Cucina Rustica - Morganton

For all those that talked about portions being too small...NO!!! Perfect portions size...in fact more than I could eat! The food was very good and the service friendly! The location was great from downtown blue ridge. I would highly recommend! Dustin was awesome and made sure we had what we needed!

This was an interesting experience. We drove about 35 minutes from Ellijay to dine here. It looked closed from the outside and was kind of remote but, we walked in (we saw the open sign) and it was a mix of a room that was a host stand, lobby, dining area and bar all in an open room. However, the only thing that was used was the host stand. The rest looked like an area that was once used long ago and they just decided to abandon the area one day and never used it again. It was hard to see the other dining area but, I could tell there was one table with folks dining. We waited an exceptionally long time for the host to come. He asked if we had reservations (we didn't) which was funny to me considering how slow they were. He said let me check on a table. That was a 5 additional minute wait and he came back to seat us. I was rather shocked to see that there were only two tables seated. We were now the third. How in the world it took that long to be seated (10 minutes total), I'll never know. The menu was somewhat limited but, looked good. We ordered an appetizer, and our main dishes. The Buratta Caprise was good and we enjoyed it. The dipping sauce for the bread was lacking as it was simply olive oil and balsamic vinegar and the vinegar was the only thing you tasted. The most frustrating part of my experience was there was a special featured dish that night that was veal ravioli. They also had veal Parmesan on the menu. I was going to get the veal Parmesan, but, since I saw this was a special. I inquired to find out if the veal was stuffed inside the ravioli or outside the ravioli. The server told me it was pieces of veal outside the ravioli. Well, I ordered that and unfortunately, she was incorrect. The ravioli was, apparently stuffed with very ground up and minimal amounts of veal and cheese inside the ravioli. I would have never ordered it had I known that. It is why I specifically asked. Meanwhile, a table near us got the Veal Parmesan and it looked absolutely delicious and I was definitely jealous and frustrated since I have been intentional about asking. Regardless, the dish was good and I would call it average. Service was ok but should have been more prompt considering how slow they were. The most they ever had was 3 seated tables with a total of 8 guests. Not sure if I will try it again or not as it's quite a drive for a ok experience. They really do need to address the entry as it makes you leery to walk in and the odd lobby area with no one at the host stand makes that feeling intensify.

Great food and service. This is a great Italian restaurant in an area where there aren't a lot of choices

Has become very tired and worn out looking. The food has become mediocre... not a lot of options. In my opinion, they are trying for haute cuisine and they are not hitting that mark. I understand this is rustic Italian food, but it is somewhat missing the mark. There are too many other high end Italian and farm-to-table offerings now for diners to choose from. Money and updating are in order for this tired restaurant. Very sad.

The food is good, but not great, the service is good, but not great, the ambiance needs improvement due to the poor condition of the building, seating, etc., at the price point, I would expect better. The portions are small, the wine is expensive, the oven baked dishes are over cooked. Not terrible, but a little updating and attention to detail, and this place would be excellent.