Forte' Cuts and Cocktails in Tuscaloosa

This is just not a good restaurant. Our service was terrible and the one dish that made it out to our table wasn't edible. We left our table to get our own drinks at the bar twice. Horrible. Spend your night waiting in line at Chuck's and know it's time well-spent. We stayed here over 1 and a half hours and left starving. Service Dine in Meal type Other Food: 1 Service: 1 Atmosphere: 2

Decided to try something different. Tried the onion soup and some fries for appetizers. The entree was the duck and the lobster tail over rice. The duck was just ok and the potato cake was pretty much the same. The lobster was cooked just right but the bed of rice it was on was very undercooked. Top that with 2 adult drinks and a slice of cheese cake. I was out of about $160 gave the waiter $40 and we left and went to directly to Wendy's Service Dine in Meal type Dinner Price per person $30–50 Food: 2 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 2

I have been to the restaurant on multiple occasions. The experience has always been positive. I was very much blown away by the octopus. The chef cooked the octopus to perfection and reminded me of dishes I have had while living abroad. The dessert menu is also to die for. The souffle was amazingly rich and tasty! I highly recommend this restaurant to everyone who wants a taste of being in Europe (without having to fly there). Meal type Dinner Food: 5 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 5

The restaurant was nice and cute but we couldn’t hear our conversations over the loud band and we sat right in front of the patio door which was freezing every time someone would open and close the door. Our drinks took 30 min to get and our food took over an hour to get. The steak frites was chared and black and some of the pasta dishes were over cooked. I don’t know if I would go again and I saw the reviews were low so I should have known what to expect:( Service Dine in Meal type Dinner Price per person $20–30 Food: 3 Service: 3 Atmosphere: 5

Bottomline: don't waste your time and especially money here. Chose this for my birthday dinner although I am a local and have heard only the apps are decent but the entrees are not good. The atmosphere is pretty so I really wanted to like this place and have a nice restaurant to visit in town. Unfortunately, us and another couple had a TERRIBLE experience here. The atmosphere is lovely, but the entire time we dined 2 men employees in suits stood behind our table chitchatting. Loudly enough, it was very distracting and unnecessary as the restaurant wasn't busy and there's plenty of space for them to hang out rather than ruining our ambiance of dinner with friends. The beef tartare and the French onion soup was good. The lobster is A JOKE. The smallest lobster I've ever received at a restaurant. It was over cooked and obviously not good quality. The NY strips were the most chewy steak ever put in our mouths, they also were served cut into strips, FYI. The Caesar salad with chicken tasted overwhelmingly like salty fish - we could only assume from overuse of anchovies. The server we had was sweet but service was slow and it seems they get a lot of complaints on their food based on the reaction when we complained. We were never asked how our meal was once we received it, only if we were ready for our checks. Once our checks were brought, then the server asked did we enjoy our meal. We responded it was one of the worst meals we have ever had and we were extraordinarily disappointed. She responded she wished we would have told her before she brought the checks and blamed it on their seasonal transition of the menu. I looked up reviews and the menu before we went and it was the same menu it had been for a while based on other reviews and readily available menus online. While she waited for us to provide payment, our table discussed this, and I decided I would ask again nicely if she could please speak to her manager about this even though we did already receive our checks. She obliged and we received a small percentage off our meals, not enough to really matter when the table was spending $400 on awful food and were starving after our meal. It gets worse... I mentioned it being my birthday dinner, my best friend brought me a sweet card and a birthday gift. We were so bewildered and taken aback by this whole experience, none of us realized we left behind my birthday gift on the table. I'm Type A and OCD so this is uncharacteristic of me. I immediately tried to call the restaurant when we got home but they were closed. I tried again the next morning, left a voicemail. I decided to call the front desk of the hotel, The Alamite which Forte is located in, as well and was told I'd need to speak with the hotel, that they don't open again until that evening. I called again that evening and left another voicemail. After never getting a return phone call, I messaged the restaurant on social media. They responded they would check to see if they can find it and let me know. Never heard back so I stopped by the restaurant and spoke to the hostess who remembered the gift bag, even by color, but said she had not seen it but took my info and would let me know if they found it. The manager also spoke to me and said their procedure is to take anything left behind to the front desk of the hotel. I told him I called the hotel front desk the next morning and they said to speak to the restaurant. He repeated the exact same thing to me again "their procedure is to take anything left behind to the front desk of the hotel" so I said okay, I'll go speak to the front desk of the hotel. Of course, the front desk of the hotel said they never got anything from the restaurant. They know nothing about it. The gift was a nice bottle of tequila, so I'll let you readers decide what you think happened to my gift. Food: 1 Service: 2 Atmosphere: 2

It seems that Forte has gotten some bad reviews these past months. My wife and I went to celebrate a very special occasion anyways to see what had changed. I reserved online and the staff (Caleb) messaged me to make sure everything was set up and even offered us a nice table because they weren’t busy that evening. I asked if they would set out a bottle of champagne for us cold on the table when we arrived and they were more than happy to do so. Really nice servers and staff, everyone at least seems to enjoy working there which is a sign of a nice restaurant. Food: Really nice. I had tried this place when it was a French menu, but I think Italian suits this place well too. The food was well thought out and delicious. The Grouper was a delicious dish I really loved it. Everything was super nice and delicious. The house made foccacia was really nice. Drinks were really reasonably priced for being a bit more of an upscale place. Atmosphere: It’s cozy and the lights are a little low. It’s nice and if you want an intimate date night I highly recommend. I think it seems maybe we missed the rough patch that Forte supposedly had because last time we had it years ago it was fantastic and just yesterday it was fantastic too. Highly recommend for the price. Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

Will never be back. Chef was eating off of every plate sat on counter to come to tables. Waited and was walked past numerous times when we had reservations. No one spoke. 30 mins waiting once at table. Waitress recommended a wine and then tried to give us what we didn't want. Horrible experience all around. Food is very salty....very salty. Broccoli not even cooked. Service Dine in Meal type Dinner Price per person $50–100 Food: 2 Service: 1 Atmosphere: 1

My family recently celebrated a birthday at Forte’. While we had enjoyed Forte’ in the past, this visit was next level. Upon arrival, our waiter, Blake, made us feel right at home, and he continued to be attentive to us the entire evening. My son-in-law and daughter ordered special drinks from the bar. They looked beautiful and refreshing, and both of them gushed about how much they enjoyed them. We ordered the Arancini balls and the Meatballs and focaccia from the Appetizer menu. They were so delicious, that there wasn’t a crumb left on the plates! I was thrilled to see grouper piccata on the menu. It was seared and served with a lemon caper sauce on a bed of sautéed spinach and farro. It was phenomenal! The fish was tender and flavorful, the spinach was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was bright and scrumptious. The rest of the family ordered pasta dishes and salads that were also wonderful. Finally, we finished our meal with sticky toffee puddings all around, which were fantastic. We all ate well more than we should have that night, but the food was exquisite, the staff was warm and personable, and the atmosphere was fun and fancy. We cannot wait to go back to try other special coffees, drinks, and the other items on the extended menu! Thank you, Forte’, for a beautiful evening that we won’t soon forget! Service Dine in Meal type Dinner Price per person $30–50 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5