Italian Kitchen

I went to Italian kitchen yesterday for a friend's dinner. This is by far the worst global restaurant I've been to.

We went early to drop off a cake and was told we couldn't consume it on the premises because it's against health code. I don't think I've experienced that ever. So we left and placed it in the fridge at the hotel.

When we arrived we were seated promptly, but as the plates started coming out for appetizers and bread, at least half the plates were still greasy and stained - I'm sure that's not again health code.

The food was decent enough, but our busser was busy talking to other servers and actually asked us to hand him the plates over other guests. That's bad for a "high end" restaurant.

I had the Veal Scallopini because the black truffle called my name. My veal was overcooked and a little tough. But the sauce was good, it was well seasoned with the right amount of tartness to balance the richness of the veal.

We also had freshly grated Parmesan cheese. That was a plus.

B had the pappardelle. He really liked it. The pasta was well cooked, not too rich, and the lamb sausage was moist.

Overall, people liked the food. The service was lacking, but we were in and out in 1.5 hours and they never pushed us to get more drinks, which is weird because that's where the money would come from. Probably because there's an automatic 18% charge for groups.

Will not recommend not return. Prefer Black and Blue or Coast: same quality food, better service.

Andiamo

Had dinner at Andiamo Bellevue tonight- not a bad experience. After Assaggio, we were hesitant about Italian restaurants.

We made reservations for 8, but didn't find out until last minute that it had changed to 6. Our friends arrived first and told the host/ server that we only had 6, but they sat us at the table for 8 anyway. Then after we arrived and the server came to take our drink orders and found out that we had 6 people, he decided to move us to another table. The table for 6 was great, nice round table, but couldn't they have done that when we first told them it was a table of 6?

The food was good though- preceded by some nice warm fresh bread.

We ordered the Tagliatelle, Veal Scaloppini Saltimbocca, and panna cotta. The tagliatelle was cooked perfectly and the flavour of the mushroom was strong and yet well balanced. As usual in 'Merica, portions were huge.

The veal was a little over cooked and tougher than expected. I also think they burnt the prosciutto or something because it felt like I was eating a piece of cardboard. But the pasta that came with it was solid. Good flavour, nothing crazy.

Panna cotta was decent. The texture was not as creamy as I expected. The fruit sauce added a nice tartness to it.

Everything was okay most of the time, except near the end there was some high pitched whining sound coming from the kitchen. It was not pleasant and went on for about 5 minutes. I would think if you had a loud kitchen, you'd install doors to block out the noise- no such luck.

Overall, if you're looking for decently priced and solid food, I'd recommend it. I guess we were spoiled by the good food at Federico's and other Italian places in Vancouver. I don't think we will return next time we're in Seattle though.

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.

Ask For Luigi

We went to Ask For Luigi because it was in the dine out list but we never ended up going.

We'd called earlier for a table at 6pm, but were told reservations were full and if we arrived at 6pm, we'd probably just need to wait 15-30 minutes. We arrived when they opened at 5:30pm, and pretty much got seated right away. Not really anyone waiting at all the entire time we were there and wasn't actually full.

The restaurant was HOT! Apparently, new windows are getting installed next week (week of July 20, 2014), so visit after then.

We had the marrow escargot as appetizer. They were okay, didn't really have as much flavour or as good of a mouth feel as the ones from The Keg - which is odd since it was cooked on marrow.

Then we had the pappardelle duck ragu as main course. The pasta was perfectly cooked to an al dente, the sauce was a balanced tartness, and the duck was well distributed. All in all a good dish, and big enough to share.

Unfortunately, one of our friends found a strand of hair in her dish - though I suspect it could be hers since everyone in the kitchen had their hair tied up and you can see their kitchen is very clean. Nonetheless, the host (owner?) took the dish off the bill - which was very nice of him since my friend had pretty much finished her plate by then.

We didn't stay for dessert because it was just too hot.

All in all, it was a pleasant experience - the service was professional and quick and the food was well prepared. I'm not sure if I will return as the dishes were a little overpriced for what it is - i.e. Compared to Quattro, and there's not a lot of choices for your main dish aside from pasta. We also didn't like the location. There's nothing there! And the streets smelled of urine the whole time we were walking towards the building. Would probably recommend other italian restaurants before Luigi, and would probably visit something else if I were in the area. Take from that what you will.

Lupo

We went to Lupo to celebrate a friend's birthday because she had heard great things from some Italian natives.

We had the Foie Gras + Chicken Liver Parfait first - I just can't turn down good liver. It was very delicious, and because there were so little bread to go with it, I had generous spoonfuls of liver on each slice. The grape mostarda on the side was kind of pointless and seemed irrelevant.

Next we had the rabbit Pappardelle. It was decent, but not delicious. Our friends had the 12oz rib eye. Apparently, it was really good and cooked to the perfect temperature.

Even though our server forgot to charge us for two glasses of wine and then waived it AND gave us free dessert (cake) for the birthday girl, it didn't make up for the lack of service during the meal. The place isn't big, so it doesn't really make sense for him to be missing all the time.

Ambivalent about recommending - there are other better Italian restaurants. Will not return.