L'Oca

Our party of 8 arrived to a half-empty restaurant on a Saturday night. Our waiter promptly opened our wine and presented us with menus that had very little in common with the one posted on the LOca website. He then proceeded to tell us that they had run out of steak and chicken (it was only 8:00) and offered limited alternatives. Although some were disappointed, we placed orders for salads, pasta and seafood dishes. One of the women in the crowd has severe gluten, dairy and seafood allergies and had confirmed the availability of gluten free pasta in advance. Since the only meat dish available was "rabbit" (not quite to her liking), and the only gluten pasta dish offered on the menu was accompanied by a cheese topping, she requested that the pasta be made plain with other toppings on the side. The waiter (an innocent party) asked the chef and came back to say that there would be no changes to anything on the menu - take it or leave it. I then spoke directly to the assistant chef (the chefs english is evidently limited) who said he would make an exception. However, a few minutes later the waiter returned to the table to say that the chef was still refusing to prepare a plain bowl of pasta. We told the waiter that we would have to leave rather than have one of our party unable to eat, and the waiter said that the chef wouldnt budge. So we stood up and left. As we exited the door located by the kitchen area the chef began shouting at us to "go away" and "get out". The entire experience was surreal and almost funny in retrospect, and luckily there are plenty of other restaurants in center city to choose from (we ended up going to The Palm due to the late hour). This is the first restaurant review I have ever written and the message is STAY AWAY!!