Cresta Bar & Ristorante

I’m certainly happy to see things open in Pawtucket, the city is long over due. I really wanted to like this place, but after going there for dinner this weekend the place feels very run of the mill (for basic italian your better off at Uncle Tonys). I also think it is way overpriced for the area (we are talking downtown Pawtucket/​Central falls line and the entrees range from 15 to over $ 30. The place was mostly empty and I don’t see it lasting if it doesn’t change the prices. If I’m going to spend over $ 80 for two people (we only had a glass of wine each) I expect the quality to be more than what I got. The food was ok, but I felt the service was also below expectations. I felt that we were an inconvenience to the server. The server didn’t even bother to light the candle on the table. I was also brought the wrong entrée. On a positive note, the bar was very nice. I’m going to give this place another chance in a few months. It wasn’t terrible, but needs a lot of improvement.

Oh this place needs a reality show’s help. Gordon Ramsay or Robert Irvine I’ve got your next episode!
Cresta has great bones, I know the firm that designed it and they did a great job, its doesn’t slightly remind me of the Newport Creamy this used to be in yester-​years. The décor is classy gives the air of the restaurant this place could be. It was exciting to have something new in Pawtucket, I work there and there’s not much in the lunch department, however Cresta disappointed me.
The first time I went I had the chicken parm which was actually good and the portion was huge for the price, however the service was terrible. It was the first month it was opened so I decided to give it another try. The second time my friend and I ordered sandwiches which was to come with chips or for a little extra fries. I asked for the fries as I had a craving a good fry. When the food finally came out it was a really sad looking sandwich and a bag of ruffles on the plate, a bag yes they couldn’t manage to take the chips out of the bag. If your gonna give me potato chips at least make me think they might be homemade or something. But if you remember I ordered fries I was told they were coming. They did come half way through my sandwich and they were frozen fries out of a bag you make at home. They weren’t crispy nor were they hot. The service this time was awful too. I must be a glutton or punishment or this just shows how sad the downtown Pawtucket lunch scheme is because I went back. This time I again had awful service but I went for the chicken parm and again it was good.
I think the place needs an overall on the service side and maybe needs to limit their menu, they have the potential they just need to figure out what they are. Are you a classy place with great décor and white tablecloths? Because that’s what you look like? Or are you a dive Italian place with some good food and sub par service? Because that’s what you are acting like.

Oh Cresta, I was so excited to try your venue, unfortunately, it did not meet any of my expectations :(
Cresta was the ”sponsor bar” after that weeks Fri night kickball game (yes, fairly upscale for a kickball afterparty, but I was thrilled as I had been wanting to try this bar!). It was a rainy kickball game and in rolled 60 (or so) wet, tired kickballers, ready to eat and drink! Unfortunately, the venue wasn’t ready for the kickballers (despite the preparations that had been made between Cresta and the league) and after 3 table shuffles and about 45 minutes everyone was seated. The menu looked great and we got our drinks in a fairly reasonable about of time. Drinks — check! Then we ordered and the staff was very nice although I got the impression they had no idea what was coming at them and what was going on.
About an hour and 20 minutes after walking in I happily saw my meal (I was a very hungry Jean J) and took one bite of the Cresta di Gallo and it was not cooked. Not cooked pasta! It had been blessed with the boiling water for a mere 3 minutes if I had to guess. C’mon Cresta, if you’re going to be able to get something out of the kitchen, at least make it be cooked pasta! I asked a friend to try as clearly I couldn’t have had raw pasta and when she couldn’t even ”fork the noodle” she gave up. Cresta, we were a party of 60, but you were expecting us! The waitress offered to make a new one or something else but my patients were shot and I needed to go home and get warm after a wet night of kickball in the rain.
Unfortunately, I did hear that my fellow kickballers after an hour of waiting never got their food and ventured onto a new establishment. :(
I had high hopes Cresta, but this night was a disaster.
I have to end on a pro… the ambiance is very nice! There’s a nice big bar, plenty of tables and a welcoming atmosphere when you walk in. I hope they can turn the ship around!

Excellent Chicken Parmesan at dinner for a lunchtime price!

