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2012-06-21
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A friend of mine told me she found a really economical Italian restaurant, and knowing that I am a huge fan of Italian food, asked me to try it together. So here we are at Saizeriya Italian Restaurant, a Japanese chain Italian Restaurant. It's lunch hour and the place is pretty busy. Shortly after we got our seats, there was a line queuing outside the restaurant. This place is very different to most Italian restaurants. The most special thing is that everything here is self-served. There's a but
It's lunch hour and the place is pretty busy. Shortly after we got our seats, there was a line queuing outside the restaurant.
This place is very different to most Italian restaurants. The most special thing is that everything here is self-served. There's a button on every table and after you have pressed it, your table number will appear on the screen in the restaurant and a waiter will come to you. If you want extra plates, tableware, or cheese powder and tobasco, you would have to go fetch it yourself either.
There's a lunch set menu, with quite a lot to choose from, for instance there are baked rice, pasta, pizza and sizzling hamburg steak. The price ranges from around $3X to $4X, including unlimited drinks at the drinks bar. Inside the a la carte menu, the price of food items are around $2X to $3X, and you may enjoy the unlimited drinks for an addition of $8. The price is absolutely economical and affordable to everyone. As the a la carte items are not expensive at all, adding $8 for the unlimited drinks or ordering a set lunch for the drinks basically makes not much difference. Subsequently, your choices are not only limited to the set menu but actually for everything in the restaurant.
We ordered three set lunches and two more dishes from the a la carte menu:
Mushroom and Cream Risotto
The risotto was flavorsome, and the texture of the sauce was right but the rice used was certainly not aborio rice. That resulted in a weird but acceptable overall texture. I also think that the aroma of mushroom had not really been absorbed by the sauce to bring out a better flavor. Its okay but there are still much improvements for it to me.
Tomato and Bacon Spaghetti
At first sight I was worried that the spaghetti would be very sloppy ones, but thankfully it wasn't too bad. The pasta, I wouldn't say it's al dente, but at least it's not overcooked and was of a right texture. There were slices of bacon in there and the essence of the bacon has spread over the tomato sauce, making it pretty aromatic and flavorful. However, as it was called tomato and bacon spaghetti, I think the tomato could have been richer to bring out a richer and more distinct flavor, or perhaps put more tomato sauce in it.Magherita Pizza
The pizza looked kind of nice. It was not cut into slices when served, and you are given the cuter to divide the pizza. The portion of the cheese was quite nice. It gave a mild cheesy aroma and flavor. Though not as strong as authentic magherita pizzas, the cheese was more Japanese-Italian style, lighter but aromatic. As for the pizza crust, it was actually more bread-like, but surely not like flatbreads or foccacia. The crust was very soft and fluffy, and it felt more like a pizza bun instead. Anyhow, I think in overall it has sort of showed a Japanese-Italian style cuisine, so I'd give it a pass.Seafood Paella
The dish looked kind of big but actually the dish is kind of shallow. The seafood included shrimps, calamari, mussels and clams. It seems to me it kind of lacked variety but you certainly can't expect much when it's merely $2X-3X, right? The seafood, to my surprise, actually tasted good and fresh. It was indeed flavorsome. Yet the problem was the rice. I find the sauce a bit awkward, it was like a bit sour sweet, but not savory like normal paella tastes. I just find it a bit weird when it comes to the rice part.Hamburg Steak with Chicken Wings
Probably all the hamburg steak includes an egg and some potato wedges. I find its presentation pretty alluring, and I instantly have a good impression to it. The hamburg steak, as we cut it, was tender and pretty nicely cooked. It was savory, and quite alluring in some ways. The texture was stunning and it's probably my favorite one among the other main dishes we ordered. The potato wedges were so so. I think the chicken wings might be a bit too small. They taste mediocre, fair but not special, and probably would be better if they're more meaty. When the food items are cheap on a menu, you wouldn't hesitate to order more food. We didn't hesitate to order our desserts as well.
I ordered a Tiramisu myself.
The tiramisu looked kind of nice. It tasted sweet and creamy. I liked that texture, creamy yet a hint of sponginess from the cake. I liked how there's a hint of liquor in it, the sweetness spreading through. It was pretty fair yet it lacked a little bit of coffee flavor. If there's a bit more coffee flavor, it'll be a really nice cake indeed.Though it seems I have been criticizing much, frankly I quite like the place. After all, the price is so cheap and we shouldn't give high hopes and expectations to it. It still stuns me how cheap the meal is. The food is so so, if you have been having proper western meals, but what I appreciate is that it's a really economical place to dine in. It gave an opportunity to many people, who couldn't afford to have a proper western meal, leave alone Italian meal, to experience some western and Italian food. It's certainly not decent but it made Italian food seem approachable by everyone. It won't make those people hesitate about Italian food when it's about this restaurant, because this Italian restaurant is no mighty restaurant like many other ones all over town, but is an affordable, approachable and economical Italian restaurant.
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