Read full review
2013-03-19
2694 views
We stumbled upon Cenacolo Restaurant in between two events. We walked past, the menu looked interesting enough, it was 6pm and the place was empty, so we simply walked in. They first offered to us a table by the door, but then offered us a very cozy round one toward the back of the restaurant. We would have to finish within an hour and a half, but we had plans for the evening anyway, so that was no problem. We had brought a bottle of wine, and given that corkage was minimal (100 or 150, I don’t
We had brought a bottle of wine, and given that corkage was minimal (100 or 150, I don’t remember), we asked them to open it for us. The manager (I assume) did that, and got all sentimental because it came from the area where he was from. Nice guy, we talked a bit about Italy with him.
We ordered food: beef carpaccio as appetizer, one pizza, and gnocchi with tomato sauce. First came bread, which was decent enough but nothing special. It would have helped if the olive oil and balsamico had been tasty … The carpaccio could have used some tastier olive oil, too; it was not bad, but rather unexciting. The gnocchi were alright, but a little too chewy in texture. The tomato sauce was quite tasty. However, the pizza was the absolute disaster … a thin, tasteless, industrially made crust (you know these little holes on the underside? the really evenly spaced ones? that’s what we found when we looked at the bottom of the pizza …) that was neither crunchy nor chewy, nor anything in particular. It had tomato sauce, mushrooms, and plenty of cheese, which was alright, but the dough was simply awful. When we commented on the pizza, the manager replied “well, this is not Italy.” If this is not Italy, then how come that even places like Pizza Express manage to make decent pizza??
We had coffee after dinner, and it was one of the worst espressos we’ve ever had. Our coffee maker at home makes better stuff.
Service was decent; reasonably fast yet not intrusive.
Overall, we thought Cenacolo was not worth going back because the food was simply bland (which is a horrible thing to do to Italian food … does the Italian manager not have a say in the kitchen?) and unexciting. It was not too expensive, but the food is simply not worth it.
Post
