Location: 12 Oxford St, Epping NSW 2121
Taste-Type: Italian
Price: Not worth the bother
How to get there: Train to Epping station, then head up Oxford St.
Given that tonight’s dinner was in celebration of my mother’s dinner, I considered myself off-duty when offering my patronage to Rialto Ristorante. However, the depressingly vulgar experience of the establishment left me no choice but to unleash full ninja hell upon this pretentiously-mediocre joint. Let us begin:
Over the course of the night, service was haughty bordering on the outright rude. The main waitress was quick to turn a pudgy sneer upon our table whenever we passed, one which morphed instantaneously into an effusive smile when dealing with the other customers. I noted that these aforementioned other customers were all of Caucasian or Mediterranean background, making my Oriental clan a rather noticable stand-out. Dare I invoke the claim of RACISM?
When serving my mother with Parmesan cheese (a rather bland packet-style variety), the junior Subcontinental waitress spilt a fair amount on the table. However, she was extremely gracious and apologetic about it. Unfortunately, she was the only beacon of courtesy in the entire establishment. When the main (RACIST?) waitress spilt wine across my mother’s napkin, there was no such apology forthcoming. In fact, this pudgy specimen of bad service took on a belligerent tone not at all conducive to the fine dining suggested by the restaurant’s faux-Italian name. We took the concern to the manager, who bore a startling resemblance to her waitress:
The manager informed us that her head waitress had “always received good reviews”. I then proceeded to inform her that I myself was a food reviewer, and that her service and food were both highly average.
I was then told to leave the restaurant.
If you are of Oriental appearance, do not go to Rialto. If you enjoy good Italian food, do not go either. If you do not take lightly to being verbally abused by your alleged hosts, stay well away. In fact, just don’t go near the place. But if you do, bring a lot of shurikens and your biggest katana. And some armour-piercing bullets.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Ninjas don’t use guns.
A weapon slower than them is useless.
I saw a pot-belly hanging out of that doorway on the weekend, but as I can discern from your artist’s impressions, the waitress and manager are both female, so it must have been some other layabout waiting for customers. Thanks for the tip-off.