Lotsa Pasta - S San Diego

My husband and I used to live in Pacific Beach and ;Lotsa Pasta ; was one of our favorite restaurants. We could not resist their timpano and each time we tried to sway from our usual order, the timpano would call our name. If you haven 't tried it yet, what are you waiting for?? Timpano, which means ;drum ; in Italian, has layers of sausage, sauces, eggs and vegetables enveloped in a golden crust. It is served as a wedge on a plate slathered with three decadent sauces (vodka, pesto and Alfredo the colors of Italy, of course! . Well, we just bought a house in Spring Valley and don 't get to Pacific Beach as often as we would like, to dine there, so when I had a client in La Jolla two Sundays ago, I thought I would surprise my husband with Timpano to go! I called ahead and placed my order. Since their entree comes with a soup or salad option, I chose the Caesar salad. It took me 10 minutes to get there and by the time I arrived, the order was ready, in clear takeout containers, on the back counter waiting to be bagged (very efficient ! One thing that did trouble me was that the salads had been tossed with the dressing and the timpano was sitting in a pool of sauces and since I wanted to stop in the grocery store to get a bottle of wine plus an additional 20 minutes to drive home, I knew that the salads would be wilted and the timpano would be a soggy mess. When I expressed my concern with the server, and thought that to go orders would have their sauces/dressings on the side, she explained that most people live within three minutes of here so they do not put anything on the side unless you ask for it. At this point I know I should not have assumed that they would package their take out meals like most other restaurants, but wouldn 't it be good customer service for them to ask you if you would like your sauces on the side?? Or at least give me a break since this is my first time taking their food to go. It seemed to me that this was too much of a hassle for them. When I went through the details of my events following my purchase there (which I 'm sure she didn 't care how long it takes for me to get home she didn 't seem to take the initiative to remedy the situation, so I asked for new meals with the sauces on the side. She turned to the manager (whose name I forgot to take note of who was working at something on the register down the counter. I could see that her body language had changed and she was already exasperated with me before she encountered me. When I told her my dilemma she took the meals into the back and I could hear her talking to the chef. When she returned she said that she would give me the same timpanos but scrape the sauce off it. She could not give me new meals because they would lose money. That was the extent of it! Since I had not paid for the meal yet, I thanked them and declined the order. I promptly left so disappointed with the customer service and headed to the ;Venetian Italian Restaurant ; in Ocean Beach where we received the most exquisite meals to go! It will take me a long time before we return to ;Lotsa Pasta ;, if ever, because we were so disappointed with the customer service. Since I am the catering manager for Girard Gourmet and understand the effects of customer service (good or bad and I know Carol (the owner and how important customer service is to her, I was surprised with how the situation was handled. Hopefully, someone will create a training package that will help their servers go above and beyond the call of duty. Simple gestures go a long way!