La Piazzetta   (Closed)

This was my first, and probably only, visit to this restaurant. This is probably the Italian restaurant with the worst service I have ever been to.

We (3 of us) arrived at aboit 1:30pm to find the upper level closed. There were only 4 guests in total dining then. There were nobody greeting us or taking us to the table. The staff were cold and answered us with an unwelcoming tone. Anything we ask, they replied "wait". Even when we only waved to signal for service, the staff replied "wait".

There was no issue with the food. We ordered pizza, penne and a beef sirloin, which were all from the set lunch menus. However, when we were finishing off the food, the waitress came over to tell us that they had given us the pizza of an "a la carte" size by mistake. I noticed one of the tables with two foreigners ordered two pizzas and they were the same size as ours. Another table of local Chinese guests who arrived later than us, got a smaller pizza than ours. What did she mean by that -- charging us extra ? Well, she did not but that was very rude of her.

If not for its poor, pathetic service, this restaurant should have been a success given its highly acclaimed chef and its location. Would its management consider removing their existing staff ? I mean all the two waitresses we met exhibited the same cold, impolite manners and their English were poor. Is the management planning to manage this restaurant in a more up-market manner or downgrade it to the same level as a local teahouse ? Mind you, the service at a local teahouse are already much better than here.

I have had a similar experience as the review below me mentions.

I had a Groupon. The conditions stated that I had to make a reservation before I went there. However, whenever I had called them - I either did not get through or I was told that they are fully booked. So, I decided to turn up there a little early in the evening at 6pm and try to get a seat.
When I went there - It was absolutely empty. So, I was hopeful that I would get a seat.

When we went in, the waitress was about to usher us to a table, when one of the other waitresses (all the waitresses are philipinos) asked us if we have a groupon. As soon as I said "Yes", their entire behaviour changed. They asked me if I had a booking or not. When I said "No", they said that they are fully booked and I need to return with a booking.

I was stunned !! It was unbelievable !!! I could see that the whole restaurant is empty except for one table in the corner. The whole restaurant was empty !! If they cannot afford coupons, they should not issue them.

Anyways, I could see that they were not in good faith and I was feeling cheated. There was no point to argue as they were being quite rude and shameless about it.



I will NEVER VISIT AGAIN.

We were using Groupon for dinner here. Menu only have 6 choices and 2 unavailable! We are forced to choose from regular menu (no discount anymore!) The service was terrible. There are a lot of empty seats. We booked for 7pm but the waitress insisted that we should leave at 8pm. At last, she served the food at 8:30pm. After we finished the food, she insisted us to pay the bill and leave at 9pm! At that time they still have a lot of vacant seats! The food taste is normal but the service is really bad! Recommend don't use Groupon to try this restaurant!

For the groupon HKD149 for 2 pax for dinner, I went to this Italian restaurant with three Italian guys.

The set dinner included:

Appetizer
brusthetta with fresh tomato, garlic and basil: the bread was fine and the toppings were lovely.soup or salad of the day. The soup of today was cream of broccoli, which wasn't bad, and the green salad was fresh and included cherry tomatoes. The salad was served plain and balsamic vinegar and olive oil were provided. The taste was quite good.

went there cus we won a voucher and it was a pleasant surprise.

we ordered the monthly special with salad, pizza anf dessert. the salad was a nice green salad with pomodorini, asparragus and shaved parmiggiano which was nice and fresh. the pizza was a tad undercooked but after having it sebt back to the oven it was nice and crunchy.

we also ordered the linguine with lobster cooked in a tomato and cognac sauce and it was amazing. definitely recommend it!!

for drinks we haf the house red wine which was of good quality.

as a nice touch is the fact that the chef is actually cooking on the dining floor so you get all these gorgeous aromas throughout dinner.

in general it was above our expectations and its a definite recommendation when craving for something more other than the standard italian pizza-pasta restaurant.

My daughter picked this restaurant as she wanted to have Gnocchi and Grappa's was fully booked. We were disappointed. We had a large margherita pizza, gnocchi gorgonzola, Risotto with mushrooms and Tortellini stuffed with spinach.

Not enough tomato sauce in the pizza. Gnocchi was too salty. Tortellini was too salty and oily. Risotto was ok.

Considering the taste and price, it was not very good value.

Had a craving for gnocchi and tortellini, and I found just the right place, gnocchi are rare, but common in upscale restaurants.

Usually the menu offers one choice of gnocchi and tortellini, but here it offers from 4-6 different sauces!!!

