Ascari Ristorante

Review long overdue (visited in April 2015) — will do my best to recall my experience.
I happened to stay at this facility on a trip to Long Beach with girl friends for the Toyota Grand Prix. This review will be only for the Ascari.
It’s located on the way to the pool/​hot tub and it is never busy. I wasn’t busy the night we decided to dine in vs. take a taxi to a location up the street. My first impression was that it was fancy. Why? Well I guess that was because it was so quiet and no one was there. There were four diners in our group. We finally got someone (a pleasant gal) to seat us — but I was turned off by the location of our table … right by the front entrance. Really — that’s the best you can do considering the place was empty? The décor is pleasing but nothing special. We are typically a loud bunch and we found ourselves toning it down because it was so quiet. So there is your ambiance factor. It’s not romantic because the lighting is too bright — yet it’s too quiet to actually enjoy yourself. I was afraid someone would hear me chewing!
The food was just okay. Our waitress seemed knowledgeable on the menu and drinks when we asked questions, however, the selections were so underwhelming I think we all ordered simple and typical dishes — grilled chicken, flatbread pizza, sandwich, salad, etc… All dishes were okay. No one got sick and nothing had to get sent back — but I had this feeling that if anyone had ordered something tricky or interesting — it would have been an epic fail. Drinks were okay as well and I believe we tried a few of their signature drinks which didn’t blow anyone’s socks off!
We didn’t order dessert … why bother was the overall feeling. Again — the menu selection was just basic/​average.
I think the highlight of this place was that they have those chocolate minty candies at the hostess stand (which isn’t ever manned by anyone) so all the ladies loaded up their hands with the candies!
nuts & bolts:
PROS:
— convenience inside the hotel
— chocolate candies
— knowledgeable waitress
CONS:
— too quiet
— slow service
— uninteresting menu for the prices. I could get the same and probably better at Applebee’s.
— location — our seats were close to the entrance which is wide open to the hallway to the pool/​hot tub area. We felt exposed and it was noisy and not in a good sort of way. Loud and obnoxious people headed to pool.
I would not return as my memory tells me there was nothing memorable …

They have a great breakfast Buffett including made to order omlets. The staff is attentive and friendly.

Pretty standard hotel food options. Seemed expensive evn for hotel restaurant. Service was okay, nothing stellar for sure. I ordered a coke (which cost $ 4!!!) and never once did I get asked about a refill. Calamari was rubbery and the chicken ceasar salad was as bland as can be. Thankful to not have to leave hotel after long day of travel, but all my other meals on this trip will be eaten elsewhere, for sure!

This property has some of the most absolutely insulting practices that I have EVER encountered at a Hilton property. Some examples… being asked how you will be paying before being seated at the restaurant, having a waitress ask verbally across a the lobby bar for your last name and room number if you are charging the room, the purple haze smacking you in the face as you get off the elevator (uh…it is a non-​smoking property), asking for a couple of cookies for dinner and being told that they are too busy to fulfill your request (then delivering them with your order, which was nice, but trying to charge $ 15 for 4 small cookies).
Quality of the food has been ok. Breakfast buffet is nothing to write home about. Runny scrambled eggs, cold potatoes, the ham and cheese on English muffins item was probably the best item I had at the buffet. As others have commented, virtually everything is overpriced. The food and beverage manager must have something about $ 15 because many items in the menu are this or right around this amount… including attempting to change me $ 15 for 4 cookies last night as I mentioned above.
The property is nice and convenient to downtown Long Beach and will go through a major renovation later this year, but the service skills that almost every employee possess is just over the top insulting, degrading for a flagship property. As a HHonors Diamond Member I can say that this has been the worst interaction I have EVER had had a Hilton property… and I have 3 more days to stay!

I ate here everyday that I stayed at the Hilton. The only reason why I did was I had a voucher for a free cont. breakfast. I had to pay $ 4 extra to actually get real food, but for that it was a good deal. There’s no way in the world I would pay full price for the food they had. The breakfast burritos were good, but they needed more sauce. The bacon was good, just a little undercooked for my taste. Fruit was fresh. The servers were nice, but a little MIA at times. Great for $ 4, $ 20 full price, it would’ve been not worth it

