Villa Massimo

Kerensa

3.0

A dinosaur from the 70's

We dined here on the 12th of Feb around 6:30 pm. The restaurant was virtually empty so we had our choice of table. On first entry, the restaurant feels warm & inviting, it is only after being seated & looking around that you notice that every square inch of space is filled with plants, wine bottles, instruments, pictures  & Italian bric-à-brac. The feel is  overwhelming. We were relieved to discover that the staff member talking very loudly to other diners when we entered, was not going to be our waiter. It turned out that he was the cook.

We ordered a beautiful bottle of red wine at $105 to enjoy whilst reading the menu. With 24 pages full of menu items, there was a lot of reading to do. This menu is a relic from the past, with food titles in a fancy typeface that were hard to understand, followed by descriptions in  even smaller letters. The menu was a real challenge to get through. I gave up immediately, hoping my partner would choose for us both.

Our waiter came over a few times to take our order but we asked for some time to enjoy the wine whilst we read the menu. Then, out of nowhere, the cook appeared & started shouting at us.  It took us by surprise, but soon realised that the cook was not happy that we were taking so long to order. He even threw in an F bomb, saying that he didn't want to be stuck there til midnight. It was only 7 pm.

Eventually we ordered a Carbonara, the original Italian way, without cream, & a Veal Scallopini, to share.

When the Carbonara arrived it looked like a birds nest in a bowl;  the Veal Scallopini looked good.

The Carbonara tasted as bad as it looked. The noodles were undercooked & kind of crunchy, it was dry & did not taste like a Carbonara. The only good news is that the Veal Scallopini was tasty.

The cook had kind of ruined the night for us with his ridiculous behaviour so we cut our losses soon after finishing & left, knowing that we would never return. Whilst this restaurant opened in'99, it feels like a dinosaur from the'70s.

,