After our dining experience, my whole family felt like this was a bait and switch restaurant week scam. We looked at Gemelli's special restaurant week menu that was on their website and saw two appetizer's that we were interested in (classic Neapolitan rice balls and...the butternut squash soup), and a spaghetti dish with lump crab that sounded delicious for the main course. After a strenuous week, we were really looking forward to this meal.
When we arrived, we got seated by a lovely fireplace, that was a good start. We were handed a drink menu but it was at least 15 minutes before we were given food menus, so that was a bit strange (the waiter did apologize). What was even stranger was that my mother and husband had different restaurant week menus than mine! My menu had the two appetizers and entree we were going to get but the rest of my family had menus that didn't have those items! This got me a little nervous, so when the waiter arrived, when I ordered my meal, I showed him the items I wanted from my menu. My mom and myself ordered the spaghetti dish with the crab and the rice ball appetizer, and my husband ordered a ravioli stuffed with pork and the rice balls as well. The waiter took our order so I breathed a sigh of relief as it looked as if there weren't going to be any problems - wrong! The waiter came back a few minutes later and told us that the menu I ordered from had been changed. I told him that I had looked at their online menu just a few hours earlier and that was the menu that was there. He said that it was a last minute change. Well, I wish that we were told about this change a lot earlier because maybe we wouldn't have stayed. But we had already been served our drinks, now we know not to order drinks until we see a food menu.
We were very annoyed at this "last minute change" in the menu. It felt like we were enticed into dining at this establishment under false pretenses. My mother and I were looking forward to having the spaghetti with the crab, that was the dish that made us decide on going to Gemelli instead of one of the other restaurant week places. We felt that this switch was unscrupulous. How could you change to a different menu at the last minute like that? And by the way, as of 6:00 pm today, the day after we had this dinner, the original menu was still on their website. I would like a manager or owner from the restaurant explain why the menu was suddenly changed. Did they think that the dishes that were removed were too good to serve during restaurant week or were they serving those dishes and then ran out of them so they suddenly had to make up a new menu? I would love to know the reason why.
Any way, after feeling very disappointed and conned, we had to find alternative dishes to have, it wasn't easy after having our hearts set on our original choice. Instead of the rice balls for an appetizer, I selected the broccoli soup which I have to say was one of the worst and weirdest soups I have ever had! My mother couldn't even eat hers because she felt it was so strange. I finished mine only because I was very hungry at this point and needed something to eat. I can't even describe how it tasted, it didn't taste anything like broccoli though. I should have had the winter salad, my husband said it was pretty good.
Next came the entree, I had selected the ravioli stuffed with pork, mushroom, and sage, with charred leeks & radicchio in a Madeira wine demi. It was pretty good, the only problem was that there were only four small ravioli, it wasn't enough to feed a child. I'm not a big or fast eater but even I was done in about five minutes and was still quite hungry. I have never seen a portion that small, most appetizers have more food than that. My mother had ordered the pan seared chicken which she said was a bit tough.
The dessert was actually the best part, we all ordered the Sicilian cassatelle which was very good. Unfortunately, it couldn't save the day. After the bait and switch with the menu, and then the absurdly minuscule portions, none of us were very happy. The interior of the restaurant is lovely, the fireplace and decor provide a cozy atmosphere. It's just too bad the rest of the dining experience is so lacking. Now we went during restaurant week so I don't know if ordering off their regular may be a better experience. But I can say from my experience, avoid restaurant week at this place at all costs.More