For gnocchi, there six different sauces to choose from:
1)Tomato and basil
2)Tomato and bacon
3)Tomato shrimp and chilli
4)Butter and sage
5)Gorgonzole cheese sauce (blue cheese)
6)Tomato, pesto and creamFor Tortellini there are four different sauces to choose from
1)Butter and sage
2)Imported cream
3)Cream and tomato sauce
4)Bolognaise and cream

Had the seafood pasta, good with many varieties of clams, better than what I had in Firence. Pizza is good too.
Great relife when I came in and saw the chef is a fat Italian, you know you are getting some authentic Italian food, hahaha..

Will take some pics next time.

Service: Bad, slow, and very arrogant....when I tried to order, the staff never really paid attention to me...I always have to repeat what I said...kept on giving us the wrong cutlery

Food: expensive but bad quality, I feel like back to the UK where I had to eat pizza with only cheese and tomato sauce in order to save money...none of their pizzas are actually properly done...the first one they served me was not even cooked...

drinks: ok, normal price...

Portion: extremely small considering its price (over $100 per dish)

Variety: lack of any good choices of food

Conclusion: will never go back~

I have been to the first La Piazzetta restaurant a few times with the same friend who recommended it and when I saw a branch open up in Wanchai, I thought it was worth trying as there are not many authentic Western restaurants in that part of Wanchai.

I went with a friend and we both had salad to start, this and the bread were both a bit boring, the bread could have been hot or Italian but it wasn't. The salad had no dressing and we were expected to add our own olive oil and vinegar. Then we shared 2 pastas that we both wanted to order. Penne Arrabiata which was a little spicy, vegetarian and cooked al dente. The waitress came to grate some fresh parmesan cheese on the top with her electric grater.

Linguine Mariana was not as it would be in the Soho branch. There were lots of clams, a few prawns, some small razor blade clams. In the Soho branch, there were more variety of shellfish and I think a big scallop with shell. Anyhow, I think they may use whatever shellfish they can find fresh in the market that day and could be totally different from the next day. Although the sauces of the 2 pastas looked similar, they tasted very different. The penne had a spicy tomato flavour and the linguine had a seafood fish stock type flavour. So we were glad we shared and the seafood dish was too huge even for the 2 of us. In fact, we didn't finish either pastas but liked them a lot.

Coffee was nice and strong and we thought this was a nice little restaurant good for lunch for it was relatively quiet and not full. The service however is like the restaurant in Soho, neither slick nor cheerful.

Review on La Piazzetta can be retrieved from http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=940
I take a bus home every evening from work & our bus goes past the infamous Metropark Hotel with the previous outbreak of H5N1 as well as Strawberry Café which is the ultimate symbol of Wan Chai – booze, sex, drugs & rock & roll! With a red traffic light or congested traffic jam which pretty much happens every day, I very happen to notice a small wooden Tuscan farmhouse look & feel restaurant but due to the distance from the bus, I did not know the name of the restaurant. Plenty of question bubbles in my mind - why does a restaurant owner open up their business in such location which is not famed by food but for nightlife & after my daily bus trips, the restaurant seem relatively quiet?
The first La Piazzetta opened up in the alley of SoHo with a span of 13 years serving up authentic Italian cuisine in which I have visited on a few occasions. My time to visit their 2nd restaurant finally came & first impression was an extremely cosy Tuscan setting as I mentioned above. 2 floors high with the top floor yet to complete its renovation during our visit, the ground floor was a pleasant environment for watching the day & night past by as well as eye-candies either tourists or party goers approaching to Lockhart Road. Out comes Paulo Donati, Chef & Restaurant Founder with his big Italian smile, welcoming all the diners & guests of the evening & most importantly, serving us with a welcome glass of White. A person with an extremely outgoing personality & quite possibly one of the friendliest restauranteurs around town carrying one of the most unique chef’s jacket which looked a little too tight on him as I later found out that he designed this chef jacket as a cross-over between a regular chef jacket x motorbike jacket. Classic Stuff & you gotta love this man!
If you are dining at La Piazzetta for the first time, bring your reading classes as the menu is like a Yellow Page featuring 110 dishes. Not exaggerating & your eye sight will worsen after searching for your dish & I personally have no idea how they can store all the ingredients. Just ask Paulo & his team to recommend you the dishes. Our evening was made easier as we have a pre-arranged set menu which consisted of below dishes:
CARPACCIO DI PESCE SPADA AFFUMICATO (Sicily Region)- Carpaccio of Flown In Smoked Sword Fish topped with Shaved Fresh Fennel and Rocket Salad
I have always been a huge fan of carpaccio & this one did not disappoint. This is a smoked swordfish paired with fennel & rocket with a generous drizzle of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil ‘Madonna dell’Olivo, which is considered as the top 10 Olive Oil brands in Italy. The fish was fresh & was definitely a good pairing with the rocket salad. However, the fennel somewhat lacked its usual intensity but nonetheless, a good dish to kick start your meal

