22/10/2023: This will be a somewhat special review, because what happened to us is particular, I would have given even just one star, but I want to give trust to the owner..
I'll get into the matter;
Reservation for 9 people on a Saturday evening, we sit down... comfortable seat, plenty of space, nice place. The waiter is polite and professional and brings us some nice menus in (I think) cork.
The prices are a little high, but it's worth it for a bistro, unfortunately among the (sufficient) choices, many dishes are uninteresting, 4 pastas (of which 2 are the killer), 3 sandwiches, 4 salads, a little the latter are more interesting, although still few.
My attention falls on the platter of selected cured meats and the assassin.
Small note, in the bathroom there was a very good sandalwood shower gel as hand soap, perhaps a little strong for a restaurant, but very good.
And here comes the platter of cured meats... selected... 4 half slices of national raw meat, 4 slices of spicy spienata, 4 of coppa, 4 of finocchiona, a little porchetta and 4 cubes of mortadella.
I can't say that I had a selection of particular cold cuts, since it was all stuff that you normally eat at home when you go shopping at the Coop, but that's okay, come on, the price isn't excessive, 15 euros, it's okay. And then the bread they brought us was very good, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, a little warm.
Unfortunately it didn't go so well for my guests, a dry hamburger on a dry plate will probably be digested after the Easter dove. The sandwiches were good, but a little small for the price of 12 euros each, while the salad with salmon (according to my friend) was not satisfactory.
And here comes the climax... We wait about an hour for the assassin's pasta which should have arrived after the cutting board, naturally on Saturdays the times can be extended, so we wait calmly and, finally, she arrives, the assassin with the stracciatella on top.
You should know that the assassin has this variant with stracciatella to sweeten the palate given the high spiciness of the pasta... See, of course!
It was a pasta with tomato sauce, without a hint of chilli. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining that it wasn't very spicy, but it just wasn't there. No taste, it was like a portion of raw ham and melon, but without the raw...
The dish made no sense.
We point this out to the waiter and he brings us some dried chili pepper grains (and seeds)... nonsense..
I eat it anyway, my friend doesn't.
We go to the cash register and explain the problem to the owner. The first thing I ask is if they had had problems in the kitchen, as I am a chef and restaurateur I can understand that it could happen.
His explanation, however, was very clear: "many people don't eat spicy, so we make it sweet, and whoever wants it can add chilli pepper".
Before replying, I'll examine the sentence, it's very simple if you're familiar with catering. In practice, since the assassin is the dish towards which the menu (perhaps unconsciously) conveys the most, many are made.. and many customers would ask for variations on the spiciness.. one normal, one not very spicy, one very spicy.. So the chef who makes it, makes it bland, makes many all at once, and then whoever wants adds chilli pepper... Easy, right?
And no! Because that is a pasta that uses chili pepper as the main ingredient, removing it would be like making a carbonara without bacon, because maybe there are vegetarian customers who don't like it... and then maybe, for those who want bacon, we'll bring them a pork at the table...
And no!
The dish must be done well, to the best of one's ability, without distorting it to meet those who want it different... and if you want to do it (because the restaurant belongs to the owner, he can do whatever he wants) then you have to do it tell the customer.
In the end the owner decided to give us a discount (which wasn't our initial goal, but whatever) and took away a good portion of the dishes mentioned above.
I hope he did it as a gesture of understanding and not to disgrace us and send us away.
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