[twynsmom]

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.

[michaelkir]

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.

[rshoffer]

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.

[zcaveman]

Originally Posted by michaelkir

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 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.

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.

[jtdraig]

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.

[Hancle704]

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.

[twynsmom]

Originally Posted by Hancle704

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.

[jtdraig]

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.

[l2ridehd]

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.

[optimist]

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.

Originally Posted by optimist

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.

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.

http://thevillagesgourmetclub.home.c...b/page1.html#R

[2catsmeow]

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!

[ivy4140]

Originally Posted by Hancle704

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.

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!

[ivy4140]

Originally Posted by l2ridehd

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.

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