Speaking of this restaurant, I have a few friends who have been die-heart fans since its opening at the Harbour City. Quality of food and service are supposed to be relatively high but my experience has suggested otherwise. As I recall, my lone dinner there was a combination of average food and inattentive service. Enough reasons for us not to return for a second visit.
Let's hope things have improved over the years.
We arrived a little past 7pm this night and the restaurant was still half empty but by the time we started ordering food, it was already packed. Looked like they haven't missed a beat since relocating to the Tsim Sha Tsui East.
The menu offers some intriguing Italian classics including Milan-style ossobuco with saffron risotto, Bolognese Lasagne as well as spaghetti with Italian clams, white wine and parsley. The Parma ham platter also seems to be quite a popular choice too.
But we decided to start things off a little differently - a tuna tartare. Yes, and it's not because we thought we were at a steakhouse. It had more to do with a picture of this dish we saw on the web.
Despite it ended up looking totally different from what we have previously seen, we had no complaints with the taste.
I thought the raw tuna was nicely scented with ginger and lime before being sandwiched by layer of avocado. If they could add a little wasabi to the mix, it would have really done us proud.
Our second dish was a lobster linguini with fresh tomatoes and zucchini. I know this is not a fine dining restaurant but a much better presentation is still expected out of these dishes!
To be fair, I actually thought the al dente linguini was okay but the sauce with fresh tomatoes was the real culprit here. For whatever reason, the sauce simply did not carry the expected depth of flavor.
Would prefer the lobster linguini at Gold by Harlan Goldstein or even Azure on any given day.
Our last dish was supposed to be the house specialty here - traditional Sardinian style slow-roasted suckling pig that was served with a little radish, cabbage and apple puree.
The texture of the meat was nice but too bad the proportion of fat was slightly high. Seasoning also seemed to be missing as there's no sign of the promised fresh Mirto leaves in the flavors.
I am afraid it's just a case of "old wine in a new bottle" here. The quality of food was again marginal but that is not the biggest problem. Service IS (Same experience at Harbour City).
Apart from the managers, the rest of the staff have put up a level of service that is both mechanical and cold. Spasso stands for "Joy" and "Happiness" in Italian. Unfortunately, both were nowhere to be found during our visit.
Food Rating: 4/10
Price: $$$
Address: G/F, Empire Centre, 68 Mody Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui EastTel: +852 2730-8027
Website: www.divinogroup.com/restaurants/spasso
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