As newcomers to Virginia, my husband and I have been enjoying the many restaurants the…read moreCharlottesville region has to offer. We appreciate good food and great service, whether it comes from an all-night diner or a Michelin-starred restaurant, and we were really looking forward to dining at Palladio. Boy, were we disappointed.
We arrived at 6:25 for a 6:30 reservation, and the door was locked. They don't open until 6:30 and it was no hardship to stand outside admiring the beautiful scenery on a warm evening, but I did wonder what would happen if it were raining. Do patrons wait in their cars? By 6:30 there were about 8 of us waiting, and a gentleman came to the door, unlocked it, and walked away. He didn't welcome us in, he didn't open the door, he didn't even look at us. Just unlocked it and walked away. Not much of a first impression. We all made our way inside and were quickly seated in a lovely room.
Our server approached and took our wine orders. There was no introduction, no pleasantries, he didn't ask if we had any questions about the menu. No interaction at all except to ask for our orders. Three of us had the sparkling flight and one had the Octagon flight, and we had no complaints about the wine, which was very good. However, my husband asked our server to bring something, he acknowledged the request but never brought it. After repeating the request three separate times, we finally asked another server, and it was brought right away. She was the only friendly person we encountered the entire evening.
The meal began with an amuse bouche of Turkish yogurt soup with melon, and it was excellent. In hindsight, probably my favorite bite of the evening. For the first course three of us had tomato gazpacho, which was very nice. For the Primi course we tried the housemade cavatelli, which was fine but did not blow us away. For the Secondi, two of us ordered the Wagyu filet. There was no mention on the menu of the size, which is unusual when ordering filet, but the dish appeared to be about 6 ounces. The meat itself was cooked as we'd requested, but the Octagon reduction it was served with was dried onto the plate, as if it had been sitting under a heat lamp. The steak was served with Swiss chard al sugo that was soggy, and the tomato sauce completely overpowered what little of the reduction we could taste. An extremely disappointing dish, especially at this price point. My husband had the bison, which was better than the beef. For dessert, we sampled the Affogato, the Stracciatella gelato, and the peach and blueberry cobbler. All of it was good but forgettable. At the end of the meal, they brought us small chocolate chip cookies and brownies - a nice touch, but rather dry and uninspired.
All in all, an adequate meal in a beautiful location with service that was halfway between indifferent and surly. If the price point were moderate, I could overlook a lot, but when I'm paying over $200/person for dinner and wine, my expectations are high. I might go back to Barboursville Vineyards for the wine and the views, but I'll pass on dining at Palladio again.
