aTavoLa Italian Gourmet & Resto

Recently, I finally got to try aTavoLa, an Italian restaurant in Kemang area. Having heard so much about it, I admit I went there merely just because of my curiosity.

It wasn’t difficult to find the place. My first impression? Dirty. Don’t blame me, though, as I expected some more “refined” restaurant based from what I heard about it. I walked through the glass door, two tables were occupied that time, one being expat couple and it was enough to impress me a bit.

The place is not big, in fact, it’s quite small (just one ruko unit, I suppose), but I found myself really comfortable with the chair and interior. The place is fulfilled (literally) with Italian-related tidbits, from framed pictures, plaid tablecloth, chubby chef figurines, you name it. Honestly, I almost felt like home, if only the service was better.

As we browsed through the menu, I found it surprising that the prices of the food are somehow inexpensive. We decided to try the soup, salad, pasta and pizza for that day. I wanted to try the cheese platter but my tummy didn’t want to cooperate that time so we didn’t.

A Champignon and Forcini mushroom cream soup would always be a perfect appetizer for Italian cuisines. As much as I wanted to enjoy this, I did not, and I am sure this is one of the worst mushroom cream soups I have ever tried in my life. It was blah, tasteless, I didn’t even know why it makes its way to the recommended food list.

The vegetables are fresh, served with sliced boiled eggs and breads. Sadly to say, there was nothing special about it.

The pasta was overcooked, sauce was too watery, and the whole dish just tasted so bland. By this time, I already gave up and didn’t want to hope much for the next thing out.

When it was served, my heart cried in joy because I thought it would be the savior of the day. I couldn’t say I was wrong, but it was okay. It wasn’t as good as I expected, but at least I enjoyed the pizza. The bread dough wasn’t too nice as it was very hard to just cut or bite, toppings and sauces were not the best either. It wasn’t disappointing but I expected much better than this.

The highlight of the day was my drink: the Italian Soda a.k.a. Gassosa. It’s basically just strawberry syrup with soda water, but it was very refreshing after the bad meal. I saw their ads about the Red Velvet cake, but seems like the cake wasn’t ready yet that time. Another disappointment.

The restaurant was quiet and I could feel the waitresses were bored to death, or so they seemed. I was quite pleased by the service in the beginning, but after that they just looked so bored and did things slowly. I just hate it when my mood is ruined just because of bad service in restaurants.

Despite of those things I said, I might come back for another drink, or maybe just hanging out with friends. Honestly, I really like the place, and although the food are not outstanding, they’re fine. I heard it can be quite crowded sometimes, so maybe making reservations would be a good idea especially if you visit during weekends.