bertucci's Archives - Cait Plus Ate

Bertucci’s: Awesome Customer Service!

November 9, 2011

Hey guys! Happy Hump Day – my week is flying by – how about yours? If it’s not, I apologize for saying mine is. Forget I ever did?

Last night I had class, which dragged on, but it also happened to be a rest day from the gym. It was actually my first rest day in almost two weeks after looking back through my Daily Mile feed, so probably a good thing, but I still felt a bit restless!

I woke up this morning way before my alarm, at about 5:45am, and was quite awake. I took advantage of this and went to the gym to get my workout in – now I won’t have to go in the evening, and I’ll be home today around 6:45pm! That’s unheard of for me. I did 30 minutes of intervals on the Stair Master – each time I do this, it never ceases to amaze me how hard it is. Another instance in which I was trying to tell myself that quality > quantity! I followed it up with about 10 minutes of abs with a 10 pound medicine ball (to try to get some arms in), 30 regular push-ups, 30 tricep push-ups, and 30 tricep presses with the med ball. Abs and upper body, done!

Thanks womenshealth.com for the image!

It seems that whenever I try to set an alarm to get up and work out before work, I always wake up feeling like death and can barely drag myself out of bed. So I always plan to work out in the evening on weekdays, but if I happen to wake up early in the morning (because I go to bed fairly early), I try to get my workout in then. It just works for me! Another reason I work out at night is because I love group fitness classes, and the morning classes at my gym all start at 5am or 5:4am. It’s just TOO early! So, I opt for the night classes.

Work continues to be crazy busy. I was also lucky enough to have a chance to finally start on all the saved episodes of “Hart of Dixie” on my DVR. It’s a cute show! Rachel Bilson’s clothes are gorgeous. Sure the show is cheesy, but I was always more of a Summer fan than a Marissa fan (I miss “The OC”) and can’t help but enjoy it. I hope the show makes it! Anyone else into this show?

Image courtesy of Boomtron.com

This past weekend was the end of my week off from work, and full of tasty food. Weekends often are – isn’t that one of the many reasons why they are so wonderful?

My mom and I kicked things off Friday afternoon with manicures and then glasses of Avalon Cabernet at J. Gilbert’s during happy hour. Best happy hour in town!

My mom and I each had 1.5 glasses (we split her last one) and I was feeling SO buzzed. Good thing she was driving!

Did NOT plan to get my nails done to match my wine 😉

We headed home, picked up my little brother, and went out to dinner at Bertucci’s. I have to share a great customer service example here!

I went there for dinner before I started blogging more regularly, in early October (hence why there’s no post about that particular meal to reference). The next day, Bertucci’s posted on their Facebook that they would be giving anyone who dined there in October a coupon for a free birthday dessert to use during the next visit.

The dessert choices.

I was confused – I’d just eaten there, it had been October, but I was coupon-less! Being the coupon queen (and probably a bit obnoxious) person that I am, I wrote on their post, asking why I hadn’t received a coupon. Someone from Bertucci’s reached out to me right away and asked for my mailing info. Within a week of providing it, I received my missing coupon in the mail! I was so impressed that they would take the time to send me a coupon and show me they care about each customer. I already love Bertucci’s, but now I have even more good things to say about them!

So I insisted we go there Friday night to use my reclaimed coupon. Another satisfying meal. I got my favorite Venetian Spinach Salad with Grilled Salmon and Goat Cheese. I ate every last bite, as usual.

My brother Michael got a Cheese Pizza with Chicken. Lucky for me he didn’t eat his crusts, so I had some. The tomato sauce remnants that were left on each crust were SO fresh and delicious. Bertucci’s may have my favorite pizza sauce. I know, a bold statement!

My mom ordered the Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad with Goat Cheese and also polished it off.

I was going to give Michael my dessert coupon, but it wasn’t necessary. Our waitress was awesome and let us have two free desserts for one coupon! Michael went with chocolate cake while I chose one of my favorites – tiramisu.

Then, the cherry on top: our waitress ALSO let me use a Facebook coupon I’d gotten for “liking” Bertucci’s.

So THANK YOU Bertucci’s for an amazing coupon experience!

Are you a morning, afternoon, or evening workout person (or a mix)? Are you sick of seeing me write about Bertucci’s? Do you have any awesome restaurant customer service experiences to share?

November 9, 2011
13 Comments
- bertucci's, customer service, dessert, dinner, family, hart of dixie, j gilberts, manicure, salad, tiramisu, TV, weekends, wine
0

Bertucci’s and TCBY Night!