The first impression is bad.
It sets the mood for the rest of the place. But in a way it’s sorta funny, because it’s Pawtucket.
You have the workers cars parked on the grass in front, cigarette butts around the entrance, weeds growing out of the cracks of the busted stairs.
Second impression
Enter the restaurant and admired nice décor, but then you notice the wrinkled tablecloths, some with large visible stains on them. Not too nice. The cooks and dishwashers come out of the back and hang out in the restaurant in their dirty clothes. Like I said, kinda funny.
Food was passable. Gnocchi weren’t too chewy.
Drinks were weak. Really really cheap on the alcohol. And they ran out of Campari. What Italian restaurant does that?
Service was great. Waiter was knowledgable, friendly, and helpful.
Overall it could be a lot better if they did a little cleaning.

The food was better than expected. Came here on a wednesday night and was surprised that they were fairly busy but under staffed. For this reason the service was very slow.
I had the daily special: asparagus Gorgonzola ravioli. It was very tasty but cold (I’m thinking it stayed on the counter too long)
My dad has the cavatelli Agricola and it was delicious. I highly recommend
The place looks nice and the view is great

Among the worst dining experiences we have had. Used Living Social coupon. Have wanted to go there since it opened. Cute menu. That’s as far as it went.
–parking lot desolate, dark, littered with glass and liquor bottles. Unkempt
Hedges blocked view of us from street. Felt unsafe as we left.
— reservation made via phone was not recorded but plenty of room.
–Waitress acted like she had never been out to dinner let alone served
someone. Couldn’t understand what a scotch and water was. Didn’t
haveThe Scotch wife ordered. tried to bring me johnny Walker rather
than Jack Daniels. Couldn’t understand I wanted it with club soda.
Brought wife Bourbon and water instead of Scotch.
–Wife ordered Chicken Picata without capers. Came with capers and
was sent back. Returned with less meat.
–Annoying flashing lights being installed as we were there. Shortly after
8:00PM lights continuously flashing and thumping music began.
Techno type, as one would expect in a night club late or as
background in Foxy Lady type bar. Not your basic dinner music.
–Three quarters through meal we had to ask for bread.
— My Chicken Parm was fine as was my pasta. Wife’s Picata was terrible.
–Given the lights and music and lack of general knowledge about
Adult drinks it was apparent patrons in their 60’s are not
The target group of this restaurant and we will not go back.

The Mister and i had a dinner deal which we decided to take advantage of. Upon entering we noticed the place was a little on the desolate side… We were one of only 5 couples in there on a Friday night. We were seated promptly at a table by the back door/​bathroom area which also had a dirty table cloth and dishes on it…
I noticed the waitstaff horsing around with one another, sitting in a booth near by texting friends and even one person who had their laptop at the bar perusing their facebook page.
Once we flagged someone down to take our orders i was hoping this would cease. Our waiter put the order in and then promptly went outside with another waitress. The chef ended up going outside to let the waiter know that our appetizer was ready to be brought out to the table… Upon receiving our Calamari it wasn’t really anything special. Fried lemon slices and fried banana peppers were heavy and the calamari hadn’t been blotted before dumping them into our plate which meant a soggy oily mess at the bottom.
For my entrée i ordered the Chicken Parm. Upon receiving it i noticed an older gentleman had walked in through the back door in plain clothes and it was almost like someone had cracked the whip on the waitstaff. Suddenly everyone looked alive and was no longer goofing off… ah… we must be in the midst of the owner i thought to myself… Everything from there on out was just ok… I’m not sure i’d go out of my way for this place again as the staff is very unprofessional, and the food just… MEH…
I’ll stick to Guido’s in PVD. Food is much better and it’s BYOB!

The majestic pyramid of the Apex building watches over I-​95 along Pawtucket like some plastic temple to a neo egyptian god. I actually liked going to the DMV when it was there for the awe inspiring building and the Apex store isn’t bad itself. With my love for the building, it’s small wonder that I was excited about Cresta.
I love the interior design, which is simultaneously intimate and spacious with booths, tables and a patio with a red and black color scheme. And there is a prominently displayed crest motif where the restaurant name comes from.
All good so far but here’s the problem. While the restaurant is italian, it does nothing to differentiate itself from the others out there. While the calamari was nice, it wasn’t exceptional, just fried squid.
The same with the entrees. Gout inducing quantities of red tomato sauce and cheese were liberally thrown over pasta and meat. Wasn’t bad, but nothing special either.
I hope the Apex building renaissance continues. If you need italian, there’s always Cresta, but there needs to be something more in this building too.