FOCCACCIA CON ILL FORMAGGIO (Grilled Foccacia Cheese)

PANICCIA ALLA GENOVESE (Liguria Region) - Deep Fried Slices of Ceci (Chick-pea) Flour topped with Fresh Sweet Onions
Above 2 dishes are somewhat similar in nature as they are both very high content in carbs & for those that are conscious about their weight, not recommended. The Grilled Foccacia Cheese & the Deep Fried Slices of Chick Pea flour were delicious & both were the highlights & favourites of my evening as the taste wasabsolutely superb but however, as a starter, it is extremely filling for your main courses. Imagine deep fry cheese & flour, does that sound filling & heavy to you & the best occasion to enjoy this is on a Sunday or anyday when you are suffering from a stonking hang-over.

LIGUINE ALLA BALZANELLA - Linguine with Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic and Fresh Basil
Vegetarians, Yogis & for those that are diet, this Linguine dish is personally my highly recommended & favourite dish of the evening. Such simple dish but yet full of great flavours of the garlic, fresh basil & cherry tomatoes which pairs extremely well with the linguine. With generous drizzle of the fine Italian Extra Virgin Olive oil, you will not require any Parmesan Cheese for this dish at all. It is also said that this dish is extremely healthy for one’s mind & body.
SPAGHETTI ALLA MARINARA - Spaghetti with Fresh Assorted Seafood (Clams, Shrimps) served with White Wine Sauce, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Chili and Garlic
Our 2nd pasta course of the evening was full of Mediterranean flavours with fresh & generous portions of seafood on offer such as clams & shellfish. Presentation of dish was equally interesting with an enormous shellfish taking centre stage. Slight improvement area for this dish is that I could barely taste the White Wine Sauce as it tasted more like a tomato sauce which was odd. The flesh of the clam was also missing from some of the shells which left me wondering whether the chefs put in empty shells in the course. Personally, I prefered the Liguine Alla Balzanella as that was definitely a more authentic Italian style pasta dish.
BRANZINO AL CARTOCCIO - Baked Sea-bass
This dish for me is the true definition of authentic Italian cooking. Seabass is simply prepared with Olive oil, parsley, fresh lemon & baked in the oven until the fish is thoroughly cooked with the flesh slowly peeling off the fish. I enjoy this form of cooking & it is a real shame that such type of cooking is not very common in Hong Kong as most Italian restaurants tend to serve up fish fillets which is a shame. This is true, home style & hearty cooking to the highest level & also a recommended dish to order.
TRIPPA ALLA PARMIGIANA (Emilia Region) - Steamed Veal Tripe in Tomato Sauce and Aromatic Herbs. Served with Mashed Potatoes
If there is one course of the evening whereby I did not enjoy, this will be it. Presentation did not looked the most appealing when the dish was presented & the tomato sauce over-shadows the steamed veal tripe. I couldn’t figure out where the tripes were in the dish as everything was fairly all mashed & mixed up together. Suggestion will be to serve the potato mash & veal tripes on one dish separately as it was a very messy dish which resembled more like a stew.
It was an interesting meal to enjoy with our fellow foodies around town & La Piazzetta is a nice addition to have in our Wan Chai neighbourhood. I extremely enjoy the fact that their cooking style is authentic & the usage of only the freshest ingredients. As Paulo Donati said during our evening, “I don’t care about the presentation of food, but I only care for the freshest ingredients” tells the story. However, my only advice for Paulo & team is to perhaps trim down the menu as I don’t think I have encountered a restaurant with such extensive menu.
Come & also check out our interview with Paulo Donati on Geoff's Twitchen at http://geoffstwitchen.com/?p=921
Happy Eating!
Geoff
Upcoming Review:: FIRE at W Hotel
Address: 44 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong (灣仔軒尼詩道44號地下)
Tel: 2865 0681
Food Quality (5* the highest): ***
Price for Dinner (5$ = very expensive): $$