October 30, 2011

Hey guys! I am currently stranded for an extra night in Tennessee due to the snow storm back home, but I don’t hate it. I love it here and could stay for days and days more! I have been eating tons of food and having great quality family time. I’ve even managed to get in a couple of good workouts, including a 4 mile incline treadmill run today! I have to be honest that sometimes I get hesitant to indulge on vacations or let loose and let myself enjoy things I don’t normally eat, but I have been concentrating on being with my family and trying to use that to distract myself from any worries I may get about vacation food. After all, this tasty food is definitely not something that should be cause for worry!

Before I start recapping this trip I want to recap a couple of yummy nights out I had last week, starting with last Monday’s dinner!

I was a crazy woman last Monday night and went out to eat after the gym. Yes, I’m wild and insane. Usually I go straight home, but I made plans with Jeff and Kim to go to a Thai restaurant that I had a SaveNowCT deal to. Well, you know how small restaurants are sometimes closed on Mondays? Yes, that happened.

NO WORRIES! I’m a coupon queen, and had a $5 of $25 deal from the Bertucci’s Facebook page, so I met the two of them there instead. At this point I was ready to eat my arm off and I immediately started on a roll. Mmm. I love their rolls and olive oil + herbs.

Jeff the hand model

Luckily my meal came with a cup of minestrone, so I got that fairly quickly and was relieved from my hanger. It was delicious! I loved the plentiful red beans and noodles. I hate runny, lackluster broth soups. This was hearty!

Check out the herbs on top – love it! For my meal I selected the Seafood di Mare, which awkwardly means Seafood of the Sea? We will let that one slide. This was a brick oven entree of baby scallops, shrimp, mussels, cod, with plum tomatoes and a baked crostini AKA crusty, amazing bread that I put the tomatoes on top of and ate like a homemade bruschetta.

The mussels were very good! It was my first time trying them and I’m glad I had something new. The rest of the seafood was wonderful as well. My only complaint is the temperature of the dish. This thing was HOT, and not your normal restaurant hot. I’m talking after 15-20 minutes of eating (I eat slowly), I was still blowing on each bite and desperately sipping water to cool my mouth down. I finally figured out that taking the remaining components of the meal out of the hot oil they were chillin’ (not at all) and setting them on a bread plate for a few minutes would cool them down quickly. The amount of oil this was baked in was too much anyway – there was so much leftover when I finished! I’d recommend using less oil and heating it less – but really, what do I know about cooking? Just a thought though, Bertucci’s!

And now I’ll embarrass myself by showing the website’s image of my meal. Looks pretty similar in terms of what came with it, but man I would’ve enjoyed having that lemon!

Thanks to Bertuccis.com for image.

Jeff went with the Seafood Torta: “Bertucci’s famous dough filled with tender scallops, shrimp, roasted tomato sauce, tomatoes, shaved cheese and oregano. Topped with fresh thyme and then baked to perfection in the brick oven.” I’ve had the Vegetable Torta before and while it’s delicious, I found it hard to eat and too similar to a pizza. I might as well just get a pizza, it’s easier to manage!

We all agreed that the presentation on this dish was pretty sad. It looked so bland on that plate – so lonely! But Jeff said he liked it. And another website photo for comparison…

Thanks to Bertuccis.com for image.

If only Jeff’s meal had come with that sprig of thyme laying oh-so-delicately on the torta!

Kim got one of my favorites, the Venetian Spinach Salad: “Grilled chicken breast atop a bed of spinach, grape tomatoes, red onions, shaved cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.” Her only complaint was that the red onions were too large for the salad – they were in rings, not shavings, and she doesn’t like too much onion taste at once. I gladly took a few rings off her hands and ate them whole. Classy.

I’m really lucking out with the availability of pretty website photos to put mine to shame, huh?

Image from Bertuccis.com

I’m always impressed with this salad. It’s one of the few I will order from a restaurant. I like to get the salmon – it is worth the higher price. Bertucci’s offers surprisingly delicious salmon.

At this point, we were feelin’ pretty good because the meal was over and it was time to head to TCBY for some FRO YO!

Cute couple aka my dining partners in crime.

We arrived and I discovered that it was Trivia Night, aka answer a trivia question right and get $1 off. And I got the only easy question (Which designer’s daughter owns a candy shop in NYC, Ralph Lauren OF COURSE), so I got $1 off! Poor Jeff and Kim got questions about the 70’s gas shortage and the tallest waterfall on Earth.

The most interesting topping on tap was star fruit! I’d never had it before and was excited to try it. Jeff nailed it when he compared it to an under-ripe pear – it was OK, but not something I’d go for again. Maybe it was just under-ripe!

I went with a mix of PB, white chocolate mousse, caramel, and cake batter flavors. Lots of toppings and topped off with sugar-free chocolate sauce.