9. Oliverio's Ristorante on the Wharf

We went there this past Sunday evening for a martini and some of their incredibly delicious calamari. Usually, the food and service here are impeccable, but this time things were different. We ordered two appetizers and two drinks. The calamari was outstanding as always and the martinis were great, made exactly to order. But that’s about it for the positives. The “crab dip” was awful, it was about 95% cream cheese with just a few piece of (imitation?) crab in it. It was served with some crostini things which were okay but there weren’t enough of them to match the amount of dip. Oh well, we just picked out the few little crab bits and left the big glop of cream cheese on the plate. The worst problem was the restrooms. The ladies room had two stalls; the first one had a broken door lock so that the door would not close. The second stall had a broken toilet, it would not flush at all, the flusher just flapped uselessly. Also the floor was dirty and there were bits of paper towel and toilet paper all over the floor. My male companion used the men’s restroom and said that at the sink, the hot water faucet was missing, it was just a bare threaded post where the faucet was supposed to be. Finally, the service: At first the waiter was very attentive, but he seemed to forget about us toward the end of our visit. We spent about 10 minutes in a futile attempt to catch his eye, which was quite irritating. After settling up, we asked to speak to a manager. A young man came out and introduced himself as a manager. We politely explained how the food and service were not up to the standards we were accustomed to at Oliverio’s, but he just seemed flustered and distracted. He gave a sort of generic apology, then looked a little helpless and frazzled. We weren’t looking for anything to be “comped” or anything and had already paid out bill in full, but it seemed odd that the reaction was basically “oh well sorry about that”. The next day I left detailed voicemail for the owner/manager, asking for a call back so we could pass on our concerns. No one from the restaurant bothered to return my call. Overall, a surprisingly disappointing dining experience at Oliverio’s.