A diner from Baltimore, MD
Dec 21, 2010
I made a reservation for 13 guests at Milan. When we arrived, we were accosted by a bouncer at the door demanding to see ID, because to get to the restaurant you had to pass through a bar/lounge.
When we arrived upstairs, the table was only set for 11. The staff made us help move an additional table to complete our set-up.
We had a 5 month old infant with us, and asked if there were any child seats. The hostess laughed at us, and said she would "ask." She never returned. We were not offered even a regular adult seat to place the car seat on. Therefore, we all held the infant throughout dinner.
The service was a disaster. We did not receive menus until we asked. We were asked to place drink orders without being given a wine list or drink menu. When I asked for a drink menu before placing my order, I was given one, but no one returned to inquire about what I wanted to order.
The service was beyond slow; it took nearly an hour to receive our appetizers, and another 45 minutes to receive our entrees. During the wait, we were given extra water, but the server never brought bread to the table, although tables around us had received it. No apology was made for the slow service.
When the appetizers arrived, they brought the wrong salad to one woman. When she pointed this out, she was told that since it had touched the table, they would have to throw it out. When it became apparent that she was not willing to be guilt-tripped into accepting a salad she did not order, the waiter brought the appropriate salad out, saying it was "on the house." However, that salad still appeared on our final bill.
The entrees were themselves a disaster. The server had no idea who had ordered what food item. Three people ordered the braised lamb risotto. Apparently Milan needs to be educated that braising is a style of cooking meat, while barbecue sauce is a condiment. The lamb risotto featured grilled lamb chops smothered in barbecue sauce, which was absolutely not the description written on the menu.
We were never offered coffee or dessert menus.
Two members of the group had to leave early (perhaps because their arms were tired from holding their infant throughout the meal). They arranged to pay their bill separately before leaving.
The bill we finally received included the two appetizers and two entrees ordered by the people who left early. When we asked about this, we were told that the meals had been removed from the final price, but that the restaurant did not split checks. We pointed out that the items were still on our bill, and our server replied rather curtly that the meals HAD been removed from the bill.
We all calculated what we owed, and then spent nearly 45 minutes tallying and retallying our count because it did not mesh with the total written on our bill. Throughout this time, the server was very pushy about us paying the bill. If he had been that on top of things during the meal, it would have been less disastrous. When we sorted out the check so it matched the total on our bill, the server informed us that the restaurant system "would crash" if we used more than 6 cards to pay the bill. Of course, he couldn't have told us this while we were very apparently attempting to pay the bill.
We finally agreed to put the bill on one card, which took nearly 15 minutes for the server to process. When the receipt came back, the total was nearly 80 dollars less than what had been on the bill we were given. Apparently the meals paid for by the two people who left early had NOT been removed from our total, as the server told us. The inability of the server to appropriately explain what had been done to our bill led to a tremendous waste of time.
Overall, the food was not particularly good, and certainly not worth the amount paid per person. I would not recommend this restaurant to a friend, a colleague, or my worst enemy. The entire experience, start to finish, was dreadful.
When we arrived upstairs, the table was only set for 11. The staff made us help move an additional table to complete our set-up.
We had a 5 month old infant with us, and asked if there were any child seats. The hostess laughed at us, and said she would "ask." She never returned. We were not offered even a regular adult seat to place the car seat on. Therefore, we all held the infant throughout dinner.
The service was a disaster. We did not receive menus until we asked. We were asked to place drink orders without being given a wine list or drink menu. When I asked for a drink menu before placing my order, I was given one, but no one returned to inquire about what I wanted to order.
The service was beyond slow; it took nearly an hour to receive our appetizers, and another 45 minutes to receive our entrees. During the wait, we were given extra water, but the server never brought bread to the table, although tables around us had received it. No apology was made for the slow service.
When the appetizers arrived, they brought the wrong salad to one woman. When she pointed this out, she was told that since it had touched the table, they would have to throw it out. When it became apparent that she was not willing to be guilt-tripped into accepting a salad she did not order, the waiter brought the appropriate salad out, saying it was "on the house." However, that salad still appeared on our final bill.
The entrees were themselves a disaster. The server had no idea who had ordered what food item. Three people ordered the braised lamb risotto. Apparently Milan needs to be educated that braising is a style of cooking meat, while barbecue sauce is a condiment. The lamb risotto featured grilled lamb chops smothered in barbecue sauce, which was absolutely not the description written on the menu.
We were never offered coffee or dessert menus.
Two members of the group had to leave early (perhaps because their arms were tired from holding their infant throughout the meal). They arranged to pay their bill separately before leaving.
The bill we finally received included the two appetizers and two entrees ordered by the people who left early. When we asked about this, we were told that the meals had been removed from the final price, but that the restaurant did not split checks. We pointed out that the items were still on our bill, and our server replied rather curtly that the meals HAD been removed from the bill.
We all calculated what we owed, and then spent nearly 45 minutes tallying and retallying our count because it did not mesh with the total written on our bill. Throughout this time, the server was very pushy about us paying the bill. If he had been that on top of things during the meal, it would have been less disastrous. When we sorted out the check so it matched the total on our bill, the server informed us that the restaurant system "would crash" if we used more than 6 cards to pay the bill. Of course, he couldn't have told us this while we were very apparently attempting to pay the bill.
We finally agreed to put the bill on one card, which took nearly 15 minutes for the server to process. When the receipt came back, the total was nearly 80 dollars less than what had been on the bill we were given. Apparently the meals paid for by the two people who left early had NOT been removed from our total, as the server told us. The inability of the server to appropriately explain what had been done to our bill led to a tremendous waste of time.
Overall, the food was not particularly good, and certainly not worth the amount paid per person. I would not recommend this restaurant to a friend, a colleague, or my worst enemy. The entire experience, start to finish, was dreadful.
