Bistecca Italian Steak House (已結業)

Item: Bistecca Italian Steak House
Rating: 3
Author: noralein

153 食记

味道

环境

服务

卫生

抵食

22363

中环

$401-800

意大利菜无肉餐单扒房

noralein

等级4

194

We came over to Bistecca for its weekend brunch buffet in November and the overall experience was decent for its $288 price tag, and we wondered why the restaurant was so empty. We ordered steak on top of the buffet, but for whatever reason there was a miscommunication and the steak never came. We cancelled and left with some regrets. On that occasion, the crab legs from the buffet were relatively big and fresh, and I was particularly impressed by the salad selection where baby spinach, artichokes and a good range of vegetarian dishes were not only of good quality, but delicious. That was why we took family here on the first day of 2018.

As it turned out, the restaurant had just one occupied table of four at 1pm, and remained so for the rest of our 2-hour meal. There was no sign of baby spinach or artichokes—only iceberg lettuce that looked somewhat aged. Crab legs were very much below standard (in size and freshness) and in general our guests were not impressed by the food. Fortunately, we ordered a 28oz Delmonico bone-in rib-eye and lobster tail to go with the buffet. The steak turned out to be excellent and loaded with flavor, a pretty impressive achievement given that the restaurant didn’t have time to let it rest at room temperature for long. Lobster tail was fine—salt was unevenly rubbed on, which made some bites unbearably salty.

I imagine this may be related to inexperienced or uncommitted management that isn’t making the most of the resources available of a relatively successful F&B group. Our booking online was also penalized as a ‘no show’ despite the fact that we’ve made it clear who we are and how we booked at the time of the meal (this has now been sorted out, after the review I submitted was deleted). The standard of service was also below par overall, with some waiting staff being extra professional while the rest were either inexperienced or downright unfriendly.

We may or may not return for the good steak, but given how common it is for excellent restaurants in Admiralty and Central to offer weekend brunch buffets at roughly the same price, I believe guests who have had a bad experience will be unlikely to make another bet.