Noticed that there is a new Italian restaurant in Taikoo Shing. The restaurant décor looked quite nice, sort of upmarket with the dark wood, which gives the impression that it is a classy restaurant. Some of the items on the set menu looked tempting, and the price seemed reasonable, but need to be wary of the add-on price depending on which item you choose from the menu.
We arrived promptly when the restaurant opened. The staff took a long time to seat the customers, but thought maybe he just needed a bit of time to warm up.
For starters we ordered the soup of the day (pumpkin soup) and the chicken caesar salad. For main course, we ordered the prawn and scallop fettuccini and the slow-cooked pork loin.
While waiting, some of the staff stood near our table to chat rather loudly among themselves. That was an early indicator of sub-standard service. The staff seemed to enjoy moving very swiftly, but without warning. A number of times, a plate of food would be shoved right in front of me without any warning. If i had moved my head forward at that time, likely there would have been a collision. 😥 It is basic courtesy, to at least say something, maybe "excuse me", or "here is your starter", and maybe followed by introducing the dish to the customer. Unbelievable they did not even train their staff to do such simple things. We subsequently decided to go somewhere else for waffles rather than have dessert at this restaurant, and those staff were much more polite and patient with their customers even though they only charged half the price.
To make matters worse, one of the staff may have fallen ill. Initially, she kept sniffling when she was standing near me (our table was next to their work station). Then she started coughing as well. I sympathise that someone ill still have to go to work, but when you work in the food industry, especially at a restaurant that charges on average $250 to $300 per person, how can you expect your customers to enjoy their meal with someone coughing and sniffling next to you. 😥 I was surprised she did not even wear a mask. 😥
ok, back to the food . . . the pumpkin soup was no surprise . . . not very hot and not much flavour . . . similar to what you can buy from the supermarket. The salad was ok, the chicken was tender and had some flavour. For the main course, the prawn and scallops were delicious. They could have given two prawns instead of one (ok to charge $88 extra instead of $68). The pasta was interesting, it tasted ok, but not as fresh as expected. Not sure if they made it fresh. The slow-cooked pork loin was tender, but had too much fat. Better to cut out and not eat the fat portion as the texture was a bit rubbery.
With the poor service and the constant coughing and sniffling, we decided not to have dessert or coffee. By the way, it was strange this new Italian restaurant was offering grapefruit cake/pudding for dessert in their set menu rather than tiramisu, which was featured in one of their posters.
All in all, it was puzzling why the restaurant owner would invest in such a nicely decorated and well-located restaurant with nice food but such poor service.
It really does not take much, just staff who wants to be there, and not too proud to be a gracious host to their patrons.