La Taverna  

It was the second time we come here. I went to Caverna (not Taverna def.) for the second time with my love ones. This is an outstanding and overlooked Italian restaurant that is worthy of support. And here is why:
Their services are super. Even much better than what you can get from chain catering restaurants and comparable, if not better than hotels. Their staff are friendly and experienced. And you cannot miss the formality of their insistence to serve diners at their best.
Their food is a bit pricy but well-worth it. Compare to some chain restaurants/ cafes, you can really taste that the ingredients they use to cook the food are authentically Italian, instead of using some illusive substitutes like some cheaper cheese or mediocre pasta.
Last time we ordered the layered aubergine and cheese as appetiser, seafood pasta as main and this time we ordered a small bottle of Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine), Fettucine with fungi and proscuitto, braised veal shank and tirimisu.
Their fettucine is particularly good. You can taste that their pasta is home-made and was very fresh and tasty. The veal shank was accompanied with rice and gravy. It was tender and nice. The tirimisu is a bit boozy and favourful.
Everytime we come here, there're lots of non-Chinese appreciators dining here like Japanese and Caucasions. It's impressive that we often overhead that the diners would ask the servers to go to their tables just to deliver their compliments on the restaurant's excellent services and food.
This's definitely an old and local restaurant that worthy of wise diner's support. We will definitely come here again.

We just loved this restaurant, which is Hong Kong's oldest Italian and which we came upon totally unexpectedly. Decor is rustic and feels totally authentic, it doesn't seem to have changed since the 1960s when it opened. Starter of Minestrone di Verdura was fresh and very tasty as was the Mozzerella and tomato. My husband then tried the Spaghetti Amatriciana which was nice but nothing extraordinary, my Risotto al funghi however was excellent. The house Chianti - Villa Montecastello was a good accompaniment. We didn't try desert.

Really enjoyed the garlic bread and the minestrone soup, well done on both. The calarmertti and zucchini appetizer was also quite tasty. However, the risotto was not quite as good, too much sauce without much taste. The linguini with red seafood sauce was okay, but the red sauce was a little too British tasting versus Italian. Great atmosphere and good service though.

A restaurant steeped in history in bustling Ashley Road TST should be busily packed at lunchtime, La Taverna is not despite it's fabulous location.

There is no greeting as you walk in. Restaurant is cozy, full of off colour decorative items (I did not say junk) from their glory days in the 80's and dust, dust and more dust. There is dust all along the skirting and in all the corners, there is more dust covering everything that is hanging from the ceiling, including the shaded lamp right above your table, over whatever you want to eat. It is one thing being old, it is certainly another being dirty and I surely am not keen on dust sprinkles on my food. My leather chair has a big hole on the side and the stuffing are coming out in handfuls.

My friend and I ordered 2 set lunches. We kicked off with Minestrone soups. The soup has no pasta, no cavalo nero cabbage and no canellini beans and certainly no parmesan cheese sprinkles. That is fine if they have not boasted that their menu is authentic Italian. And just when you think you cannot go wrong with a simple tomato based vegetable soup, it has absolutely no taste, no seasoning and no love. It is a complete waste of energy transporting spoonfuls of it from the soup dish to our mouths.

My chicken breast in Marsala sauce came as a shock to me when it arrived, I was not sure it was actually what I had ordered. On the plate, there were 4 thin slices (each no bigger than a business card) of meat, covered in a gloopy sauce. It definitely said chicken breast on the menu! The sides are equally shocking too. Potato wedges are stone cold, not fresh, definitely not cooked on the same day and tasteless. The 2 lumps of carrot are cut from the big carrots which are usually used in Chinese soup making, they have been hot water dipped before putting on the plate whilst the centre is still cold, again no taste. Cauliflower is the only hot item on the plate but surely they do not just cook vegetables in hot water in Italy, at least not in the 21st century plus we did not come for diet food.

The chicken breast meat has a very strange, loose texture, something which I cannot associate with fresh food. The sauce has a sour, off putting after taste.

And just when you think that a Spaghetti Carbonara is the easiest thing to cook in the world and I could have made that at home, out came the La Taverna version for my friend. Pasta is hard, not al dente, this is not even rubber band chewy, it is like wire. The pasta arrived barely warm. The sauce was a gluey mess which has already set on arrival. Worst still, either the cream or the cheese has turned rancid and was giving off a very strong pongy odour and it's taste further confirmed our beliefs.

