sorry if you saw it as such. And yes, I will try them again.

I wish someone would pound DADEO on the back , I think he's choked..

might have been the veal.........

fumar

Redsauce
 

OK
Here's my two cents , We called for a reservation and six of us went in at prime time , 6:00 oclock.....We were seated immediately , Ordered wine and it was there in 10 minutes. Food was there in 20 minutes . It was hot , delicious and just what we ordered , 5 of the 6 meals was excellent , the 6th wasn't so hot (mine) pizza and I wouldn't order it again......Service was very good .......
On the downside , 6 people in a booth sucks, (as my grandson would say) but the shingles on the roof were very nice , the decor was lovely. (wife) The hostess was beautiful but would not give me her number , (does anyone know what an OLD FOGY is) All in all it was a pleasant experience and we will go back again

however , the Ocean View wasn't all that hot either ...

fumar ..:icon_hungry:

Fair is Fair
 

So,...back in Jan I posted a not so good review of Red Sauce.
We went back this weekend just to see if anything had improved. Yup!!!! and we were very happy. The reception was prompt and we picked our table. The server was well informed and very accomodating. The food was about 110% better than our first visit. Someone was payiing attention, nice job. I truly hope you can keep up the good work.