Cucina Rustica - Morganton

Update on my review. I now know who owns this restaurant. They are not stupid they are rich I knew it was one of the two lololol. I have eaten a few of there other restaurants and they are quite good. Still don't know why they wouldn't do take out as it seems it is a big loss of revenue but sure they have their reasons.

Ever since John the previous owner sold the place, it has gone downhill. We need some new blood to step in and revive this once go to spot.

We 've been dining at Cucina Rustica since our family purchased a cabin nearby in the early 2000 's. Until our visit this evening, the service had always been great and the menu diverse enough for everyone to easily select an option they were happy with. Once seated by the host this evening, it took 15 minutes for anyone to acknowledge us. We considered leaving (in retrospect we should have) but stayed based on our previous positive experience at the restaurant. The menu has been pared down eliminating probably 50% of the previous options including starters, soup/salad, main course and dessert. We started off ordering an appetizer but the server condescendingly asked is that all you 're having which caught us off guard. Unbeknownst to us, Cucina Rustica now requires you order your entire meal all at once and not as is done traditionally, by course. Don 't ask for bread either, you 're not allowed bread until you 've ordered your entire meal. My wife and I rarely have the opportunity to go out by ourselves and options offering quiet intimacy like Cucina Rustica are at the top of the list. We 're always in a hurry so we don 't have time to slow things down and enjoy each other 's company between courses. Tonight was one of those rare date nights for just the two of us and we both felt frustrated with the service and felt we had to settle on our food choices. It 's been a few years since our last visit and things have definitely changed. We will not be back.

DINERS BEWARE. This was by far the worst overall experience we have ever had in 50+ years of living. We ordered carryout on 12/23 for our adult daughter 's impromptu birthday celebration (she had to work and we didn 't expect to see her that day . One appetizer (escargot , four entrees (chicken parm, lasagna, chicken fettucine alfredo, and short rib ravioli , and three desserts. We passed two other Italian restaurants to pick up our order; 30+ minute drive each way. When my husband arrived, it was dark and there were no cars. Someone came out to greet him and advised that their power was out. They were able to cook our meals but refused to pack our desserts, claiming they had a policy against opening the fridge in power outages. That sort of made sense at the time, though it literally would have been 30 seconds to open the door to get them and 30 minutes to open it and put the rest away ... but I was pretty upset when my husband arrived home and told the story and we had no dessert for the party. My husband went to get cake at Ingles (the best option we had left at that time and it was awful. Had the restaurant called to let us know, we would have canceled the order and not driven more than an hour round-trip for an incomplete meal. The meals themselves were mediocre at best. I am Italian and I make authentic Italian dishes (as well as some Americanized ones . The escargot was the worst I 've ever had. They provided some oil for the bread but it had more vinegar than anything else in there and was horrible. The smoked chicken alfredo had no smoke flavoring at all and there were literally only three raviolis. Then I learned that we had been overcharged for our meals so I contacted the restaurant via Facebook and left a message that we wanted that amount of overcharge refunded. I received several very hostile responses that were filled with excuses and no real apology at all. The person responding said that their menu (posted on their website says that MENU IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE. That implies that certain ITEMS may not be available (due to supply chain issues, perhaps, or seasonality but does not suggest that PRICES can change weekly as the person responding claimed. The restaurant charged us more than the menu prices on its website (I was not aware of that until she advised of such. She claimed that the staff called 100 people that night to cancel reservations, but no one called US. The more that person made excuses, the more angry I became. I told her that I planned to file a review about my experiences. The last response I got from her implied that I was seeking a refund of my entire bill, which is something I never asked for or every remotely insinuated. Indeed, my husband was very sympathetic when he arrived to pick up our order and he left a $24 tip (on an order that should have been $116 but ended up being $136 . I did advise her that we felt the food was mediocre and would be sharing that in an honest review (stale bread and three raviolis for $24? . When I tried to respond that I had not asked for a refund for anything other than what I was legitimately overcharged and that we simply would never dine there again, I learned that she had BLOCKED me so that I could not respond to her in Messenger and thus could NOT LEAVE A REVIEW on their Facebook page. Ya 'll ... that is as deceitful, cagey, and dishonest as a business can get. WORST overall experience EVER. If you want to waste an astronomical amount of money on mediocre food made by people who will make a million excuses for their mistakes and failures, then this is the right place for you. Absolutely unethical and inexcusable for a business to block someone on social media just to prevent that person from filing a legitimate review of her experiences. See the screenshots of most of the conversation, including where it shows that I could not access the restaurant 's profile or respond to her message after she blocked me. Too many other quality restaurants around who treat customers with care and dignity. This one should fail because its own attitude towards customers. Everything about this situation was anti-customer. The restaurant failed to call us and let us know about the situation and that our order would not be complete, the restaurant refused to complete our order (wrongfully so, according to its own representative , the restaurant overcharged us for the meals it did provide, the restaurant 's representative made a lot of lame excuses for nothing being its fault, and the restaurant 's rep accused the customer of demanding a full refund when that was never even remotely hinted at or sought and the customer was simply communicating dissatisfaction with the experience overall. Reward other companies who are more mindful that their customers vote with their money and their reviews...

To everyone who mentioned the portion sizes being too small, I have to disagree! The portion sizes were just right—honestly, there was more food than I could finish! The food itself was delicious, and the service was friendly. The location is excellent, just a short distance from downtown Blue Ridge. I highly recommend this place! Dustin was fantastic and ensured we had everything we needed!