I was hoping to give my mouth a rinse with some coffee but the coffee served here is sour, aggressive and below average, my nescafe at home is much more approachable. We skipped the urge to order a tiramisu in order to save our lives, we were not sure whether we would be getting something that they had prepared in the 1960's.

Despite less than 10 diners in the restaurant, there is no service. Dishwasher emerged from the kitchen having loud conversations with the floor staff. CD player has been jumping the moment we walked through the door but no one cares. Music was something you want to hear before you slit your wrist.

We paid $230 for our inedible lunches and our tummies were grumbling afterwards. If you want to unimpress someone, bring them here otherwise keep on walking past La Taverna.

My husband and I celebrated our anniversary at La Taverna Wednesday last week, and it was a genuinely pleasant experience. We had reserved a table (just in case), but the restaurant was not nearly full that night.
After ordering, we got a bread basket with yummy garlic bread and our wine, and didn't have to wait long for our appetizer (dried bresaola with arugula and parmesan), which was very good. As a main course, we shared the osso bucco and the gnocci with four cheese sauce. We got the osso bucco first, which was wonderfully tender and tasty, served with risotto and, oddly, broccoli (essentially raw), two cherry tomatoes, and two baked potato halves on the side. The sides weren't bad, just ... not Italian at all, and not really creative, either.
The gnocci were very good, too, but as they came on a cold plate and sat on the table until we were done with the osso bucco, they were cold by the time we had them.
To go with dessert (tiramisu: good, but by no means the world's best, and panna cotta: outstanding. The dessert plates were decorated with sauce hearts, awww...), we tried two different kinds of grappa, neither of which we liked. Not that anything was wrong with them, they were just not as tasty and smooth as we would have liked.

We enjoyed that the restaurant was quiet because it was not full, and because there were so many decorative items on shelves on the walls and hanging from the ceiling that all noise from other customers was muzzled.
The waiters were fairly quick, but we didn't have any requests or questions. Taking our dessert order, the waiter asked if everything was to our liking.
Overall a place I can definitely recommend for a nice romantic dinner.

its long time ago, yeung b and zomim and I visited this restaurant accidentally
hahhaha~~ i like the environment there and also the lamb chunk =]

that night, we ordered the following dishes :
1) smoked salmon salad - i like this cuz the salmon was fresh
2) mushroom risotto - this one is not as good as i think, um....seafood risotto may be better but the rice are chewy enough
3) lamb chunk with mint jelly
4) half bottle of house red wine

overall speaking, this restaurant is good esp the environment,
but its not cheap at all ar~~ahhahahha

we ordered two set dinners
Starter: escargots and Minestrone- tasteless!
garlic bread-

main course:
milk fed veal: stinky and overcooked!! I didnt get to finish them what a waste!
Risotto: so chewy...

Desserts:
Tiramisu was ok.

Coffee was sour and bitter!!

No service at all. The waiters were busy serving the white guys who ordered wine

Dinner with Friends (Halloween)

No. of guest: 8
Food: Meet expectation
Service: Meet expectation
Environment: Meet expectation
Bill: $250 pp (not including drinks)
FOOD
Garlic Bread
- didn't find on menu, but was offered. Grilled until crunchy - not soft on the
inside - strong garlic taste. We liked it.
Linguine al pesto - Pesto linguine pasta with pine nuts ($108)
- pasta was al dente and just right in terms of pesto flavour.
Calamari Fritti - Fried calamari ($98)
- Bite size pieces, crispy and not oily.
Spaghetti alle vongole - Spaghetti with clams, parsley, chilli ($128)
- pasta was again al dente
prosciutto e melone - melon and parma ham ($118)
- least 'special' dish as it literally was like buying parma ham from the deli and
putting on melon yourself.
costoletta alla milanese ($228) - veal escalope pan-fried served with tomato,
arugula
- very thinly sliced, pan-fried was crunchy on outside (not oily) and soft on
inside. The sides was also nice (potato and vegies).
SERVICE
- The food seemed to be good italian food, but the service seemed more chinese / fast food restaurant style: efficient, non-nonsense. We could see the kitchen from our table, and it looked a little fast food style too.
ENVIRONMENT
We had a long table in the restaurant, the place feels cosy with many decorations to make it feel that way - pots, pans, bottles around the place, tiled floors.
Good place for gathering with friends for some good quality italian food in a relaxed atmosphere.

