Is it possible to ever get tired of a restaurant that provides outrageous customer service?  Regardless of location or cuisine type, won’t you continually patronize a restaurant that makes you feel welcome and well tended to?  Now, by exceptional service, I am not referring to the meal where your waiter continually hounds you for confirmation that everything tastes good or one that includes the proverbial drop by from the manager trying to sell you on the idea that it’s the best dining experience of your life.  I’m talking about the art of understated service elegance.  Assisting ladies with their chair, returning from the restroom to find a neatly folded napkin, attentive but not intrusive service, the owner remembering your name even after the first visit – things like this used to be the gold standard in fine dining but have seemingly disappeared as the national trend toward a more casual fine dining experience has festered into prominence.  I mean, isn’t it the most basic premise to follow – treat every customer like they’re your best customer and they might just become that?

The moniker at Bugatti’s is “first class dining on a first name basis” and never has a restaurant tagline been truer.  Before computer systems like Open Table arrived, allowing restaurants to enter their diners’ data so the restaurant could “remember” birthdays, anniversaries, what the diner ate on their last visit, dietary concerns, etc, there were restaurateurs that were forced to do it the old fashioned way through plain ole paying attention and committing it to memory.  For all the positives that technology has brought to the restaurant industry (like, um, an online review site where you can make reservations!), nothing beats personal attention. 

Proprietor Zee Bugatti might very well be the hardest working, most attentive and genial restaurateur in the city.  He knew our name after the first visit.  He calls and leaves a message on our birthdays.  He sends us a card on our anniversary.  He gave our newborn baby boy a toy bugatti racecar.  It’s not unusual for him to send us home with the flower centerpiece from our table.  Zee gets it.  Zee’s staff gets it.  And when you experience Bugatti’s, you’ll get it too.  (As we’ve qualified many times, this all happened pre-snootyfoodie so any thoughts of a hidden agenda should be dispelled).

I’ve often heard the following question posed, “would you rather go to a restaurant with outstanding food but below average service or one with good food and extraordinary service?”  To me, the answer is simple.  We’ve long believed great service can overcome a lot of blunders in a fine dining experience.  Fortunately, at Bugatti’s you don’t have to make that decision.  You get both.

The menu at Bugatti’s is a fairly traditional rundown of time tested Italian favorites and that suits us just fine.  I would much rather a restaurant focus on the fundamentals of a particular cuisine than try to gussy it up with exotic preparations and fail to execute a good dish. 

Appetizers not to be missed include the fresh and light Ravioli Primavera.  House made raviolis are stuffed with chopped fresh vegetables and covered with a light basil cream sauce.  Where some raviolis fail with tasteless stuffing or overpowering cream sauce, theirs gives you a nice crunch and garden flavor from the al dente vegetables, an herby spike from the basil, and blissful smoothness from the not so creamy cream sauce.  Damn, it’s almost like health food so how can you pass it up?  If you understandably want more than the appetizer portion, you’ll also find these on the Pasta menu (and on Dishes to Die For) so have no fear.  We also enjoy the stuffed mushroom caps. 

Larger than average button mushrooms are generously stuffed with crabmeat, parmesan, and a rich hollandaise then baked forming a nice little crunchy crust on top.  These little guys are truly addictive.  Finally, it’s awfully hard to go wrong with a plate of crab claws.  Sautéed in a simple combo of garlic, herbs, white wine and olive oil these will also threaten how much room you leave for your entrée if you’re not careful.  Dip some of the fresh baked garlic bread in the remaining sauce and you might just find a self-induced food coma in your very near future.

Two angel hair preparations on the pasta menu are worth consideration.  Those same chopped garden vegetables found in the Raviolis are served over angel hair with a dash of olive oil and chopped garlic.  Though I usually leave my calorie counter in the car at Italian restaurants, Zee notes on his menu that this dish is a mere 8g of fat so for the belt cinchers out there, giddy-up.  We also love the clean flavors in the Capelli D’Angelo.  Angel hair comes dressed with olive oil and chopped garlic, shreds of sun-dried tomato and topped with a septet of pan seared shrimp. 

It certainly might seem like I recommend lamb chops in every restaurant profile, and there may be some truth to that; but I can’t NOT recommend the chops at Bugatti’s.  Four meaty chops come grilled medium rare and slathered with Madeira wine sauce and topped with sautéed mushrooms.  For all the anti-Lambys I know, they all cite that gamey taste as cause for their aversion to the dish.  Hey, I agree.  If they have a gamey scent, they’ve been off the range too long.  No worries; the game is absentia in Bugatti’s version.

Veal Diane is as sinful as it is delicious.  Scaloppini’s of milk fed baby veal are crowned with a bounty of lump crabmeat then submerged with a velvety brandy cream sauce.  Despite the spunk and luxury of the cream sauce, you still get the anticipated flavors of the veal and crabmeat.  Funny, Zee didn’t add any fat gram stats on this dish…

 I urge you to also pay attention to the fish specials.  The fish and preparations obviously change frequently but we’ve always found these specials to be very fresh, perfectly prepared, and delicious.

You’ll find some suspected dessert offerings with tiramisu and crème brulee but we enjoy the chocolate mousse and the Bugatti Snowball more.  The chocolate mousse kind of is what it is but their version is fluffier and lighter than you typically find.  The Snowball is a large scoop of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream rolled in roasted pecans then drizzled with hot fudge and sprinkled with chopped almonds.  Yes, you might need an espresso to wake you up after inhaling this thing.

The wine list is an extension of the straightforward menu, is short and to the point with a smattering of pocket friendly selections from Italy and California.  Zee also offers a President’s List that has some tempting Brunellos and Barolos and a few special occasion offerings from the U.S. but it’s not the 2 inch thick novel you’re forced to plow through at other Italian restaurants.   

As great as the food and service are at Bugatti’s, the allure of the amorous atmosphere lures in a crowd all by itself.  The seclusion of the restaurant and how it’s snuggled up to Bachman Creek imparts a feeling of solitude and romance.  The outdoor patio with its twinkling lights just begs you to have your next special event there.  I mean this in the best possible way but Bugatti’s might be the most un-Dallas dining experience in the city.

Take a quick look at the walls in the dining room and you’ll see the collection of local and national celebrities attesting that Bugatti’s is anything but a hidden gem.  Remorse is a waste of time and energy so don’t fret if you’re just now learning about this Italian treasure, just make a point to get there as soon as you can.  I promise, if you don’t feel like a lifelong customer when you walk in, you will by the time you leave.