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2015-10-10
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Occasion was 11th wedding anniversary.Italian food is one of our favourite. We have been to Italy, a few Italian restaurants in Hong Kong, but Sabatini at Royal Garden is our first visit, and most likely is our last visit. Ambience was kind of noisy on 10 October 2015 with some customers talking in loud tone. I understand there are some kind of cycling event at TST East on that night and those customers seem to be from the event organiser. The event also caused some traffic jam. These were not t
Italian food is one of our favourite. We have been to Italy, a few Italian restaurants in Hong Kong, but Sabatini at Royal Garden is our first visit, and most likely is our last visit.
Ambience was kind of noisy on 10 October 2015 with some customers talking in loud tone. I understand there are some kind of cycling event at TST East on that night and those customers seem to be from the event organiser. The event also caused some traffic jam. These were not that pleasant, however they are not the reasons why I feel disappointed with Sabatini.
Why I feel disappointed:
1. Staff were not helpful.
A few staff were serving us. I would prefer to be served by one staff instead of 3-4. Some of them are not totally helpful.
The first staff who served us, recommended to us some dishes from the menu, but he failed to let us know there is also an "appetizer buffet" which cost $300ish per person, where you can serve yourself 2 plates of appetizers from the open area with a few choices. At the end, we chose two appetizers from the menu. One is the (organic) Parma Ham which cost $498, and the other one is Grilled Octopus. It was only later we found that some customers were helping themselves appetizers from the open area and we enquired another staff then we know we weren't being told our options.
Another one showed impatience in explaining the dish on the menu to us when we decided to confirmed some details e.g. on the size of serving, he could definitely do better in his attitude. He is the same staff who when my wife complained that her dish is a bit salty, he threw a standard reply of "I will let the chef know" (with "I don't really care" written on his face) and then he was seen busy with other things.
2. There is no surprise factor in the dish
Apart from the 2 appetizers, we also ordered a mushroom soup, a lobster soup, a mushroom pasta and lamb chops. The quality to us is only so so. Lamb chop supposed to be medium but it seems more like medium well to me. Even the free chocolates and biscuits at the end of meal, has nothing special to mention.
A disappointing dining experience tonight at Sabatini, reminds us of our great dining experience at another Italian restaurant, Angelini (in Shangrila Hotel). We definitely enjoy the warm hospitality in Angelini, and also the plating/ finest of the food much much more than Sabatini.
In summary, we are very disappointed with Sabatini. I could have just moved on, but I feel that I should write something here so that people can see more of negative dining experience as well, and decide carefully if they really want to choose Sabatini to celebrate an important occasion.
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