We decided to try this out after seeing a discount ticket in our RI Monthly. We didn’t end up using it as we didn’t hit the $ 50 cut-​off, but if we’d added alcohol to our tab we would have. The wine list and cocktails looked pretty good, we just weren’t in the mood to drink that night. In any case, Pawtucket needs more cool restaurants, and we wanted to support that. Based on the web site, we had high hopes.
The space is cool, particularly the bar area, which has a shiny black-​and-​red tiled look. Our waitress was fine in the attentiveness department, and even brought more water regularly and asked if we wanted more bread (we did – it’s fresh and hot from the oven, and the oil for dipping is very nice).
It’s when we ordered dinner that we ran into problems. I have a dairy issue, which is a recent development for me. I’m still feeling out how to manage that in restaurants. The menu said to tell your server if you have allergies or food sensitivities, so I figured they were prepared to handle it. I asked about a couple of menu items, and had to prompt the waitress to check with the chef. Unfortunately, pretty much everything is made with cream or other dairy products.
One item I picked out was the tempura shrimp appetizer. It wasn’t cheap, but I figured it would be tasty. It was described as including «mango, marmalade, horseradish agri-​dolce sauce.»
After I asked her to check on it, the waitress returned and said «the sauce has cream.» Clearly the chef didn’t go to the trouble of suggesting an alternate sauce or topping, either. So I ordered it with no sauce.
The shrimp arrived (3 good-​size shrimp, yes, but at $ 12 I expected more food) with no toppings of any kind, and a measly amount of diced some-​kind-​of-​fruit. I assumed that was the «mango» part. I honestly had expected that the mango, marmalade, and sauce were three different things, so I thought I’d get 1 and 2, but not 3. I asked the waitress if I could get more of the mango stuff, since I wasn’t getting any sauce so it was basically just 3 fried (deliciously fried, I should say) shrimp. She looked confused, went back to the kitchen, and returned to tell me that «both sauces» had cream. I still don’t understand what that means, or why I couldn’t at least have more garnish.
She could tell I was unhappy, but didn’t do anything to try to mitigate the situation. I looked for comment cards at the table and the hostess station, with no luck. I decided not to complain verbally.
In other food news, the salads were inventive, tasty, and lightly dressed. My partner’s pumpkin ravioli was so drowned in cheese and cream sauce that (he said) the pumpkin flavor was almost non-​existent.
Sadly, not recommended.

I work and play in Pawtucket, so was thrilled when Cresta opened. There are a few kinks that they need to work out, but overall, it was a pleasant experience.
I had a sauvignon blanc, and the waiter was pretty knowledgable – he was able to tell me what to expect with it. The menu is well-​arranged and surprisingly creative, as afar as menus go. The décor is fantastic – bold and daring, but it works.
A few complaints: the hostess seemed dazed and confused, the cocktail menu was stained, as was our tablecloth. I’m not picky about things like this, but a new restaurant should take care of the details to entice their customers to return.
My big concern is its location – it’s in the Apex plaza – between its awkward location and all of the construction on 95, I’m concerned that it won’t last. It’s a good addition to «the bucket,» so I hope it’s here to stay!

Back in the day, when my wife and I were dating there was this nice place called mad house café in pawtucket attached to the old apex. it closed after a few months, and now has been replaced by Cresta several years later. When we were invited out with a nice size party to have dinner there, i was kind of excited.
When i walk up to the place, the Mad House Café logo is still visible on the faded canopy. Which was kind of suspect. When i go in, the décor is nice, but is it the same décor that the old place had 4 years ago? So, we hit the bar to meet our group. I like a dirty martini, and when i order one i want it dirty. If i can see through the glass and read labels off the liquor on the bar… that is no good. Let alone it taking 10 minutes to make. Strike 1 — bar
The service was ok… the waiter was nice, but the asst. servers would rather be playing Draw something than helping. and know little about the menu. Strike 2 — service.
The menu is italian-​ish. My wife is Italian, so there is a ludicrously high standard to get by. I am hungry, and have little standards. My pasta with shrimp had little to no sauce, and the shrimp were so overcooked they were like a bouncy balls. My wife had a special, which was anything but. We were in a large group, so maybe they were overwhelmed… but the place was near empty and everyone at the table had complaints about the food. Strike 3 — food

