Tableside manner

At Tiano's, service makes a difference

by Margaret LeRoux

Tiano's
Northworks Marketplace
108 Grove Street, Worcester
752-8901
Lunch Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Dinner Mon.-Thurs. 4:30-10 p.m.
Fri.- Sat. 4:30-11 p.m.
Sun. 12-9 p.m.
Major credit cards
Full bar
Handicap accessible

A recent visit to Tiano's was an experience in the highs and lows of fine dining.

First the high points: it was good to see that the nine-year-old restaurant in the Northworks isn't showing signs of wear. There's a new menu with new house specialties, but, you'll notice, the prices on several items from the old menu have gone up. On weekends, there is often a lengthy wait. My dining companion and I visited mid-week and found an almost full house.

In the main dining room, table linens are crisp; mauve and white table cloths accented by deep green napkins fanned in goblets. There's a new collection of paintings gracing the exposed brick walls; a giant copper-plated espresso machine sits in a lighted grotto of marble tiles, a focal point at the far end of the room.

We were seated, and within minutes a waitress appeared to ask for our drink orders. This is where we got off to a bad start. Unlike some diners who start with a bloody Mary or a scotch and water, I'm a wine drinker who's been pleased to see that many restaurants now offer a reasonable selection of wines by the glass. But it takes a few moments to review the choices. If you ask your wait person for more time, you break his or her rhythm.

Our waitress was impatient with our initial dawdling. She recited the evening's specials, then disappeared. Meanwhile, we leisurely read Tiano's extensive menu and waited for her to reappear. After far too long, and with our waitress out of sight, I asked another waitress if she would inform ours that we were ready to order. She obligingly offered to take it and pass it on to her.

A few moments later our waitress approached carrying our wine glasses -- we chose a Fetzer merlot and a pinot grigio ($4.50). She had an angry glint in her eyes. "What time did you say you had to be out of here?" she asked sarcastically.

When I replied that we had no time schedule, she retorted, "I thought you were in a hurry." Then she walked away. She sped by shortly after with a basket of rolls and dropped it on our table without breaking her stride. They were hot, crunchy, and delicious; we enjoyed them while we plotted how to get back into our waitress's good graces.

The appetizers didn't bode well for our plans. I ordered crab cakes ($7.95); they were overly spiced and mainly bread crumbs. I looked in vain for any sizable chunks of crab. My companion's roasted oysters ($8.95) were delicious, once we found them under a drift of pancetta, leeks, tomatoes, and cheese.

When our waitress cleared our plates, she noticed that we'd barely made a dent in the crab cakes and asked if they were okay. Returning with our salads, she told us the chef said that is how they are served, but he would remove the charge from our bill.

On to our main courses: one gorgeous, one ugly; it was hard to believe they came from the same kitchen. Mine was one of the house specialties, stuffed salmon ($18.95), a beautiful pink fillet sitting atop a bed of bright-green, fresh, steamed spinach accented by a tiny pile of chopped red tomatoes. The effect was stunning. Inside a pocket of the perfectly cooked salmon was a mixture of porcini mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and cheese. A saffron beurre blanc sauce highlighted the wonderful mix of flavors. For the accompanying pasta, I had chosen penne with garlic and oil; it was nicely al dente, but the garlic too assertive.

My companion's veal and scallops ($19.95) couldn't have had less eye appeal; four pale sea scallops sat in a sea of tan colored sauce that drowned the veal scaloppini, leeks, and tomatoes sautéed with it. Each of the elements tasted okay once we hauled them out of the sauce, but this dish needed a more thoughtful presentation. Instead of pasta, my companion chose sautéed mixed vegetables; mostly zucchini, they were definitely understated in seasoning.

By the end of our meal our waitress was in better spirits; she was congenial as she described the desserts. Seeing her good side, we realized how pleasant the evening could have been. We split a slice of chocolate bash ($4.50), a rich combination of dark and white chocolate with raspberry filling on a chocolate crumb crust.

We returned for lunch and our experience was as different as night and day. Service was prompt, attentive, and courteous, and our selections from the specials couldn't have been better. I chose the sauté of the day: shrimp, halibut, mushrooms, and scallions in a lemon-pesto sauce over steamed spinach ($10.95), and my companion had the pasta special: penne with chunks of most chicken, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, capers, and mushrooms in a light sauce splashed with balsamic vinegar ($9.95). We split a slice of almond-raspberry tart, ($4.50) a rich almond paste base on a delicate crust with raspberry preserve topping. A sweet end to a sweet meal.