Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Though I thoroughly enjoy the food at Patricia's I, I have never been blown away by the service. As a matter of fact, the last time I ate there, my better half and I had several blown-off requests for drink refills, and no actual dinner plate was brought to me to eat from (I had ordered a Sicilian half pie, which I ate my fill of and took the leftovers home). I had to cut a piece that would fit my bread plate off a slice (which was on a metal tray on a riser) and just make do from there, because our drink requests had already gone ignored, and while we were asked if we would like more bread (we said "yes, please"), it never appeared. I might have asked for a dinner plate, but at that point I was frustrated enough that if I'd asked for anything else and been blown off, I was going to have a fit. My patience, alas, is not endless. So I ate as quickly as I could considering the arrangements, and we left. Our tip thoroughly reflected our opinion of the service, but I had to be coaxed by said better half to leave without having a few calm but unpleasant words with the manager. After we left, we agreed that we are never sitting down to dinner there again. That night was special, and we were disappointed that dinner wasn't as lovely as it should have been. Thankfully, we would never let a server's neglect of duty spoil a special evening.

The food is good, but my praise ends there. It is cramped and crowded, the televisions bolted to the wall are distracting and displayed images that were not conducive to the appetite (one of those anti-smoking commercials where they show someone's gangrenous foot, among other things, and the television was right in my line of sight when I looked ahead...), and the service leaves a lot to be desired. I am only thankful that my guy was facing the windows and did not see what was on the television behind him.