Stella Modern Italian Cuisine
- April Belt
- Jan 13, 2019
- 3 min read
I want to love every place I visit. I want to feel like my experience just gave me a hug and I can't say I felt that with Stella. They made me feel like I got an accidental fist bump.
Here's the thing. I visited Stella YEARS and YEARS ago and left with a negative outlook and swore I wouldn't be back. I kept that promise until someone from Stella reached out to me on the OKC Brunch Club Instagram and asked when we'd visit there (see image below to know I'm being honest). I decided to make my one ancient experience water under the bridge. I assume the reservation was good to go, but had one of those Oprah gut feelings that maybe it wasn't, so I made another one through Open Table, thankfully.
We arrive to brunch and as luck would have it, my gut feeling was 100% accurate---our original reservation had not been entered. [insert me patting myself on the back for making a reservation anyway] I said "Hi, we have a reservation for 10." Hostess responded with "Eight?" I'll admit, sometimes my brain and mouth don't cooperate, but I for sure said 10. We went through this convo two times. I looked at another bruncher for reassurance that I wasn't losing my mind.
We get seated and it's a really neat area. The table is ready to go and the ambiance is pretty great, I'll admit. Trust me, I don't want to dog a place if I don't have to. I want businesses to all score a 100 and flourish off fellow foodies. But that's not realistic.
The rest of our table arrives and 4 of the people at our table ordered the Stuffed Italian Toast. The description is as follows: cinnamon mascarpone, brown sugar apples, bacon, fresh whipped cream. If your mouth isn't watering, bye.
Everything seems to be looking up and then we receive our food. All four orders of the Stuffed Italian toast are missing the brown sugar apples and bacon. So basically everyone got cinnamon toast and to be fair, I can make that at home. I am not a non-confrontational person, anyone who knows me is nodding their head with wide eyes saying "YEP" in an exaggerated tone. A fellow bruncher spoke up and they delivered the bacon and apples separate to each person. That's great and all, but it was supposed to be STUFFED toast. Apparently it was all still good. I wouldn't know, I was stuffing my prosciutto pear pizza into my mouth at a contest speed. But how do you mess up FOUR orders?
Our server did great with our larger table and was pleasant at explaining art in the restaurant and just getting us taken care of. It did seem like he was spread a little thin throughout the restaurant, but yay for more tips. Speaking of tips. This is the second restaurant that has asked "do you need change?" when someone has paid with cash. Can we just assume someone needs change so we avoid this awkward encounter. Just bring the damn change, always. It's like asking if girls need toilet paper in the bathroom, yes, always yes. K it's nothing like that, but I need you to feel my frustration.
So, will I be back to Stella anytime (soon)? Come on, we both know the answer.
Let me also add in that this was our 20th brunch. After so many you do recognize extreme greatness at a restaurant and you also notice errors more easily. It wasn't the worst experience I've ever had, but onward and upward.
Cheers!
