Affresco Pizzeria & Lounge

Have never been here before, heard the pizza was good.  We tried it for Mothers Day Brunch today.  It was an absolute disaster.  

Tables packed too tightly together, even for thin people.  The brunch was not what it was advertised to be.  <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Faffrescopizzeria.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F04%2FMD.jpg&s=56cddeb57fc26fc2fb7ac47fa8a31035c0d260b4f048bb8ea38e2c6f0ae178a3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://affrescopizzeria.…</a>  And there was no notice that it was not going to be as advertised, they just brought the food out that they decided to give us.

The ricotta pancakes were good, but cold.  There was no ciabatta french toast.  The build your own frittata was meh, and everyones was wrong.  The salad was a basically a bag of spinach, some shaved carrot with a tiny (TINY) bit of balsamic vinegar on it.  We were a party of five, and for the "seafood" portion of the brunch, they brought out 3 shrimp on a bed of the aforementioned spinach.  They did bring us five more after we requested more, and again for 5 of us they brought 4  pieces of bruschetta.  Then they brought out pasta, a thin maybe bolognese? sauce in a puddle of water.  And then some chicken and some potato wedges that seemed like they were cooked several times, baked, fried then baked again?   That must have been in place of the honey ham that was advertised.  Then there was a sad little dessert bar.  The drinks were supposed to be 4 bucks but we were charged 5.  We decided it was worth it to pay the extra few bucks to know never to come here again.  

Enzo was singing, he was good!!  Enjoyed him, and we had a good time because it was so bad that it was funny.  This for 30 dollars a person?  Just wow, poor execution all around.

This review is of the Mother's Day Brunch only.  I have had other meals there that definitely do not share this bad review.  Not sure if this is the first year they have tried the Mother's Day brunch concept but please, go back to the drawing board.  

Arrived at 12:35 for a 12:30 reservation.   I noticed when we walked in the chalkboard sign indicating that the brunch was $30 per person, $15 for kids.  Many tables open in the main floor, but was told ours was just finishing up.  Club-like music with very heavy base playing.  We were asked to wait at the bar.  We went with our three kids (ages 3, 7 and 9) to the small bar.  It was mostly taken up by four big plates of strawberries, apples and those dry little sprinkle cookies that you get at Italian bakeries.  The kids wanted a cookie but I wasn't sure what these were for so we just crowded down in the remainder 1/4 of the bar that was open.  After about 7-10 minutes of staff coming and going, a waitress or bartender asked if we'd like a drink while we waited.  The kids had OJ, I had a bellini, my husband declined.  5 more minutes and the table was ready.  It was now 12:52.  Still a good amount of open tables on the main floor.  

Waited another 5 minutes and we were brought water.  Kept asking for menus as I was not hungry enough for a large buffet (where was it?) and my 3 yr old barely eats a 1/2 sandwich at lunch.  Finally a waitress came by and gave us sheets to fill out of what we wanted in our frittatas.  Kids didn't want any, wasn't sure if I wanted one, either.  Told the waitress after a few minutes when we could grab her, we would rather order off the a la carte menu.  There isn't any, she tells us.  This is it.  My husband is now looking worried, said the website did not indicate this.  My daughter and husband are both celiac and cannot eat any wheat.  There were about  8-10 items on the buffet menu, less than 1/2 seemed to be something they could eat.  Noticed the table next to us just has large plates of salad on it, I think the buffet was more of family style plates.  $30 per person is excessive for anything as small as this, and to have no a la carte?   Occurred to me that the dry cookies and fruit was the "dessert bar".  We settled up and left.  Had to reassure my husband over and over he didn't "ruin" Mother's Day!  Would have been ruined had we stayed.  

This brunch plan needs some serious rethinking.

Thought we would try their Sunday Brunch on Mother's Day and we would bring my 90 year old mother-in-law.  Made a reservation for 10:30.  Arrived a few minutes early and were shown to a high top table!  Maybe Mom doesn't look like 90, no walker or anything like that, but she clearly shouldn't be sitting at a high top.  The hostess was VERY irritated when we asked for a different table and said nothing else is available.  Keep in mind that we could see other empty tables, but I get it, it is Mother's day, there are others with reservations too.  

When we repeated that we could not sit at that table, the now extremely irritated hostess repeated that there isn't anything else available and walked away.  Didn't see where she went, but she came back and said we should have told them when we made the reservation that we couldn't sit at a high top table, there are no other tables available.  We asked to speak with the manager and she said that she is the manager and she had already checked with the owner who agreed with her.

I do understand it was going to be a busy day, but I think the owner could have at least come out and apologized.  I really don't believe that nothing could be done for us, but if the owner or the so called manager had at least seemed like they cared, I would not be writing this poor review.  

Now that I've read the other comments here, it seems like a clear trend with poor service. My past experiences here have been OK, 3 stars.  There are many other options nearby, I don't feel the need to return.