La Bottega

I normally don't write reviews for restaurants either, but I felt the need to warn other people about how bad this place is. It was so bad that I am going through the effort of registering with review sites like citysearch, urbanspoon, yelp, etc. to inform others so they don't have to waste their time at this horrible place. The food here is ok. However, the service and the scams they try to pull are a different story, and because of that, I will not be going back and will discourage everyone I know from going there. You should too. I ate at La Bottega for lunch with a friend who is a regular there. We each asked for ""a glass of the house red,"" and the waiter acknowledged and asked if a cabernet was ok. We said it was, thinking that it was the house red, but when the bill came, we were shocked to discover that it was $14/glass! (especially when we had seen other reds on the menu for $9/glass or less). $14 for a house red? Really? The waiter tried to explain it by saying that they didn't have a house red, and that the cabernets were only sold by the bottle, not by the glass. Why didn't he explain to us when we ordered that they don't actually have a house red? And if we ask for a ""glass,"" why in the world would you suggest a wine that isn't actually sold by the glass?? What a scam. The proper thing to do would have been to inform us that there is no house wine, then show up the wine list, and make a suggestion, probably one of the less expensive wines since we asked for a ""house."" We also observed the waiter doing this with other customers nearby who asked for a ""house wine."" I complained with the manager and he was not willing to make things right for the customers, or even compromise. The manager also tried to use the excuse, ""that waiter struggles with English as well."" Not my fault that your servers don't speak the native language of ENGLISH in the USA!! Obviously your server f-ed up, so make it right. Grade F for La Bottega on customer service, as well. Our lunch, consisting of 2 sandwiches ($7.xx each) and 2 glasses of wine was supposed to be reasonably priced, but it ended up being almost $50 total. My friends who are regulars don't plan on eating here anymore due to poor customer service, and being a local, I will discourage everyone I meet, whether local or tourist, from eating at this embarrassment they call a restaurant. Avoid it at all costs unless you like to be mislead and served by waiters who ""struggle with English,"" which will also become the manager's excuse for any ""mistakes."" Cons: Shady scams, service, bad management, overpriced more

I never write reviews but the staff and management were so unfriendly and the food so bad that I felt I had to warn people.\r \r We went expecting wonderful things based on other reviews. The staff was surly, service was non-existent. We brought drinks with us from the bar to our table. Our waitress took our food order and we never saw her again, until she brought our check. We had to return to the bar to get drinks, because she was no where to be found. And had to ask another server to get us dessert menus, which we ended up not ordering because we could get any service. The other server was very put-out at being asked for assistance.\r \r The food was marginal at best, it tasted like reheated or microwaved food. Don't waste your time or money at this place when there are so many wonderful options in Vail.\r \r Cons: Service, Managment, Food more