My boyfriend and I tried Cresta for the first time this morning for Brunch. I wasn’t impressed, but it was ok. I think it has a lot of potential; it is very nicely decorated, clean, and has a great menu. I ordered the vegetable omelet. I was really excited for it. It comes with yukon potatoes, foraged mushrooms, roasted peppers and fontina cheese! Instead I got the Italian omelet, which is only spinach and cheese (mozzarella). Not sure how my order was messed up as there were more servers there than guests. I didn’t send it back though because I was so hungry. My toast wasn’t toasted either which I found odd (see: toast), so I didn’t eat it which I guess saved me a few carbs in the end. There was also no salt on the table for my home fries which were undercooked, maybe the manager should have been walking around checking to make sure all of the tables were properly dressed instead of sitting at the bar watching dance moms. My boyfriend ordered spaghetti and meatballs which he said was ok. He said the sauce was watery, but I didn’t try it. Like I said, it was ok, but maybe that is because I was starving.

Andino’s for the younger set. Good food, good portions, great bartender. Better than many other Italian places. The menu has all the italian favorites and then some. When driving to Federal Hill and trying to find parking on a Friday night makes you crazy, turn around and give this place a try.

So some of the earlier reviews are right on target. Food was above average, the did a great job on the space. I will say that the manager was friendly, but more attention needs to be paid to details. I came in for lunch wanting to try it out before coming for dinner. The hostess was friendly, but being the only person at the bar I thought I would get quicker attention than having to wait 5 minutes for the bartender to acknowledge me. Her first words were «I hate Thursdays» Apparently she had to put the liquor order away. She was not familiar with the wedding and when I told her the oil and bread was delicious and asked what was in the oil she said «I have no freakin idea» You think she would have at least gone and asked. She was not helpful and we felt like we were disturbing her rather than feeling appreciated for trying a new place.
I will come back but hope there is a new staff.

New place, found it on CL when applying for jobs. Didn’t get hired. or called back actually. But went to the place with my bf who was visiting. Had the ravoili with meatballs. A little expensive, but still good. What I didn’t like was how unprofessional the waiter and the owner was. Yelling at the bartender not caring. The food was good however the service was just overall bad. I left displeased until a man named Jason a chef asked us about our experience. I would recommend the food and if you go for lunch they have good prices.

We came back to Cresta for Brunch, and while they are still working out some of the service kinks, our meal was great once again. I had the Eggs a la Cresta — poached eggs with hollandaise, asparagas and beef tenderloin. Glad to have this in Pawtucket.

We went here for brunch and… wow! Everything was so delicious! Attention to detail was great and we even sprang for dessert. all made there and so worth it. We will be coming back ASAP. Nice addition to the area and for now, kind of a hidden jem.

A welcome addition to the town of Pawtucket. We decided to try Cresta for lunch yesterday and we were more than impressed by this hidden gem. The location is strange, it’s located on the backside of the aged Apex department store.
It is a beautifully designed restaurant, they put a lot of effort into the design and décor, with a great view of historic Pawtucket.
Our server Jared was friendly, helpful, and on top of everything throughout our visit. We ordered a cup of clam chowder, the meatball salad (never seen one offered before) and the eggplant parmesan. The cup of clam chowder was more of a bowl of chowder, garnished with a clam shell floating in the middle filled with fried clams — excellent fried clams and chowder, some of the best I have ever had. The meatball salad was different but in a good way, it had mixed greens, ricotta cheese and meatballs, it was delicious. The eggplant parmesan served over fresh pasta was tasty, the eggplant was cut a little too thick but overall it was worth the calories. We ordered the Tiramisu for dessert and it was very good.
Highly recommend this restaurant!

This place is great! I got the ricotta lasagna which was massive but hands down the best lasagna I’ve ever had. For dessert, I had the cannolis which were filled with tiramisu, chocolate mousse and vanilla bean. The service was great as well. Our waitress was very attentive and quick. I will definitely be going again!