I've heard a lot of good things about this restaurant from different sources and even Tripadvisor had it ranked in their top 20 out of all restaurants in Genoa (Not that I ever listened to Tripadvisor when it comes to restaurant recommendation.). And judging from all the different choices on the menu (appetizer, first, second course and dessert), contemporary Italian cooking seems to be their game right here so looks like we are in for a treat.
We kicked things off first with fresh clams steamed with vodka, wild lemon and spices (€15). These had to be some of the smallest clams I have ever tasted and the worst part of all, there was no sign of vodka and spices as promised. Not a great start.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the nightmare start continued with the cream of organic vegetable soup and pan seared scallops (€15). The vegetable soup was really salty and almost as disappointing was the pan seared scallop in the middle, which was missing the usual sweetness from a fresh scallop.
(Perhaps we have been spoiled by all the jumbo-sized Hokkaido scallops in Hong Kong but this one was really small!)
Our first course was a little better thanks to the freshly made pasta which happened to be quite decent. Fettuccine with shrimp, clams, saffron and tomato confit (€15) was probably the best savory dish of the evening mainly because of the eggy pasta.
Equally decent was the Maxi Sicilian red shrimp raviolo with fresh mussels and clams (€18). Underneath the raviolo were chunks of minced red shrimp, which were working fine together with the mussels and clams. Decent but nothing to write home about.
We were told that they had some problems with their oven so it would take much longer for the kitchen to deliver the main dishes. That's why we decided to skip our main dishes altogether and went straight to dessert, which seemed like a good idea at this point.
Honestly, we really didn't feel like getting any dessert here but as it was getting late, we decided not to venture elsewhere for something sweet and instead settled for their white chocolate Napoleon (€7). This came highly recommended by our server and I will use the same word to describe it again - "decent". The napoleon was obviously not as flaky as I originally thought and it really didn't taste like white chocolate at all.
This meal certainly didn't live up to expectation and for 90 Euros in total, it definitely didn't get my money's worth.
Food Rating: 4/10
Price: €€€
Address: Via Al Ponte Calvi 20r, 16124, Genoa, Italy
Tel: +39 0108692548
Website: www.ristorantesoho.it
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