Assaggio Ristorante

We made reservations to visit Assaggio for B's birthday. Our reservation was for a Thursday night at 7pm. When we arrived at 6:56pm, the hostess said our table will be ready in 4 minutes. After about 10 minutes, the hostess said that the people at our table had paid their bill and they're just waiting for them to leave. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if the hostess had just said that when we first arrived instead of saying our table would be ready in 4 minutes. To give them credit, the restaurant was PACKED - even the bar area.

After we sat down, our server IMMEDIATELY came over to ask what we would like to drink. Since we just sat down, we really couldn't decide as we have not even had time to look at the menu. He left and returned to the table behind us (seated at the same time) and took their drink orders but never came back to us until we had nibbled on some of the bread. The bread was served with a jar of oil on the side - which everyone would have access to and could possibly contaminate.

So after a while, our server finally returned to take our order. We ordered both drinks and food at the same time. As our appetizer, we had the GAMBERONI grilled prawns coated with goat cheese, mint and oregano sauce. As you can see, we don't have a picture because it was so small and we were so hungry, we ate it all before I remembered to take a picture. The plate was composed of a spoonful of salad, and five tiny prawns which looked more like shrimp because they were so tiny.

I ordered the OSSO BUCO braised organic veal shank with seasonal aromatic vegetables, served over arborio rice. The veal was soft and well seasoned, and the rice was rich and creamy. There really wasn't much to complain about except the portion size. I would gladly have paid a-third of the price for the dish for something half the size. But I guess we're in America, so portions are bigger.

B had the Pasta Sampler because he couldn't decide which pasta to have. He ordered the CINGHIALE pappardelle with wild boar ragu, VONGOLE linguine with manila clams, garlic, lemon and white wine, and VODKA penne with imported pancetta, peppercorns, green onions and vodka tomato cream sauce. B says the pasta was very well cooked to a perfect al dente. The CINGHIALE was his favourite. He also could not finish the dish.

As dessert, we ordered the CHOCOLATE CHIP CANNOLI and the TARTUFO. We shouldn't have. Both tasted like they came straight from the freezer. The Tartufo had a strong taste of freezer burn, and the cannoli was so hard we couldn't even poke through it with our forks.

Our server was kind enough to take one of the desserts off the bill, but it really didn't make up for his poor service the entire night. He appeared to be in a bad mood from the onset and just didn't give us the professional service you might expect from a restaurant with these prices and caliber of food. For example, when we ordered the half carafe of wine, he brought the carafe over and poured the wine out. But when I ordered a glass of wine, he just brought over the glass that was partially sprayed with lemon juice from the bar. I expected him to bring over a smaller carafe for the glass like they do at other restaurants - even the Keg does that! The owner was running around greeting people, serving, and clearing dishes - which made me believe he expects more from his staff.

All in all, the main dishes are great. They are well cooked and come out quickly. Everything else could do with a little work. Will not return but would recommend their pasta.