There is such an Italian restaurant on Ashely road? This is the question I was being asked every time I suggest this place for dinner. Yes it does and it is a very low profile one indeed. This traditional country style Italian restaurant has been in business since 1969 and I assume its interior decor pretty much stayed the same over all these years as well. The walls, the chairs, the paintings and the ceiling fixtures give you an antique look and somehow makes yo feel you are in Italy. However, how it differs from one in Italy is the cramped seating arrangement between tables, literally back to back with seats behind me. (not to mention being able to hear almost all the conversations behind me throughout of the dinner). Not a very comforting experience.

I remembered that the last time I was here, the menu was so difficult to understand because the name of most dishes (maybe all of them) are in Italian with the ingredients in English. They have changed the menu since then and it is way easier to read. (the items seem different as well)(I think their web menu is still showing the old menu, go check it out)

Dinner stared with some Garlic Bread as starter which was pretty good. The sliced french bread was not over toasted and it has a rather fresh garlic taste (+ butter taste of course). My assumption is that instead of using garlic paste or flavored butter, they used real garlic piece to rub all over the bread before putting into the oven. At least that's what I hope they did. Overall, a fair dish to start off with.

Following the garlic bread was another starter item which I forgot the name of it but it was cocktail-sized shrimps with olive oil and diced onion and dried tomatoes I think. Nothing really exciting about this dish (although it is marked as a signature dish). Note: the shrimps used were fresh shrimps so texture and taste were pretty nice. I wish the sauce can be richer in taste.

For the main dishes, my friend and I ordered a Risotto with Porcini Mushroom and a Tucola Pizza consisting of tomato, mozzarella, rockets and parma ham. Risotto was very good as always. Very creamy throughout the whole dish and the short grain rice was sufficiently firm to my liking (and this should be the way how a good risotto is prepared.) I ordered the porcini mushroom risotto instead of other with tomato sauce because I want to get a better taste of the stocking used make the risotto. Very satisfying indeed but wished it the rice can be abit firmer. This dish is better than the one I had at PALA last week and I am still in the search for an even better risotto dish.

I personally prefer thin crust pizza because I can get more of toppings put of each slice and can have more slices in general. The Tucola Pizza is a thin crust pizza and since I love rockets and parma ham, there wasn't much I can complain about the pizza except more parma ham perhaps? The more the merrier! I never tried the parma ham pizza from Pizza Express across the street, let me give it a try later and see which one is better.

for more details, please see my blog:

La Taverna @ http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/06/la-taverna.html

My Food Blog @ http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/

Had dinner with a few friends at La Taverna on a Wednesday evening. Surprising it started to get kind of crowded after 7 pm. With only 2 Waiter/Manager there, the service was very slow and poor. It takes ages for them to serve our main after our appetizer and the main was served one after one. Luckily we were sharing, otherwise, one could have finished their meal while the other one is still waiting for the main!

The dessert menu were in Italian, can't really tell what it is, so we asked the Waiter to introduce, but he was SO RUDE and didn't bother to explain must just said "these are not available, only this and this and this is available" If those are not available, I wonder why they still put it on the menu!

Although food was OK (OK only, not delicious) but the service was sooooooo bad, I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone and I will not go to La Taverna ever again!

Romantic restaurant with outstanding food. Everything is so good. I love their pasta and deserts. Meat dishes like lamp and steak r also superb. Tried many times with friends and family, always a plesant experience there! Just like an around-the-corner kind of restaurant one would find in Italy!!!

I celebrate my Boy friend's B-day at La Taverna Restaurant last night. I haven't been there almost 8 years ago......I'm afraid they could not keep their quality as the past.....at the end we are all happy on the dishes, especially Zuppa di pesce a "La Taverna" & Tagliata di filetto al rosmarino, only the starter with baby squids is not very nice & the price is quite high @~@....I'll introduce this restaurant to my friends as well. If you have any interest, I could say that it's worth for you to try ^^

Lazy

set lunch $88 + 10%
<br>appetizer: no choice, quite poor taste
<br>main course: Awful!!!!!!!! so-called litte beef <----- like very rough pork slice, very poor, worse than all cheap food place
<br>coffee: poor
<br>Toilet outside---------horrible, dirty
<br>---------------------------------------
<br>Never Try

Romantic and silent environment, good place for having a nice dinner with girl friend. Tiramisu is a must try, best in HK!!!