The Wine Dinner That Wasn't At La Traviata

Thursday. April 21, 2016

Had made reservations to attend a wine dinner at La Traviata in Long Beach  and the day before I received a call from Mario, the owner,  that the dinner was being rescheduled for a later date. But if we wanted to come in and have dinner off the regular menu he would give us a bottle of  wine for the table. He indicated that this would be a bottle that would have been served with the wine dinner. So we opted to have dinner. It was free bottle of wine.

When we arrived Mario took a bottle off the bar and brought it to our table.  I took a look at it and informed him that this bottle was not listed on the menu for the wine dinner. He insisted it was. I pulled out the printed menu for the wine dinner and showed him that it was not listed. After dancing around a bit he changed the subject. The wine still had a grape varietal that I was looking for, Pugnitello" so I didn't make too much of it and it was complimentary. But nowhere near the "$65" price Mario alluded to on the telephone. 

We ordered at calamari fritta for an appetizer. One of the sauces was excellent. Had a lot of lemon in it. Calamari was good but not the best I have had.

Main dishes ordered were duck ravioli, scallops and Risotto with mushrooms and sliced filet of beef. Food was good but not outstanding like it used to be.

I am starting to think that the influx of new restaurants in areas of Long Beach are taking its toll on La Traviata. The parking has always been a a problem and I think the downward spiral on the quality of the food has an effect also. Mario is  personable but has a tendency to "forget".  He also over hypes. Hope he makes in through the downtown renovations that will be happening in that area in the next few years.