Business travel sucks balls anyway, and tight schedules and convenience factors almost always forces you to eat some of your meals at the hotel restaurant. Tacking on the word «ristorante» to make it seem fancy here at the Hilton? Ha ha ha.
Breakfast: Prices for a la carte (average dish $ 15, glass of oj for $ 4) were so ridiculous you almost are compelled to spend $ 20 for the buffet if you’re going to eat more than a cup of yogurt.
Lunch: I had a $ 15 burger, which was dry and flavorless. The bread was so puffy that I had to unhinge my jaws like an anaconda in order to take my first bite. After that, I just flattened the bread. I did ask for the shoestring fries to come lightly done and they were perfect for me. I hate when they are so overdone that it’s like eating a toothpick stabbing me in the cheek.
The waiter took away my boss’s plate before she was finished picking at her plate. She was NOT happy. When she’s not happy, I hear about it. When I hear about it, my quality of life dramatically goes down because I hear about how unhappy she is all the time. When I hear about it all the time, my one remaining non-​deaf ear starts to go deaf. And when I go deaf, I get really really mad.

Solo business traveler. The food was pricey but it did provide numerous choices and it was super convenient. I enjoyed breakfast and dinner here — both were tasty. They even accommodated special requests for me. Quick, very friendly service.

I ordered room service and ate breakfast here. Granted, the food was good but nothing special. $ 14 pancakes are ridiculous and $ 4 for a cup of coffee is insane. I wouldn’t eat here again.

The restaurant is your typical crappy overpriced hotel food, but the bartenders are fabulous.

The breakfast buffet is the only thing worth visiting at this restaurant, and only if you are a Hilton Honors member and get your free breakfast (otherwise you will pay $ 19 for it). Yes, you will pay the standard ‘hotel-​convenience’ prices not matter what time of day you visit.
I had dinner there my first night there and although the place was empty (except for another group of three), service was horribly slow. They were out of the dinner special and sadly, even for a Hilton, the other selections were few. I had to settle for a small $ 12 salad plus $ 5 for a salmon filet (the extra $ 5 for the salmon was the only value here). The salad, again, was small and no where even close to the value for the $ 12 I paid (lettuce, tomatoes, and croutons only). it wasn’t even presented nicely the way you would think, just lettuce thrown on a plate. My son ordered a hot dog from the kids meal and the hot dog looked as if it were the last one available in the hot dog machine on the last day of the carnival. My daughter had the $ 6 PB n J sandwich, and they must’ve been low on PB and J because there was just enough on it to keep the bread slices together. Full price for a kids drink contributes to the lack of value at dinner. For lunch or dinner, go out. Great restaurants are minutes away.
The ambiance is that of an average hotel, nothing fancy or worth telling your friends about.
I give 2 stars because the breakfast buffet is worth the free price I paid as a Hilton Honors member, and they brew Starbucks.

Good thing I wasn’t trying to impress anyone by coming here. I just brought my husband. But seriously, taking clients here is a bad idea. The restaurant looks like a swanky business lunch place, nope. Pricey to the extreme & terrible food. This place has fine-​dining prices and sub-​par bowling-​alley food. They load your plate up with mass amounts of carbs and low quality ingredients. Their food was worse than hospital food, complete with frozen meat patties, black beans from a can, and reconstituted hash. Bleck! Have you ever tasted dormitory cafeteria nachos; they were much better than this. Try one of the many excellent restaurants down the street.

Well, I’ve been here for their lunch buffets and they have always been Great for the buffets. I think most all the Hiltons offer the same kind of buffet set up for lunch. But they had no buffet today, only on Fridays they said, so I took a chance and ordered off the menu.
The menu looked over priced at first glance, but I forged on. I had the Chicken Quesadillas, Meat loaf with Mashed Potatoes and warm Bread Pudding for dessert. The presentation for all the dishes was very nice. Sadly, none of the dishes had the ‘Mmmm” factor that would give it a A– A or A+ (that’s the sound you make for about two beats when something tastes good).
The Quesadilla came with a cup of salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. The salsa tasted like it was from a store bought jar! It’s not hard to make fresh salsa. The meat loaf was good, but the gravy was a bit too, too rich tasting. The bread pudding was nice and rich, and moist, and good overall, but not fabulous.
With a $ 7 dollar tip the total bill was $ 50.74… too much. Good but, not worth the price

Too tired to go out after flying in from the east coast, I went here, the hotel restaurant. I usually avoid the hotel restaurant. Only two other people were there at 7:30 on weds night. I had a Cobb salad. All the ingredients were good except the lettuce, which was iceberg. I hate iceberg. So, unimpressed.

Average hotel restaurant. I will say that the Ascari has the best service I have received at any hotel restaurant. Great continental breakfast buffet with really good fresh fruit.