Babbo Trattoria (Closed)

Item: Babbo Trattoria
Rating: 3
Author: noralein

624 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

14630

Causeway Bay

$201-400

Italian Seafood Pizza Salad Coffee Shop Bar

551

noralein

Level4

194

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Babbo Trattoria was heavily advertised across numerous food magazines and newspapers and the number of positive reviews it had received on Openrice since it opened last year far outnumber what one'd expect (given the high frequency of reviews within a period of fifteen months). Sadly, it didn't live up to expectations.

The "Trattoria" is run by two chefs from Taiwan and is meant to be famous for the generous helpings of shaved cheese atop its salads and pastas. It is also meant to be famous for using authentic grana padano cheese from northern Italy.

We came here on a Wednesday lunchtime at 12.20; the entire restaurant was empty, and remained so for the next hour. We left at around 2.30, and there had only been two or three occupied tables during the entire time we were there.

Asked whether we could have some warm water, the answer was that tap or boiled water was not available: we could either choose still or sparkling water. I was rather surprised, because even at restaurants that are much higher up the price range, servers rarely turn down requests for tap or boiled water. When asked what coffee it was that was included in the lunch set, we were told that it was just instant powdered coffee. Ouch, that made me sad.

The lunch menu offers a range of risotti and pasta, pizzas and more proper secondos to go with caesar salad (add $10) and/or soup (add $10) at your will. At this point, it was becoming more obvious that we were not going to get an authentic experience. But still, I had my fingers crossed.

Not long after we placed our orders, the caesar salad came. The romaine lettuce was crispy with a pretty refreshing (but somewhat heavy and sugary) sauce and some snowy bits of shaved cheese. I thought it was okay, but it totally didn't taste or look anything like what other people had to say about this dish and the photos they took of it.
(See photo from an online review below.)

The pizza formaggi ($68) came next. It was something like a 7". The menu advertised not only mozzarella and grana padano, but also gorgonzola. Unfortunately, there were only trace amounts of gorgonzola (and in general, there was very little cheese on the pizza whose only topping was cheese).

That said, while the pizza base was not the trendy thin crust type, it was very fresh and chewy. Still, it was no match for the pizza bases I've had at Piccolo Pizzeria in Tai Hang.

Finally, the schnitzel-looking, deep-fried breaded pork ($98) came. Although there were four pieces of it, each piece was so thin that there was barely any meat. That didn't matter so much, but the crust was overcooked and the pork too difficult to chew on. I found it disappointing that such a straight-forward dish could still be executed below standard.

Coffee came after the meal and it was just fine. When you need some coffee to end the meal, even instant ones would do.

As my birthday was coming up this month, my friend secretly ordered the tiramisu glass cup ($108) with a birthday message on the plate. When we spooned out the cake, we speculated that it wasn't tiramisu because the consistency was just so different from what we'd usually get elsewhere. No ladyfingers or different layers whatsoever, but it was actually still a good dessert. Portion size-wise, extremely small. Smaller than a cake from Starbucks' fridge counter I'd say?