Officina at The Wharf

"I came to this restaurant on a Saturday evening with a few friends. The service started off great, it was restaurant week so we all ordered from the specialized menu. We had a few drinks as we waited for our meal, the drinks were good. When our food arrived everything was mediocre at best. The pasta was extremely al dente. It actually seemed a bit undercooked, and the food was very bland. We didn’t think too much of it though, and continued on with our evening until we were offered bread (which we were offered toward the end of our email mind you not when we initially sat down). We noticed some dark specs on our bread. Being that the establishment is very dimly lit it was hard to tell what the dark marks were on the bread. When we asked the server they said that it was peppercorn and spices that they use when making the focaccia. But something just didn’t seem right, so I took out my flashlight on my phone to take a closer look, and as you can see from the photo, it was MOLD! We were floored! Keep in mind that only one piece of bread is photographed, the entire basket of bread had mold on it. The server immediately sent over the manager, who apologized and offered to only comp our drinks, but couldn’t do anything for our meal. Excuse us? We had all just eaten moldy bread at their establishment. As far as we were concerned, dinner was over. We went back-and-forth with the manager who had to consult with the chef and ultimately comped our meal, which only seemed right considering. All in all, I would not recommend this establishment most definitely because of the way that the mold situation was handled but also because the food is bland and definitely not worth $50-$100 per person."

"Enjoyed Sunday dinner during Restaurant Week, and the service was spectacular from the host desk to my server. The food was delicious and was very little wait in between each course. The drinks were tasty and not overly strong."

"Poor service, especially for its price point and expectations, overshadows a nice ambiance and solid food. --- A good friend and I came here on a Thursday night for Winter Restaurant Week. Masseria is still on my bucket list, but I was eager to try this offering on The Wharf by Chef Stefanelli. While I appreciate the relative financial value and deals during Restaurant Week, I also understand they are typically more crowded and service may be a bit slower than normal. The interior of the two-story restaurant is very nice, and the large interior windows allow you to look outside to the river for a scenic view while you eat on the second floor. The service, however, was very rough. While the greeting and seating was smooth, the rest of the night had several unfortunate incidents. Our server took our order for the 3-courses, and we each got a drink pairing (I went with the wine, my friends with the cocktails). The tl'dr is that although the restaurant was a bit busy, they were not understaffed. It just seemed like they were not well managed or good at remembering orders... I'll speak in detail to the service by course before getting to the food itself. For the first-course, all our food came out at separate times. The meatballs I ordered and our drinks came out first, and then shortly after the complimentary bread. I was given the wrong wine to pair with the meatball, but was fine as it technically paired with the bread my friend had ordered. After we had finished the meatballs the waitress asked if we had ordered all out food (we said no), and then had to ask us for our entire order again. She came back 15 minutes later to confirm it again. For the entrees, the food came out together and promptly. However, we did not get our drinks for at least 15 minutes. We couldn't grab out waitresses attention, but there were several employees hanging out at the bar, so we called one over and asked for our drinks. They then eventually came. Dessert course was fine, although drink pairing did come about 5 minutes after the food. Because I talked too much on service, I'll rapid fire on food: - The complimentary bread was dry and plain - very disappointing - The meatballs as an appetizer were good, although simple - The sourdough with ricotta was OK, again the bread seemed a bit plain - My entree of Rigatoni w/ Goat Rogu was good, although not out of this world. Certainly did not make up for the poor service. The wine pairing with it was OK - although not a must-have by any means. - The tiramisu was good, and paired well with the lambrusco to end the night. There are many great Italian restaurants in the area at lower price points, thus I don't feel compelled to come here again."

"We had reserved a table on the rooftop and drove for 50 minutes specifically to enjoy the rooftop experience. However, upon our arrival, we were informed that the rooftop was closed. Instead, they offered outdoor seating by the street, which was far from comfortable. The tables, especially those with a fire pit, were clearly not designed with dining in mind. It would have been better if they had called us beforehand to notify us about the rooftop closure, rather than providing these uncomfortable alternatives. Moreover, their menu was quite perplexing and challenging to understand. Given our disappointment with both the taste and presentation of the appetizers, we decided to leave without ordering a full meal. Cocktails were the only good part tho! Regrettably, the experience was far from pleasant. We have no intentions of returning to this restaurant."

"Disappointing evening. While the restaurant itself was attractive, the acoustics were terrible. We frequently misunderstood or did not hear what our waiter said as it was very noisy even though the space was only about a third full. We practically had to shout across the table to be heard. Sone of the food was fairly bland (the bread) & sometimes close to tasteless (the burrata). The portions were child sized. My tagliatelle was supposed to have two kinds of meat in the sauce, I honestly could find no meat at all. Just the occasional flavor of meat. The service was rather slow & frequently disorganized. They seemed to need to translate what was said to each other."