You know what, I do love hotel dining. The service is generally better than that of a standalone restaurant, people are mostly hospitality trained so know what they’re talking about and you get the added bonus of hotel amenities. A bar, more than one restaurant and a room if things get a little out of hand with that glass of Chardonnay. Inside the restaurant L’Italiano here it’s a little on the basic side, a sort of upmarket Zizzi but its styling does work against the food offering. Rustic classic Italian dishes originating from some of Italy’s most famous regions. At night is when this place really comes into its own and turns into a sultry neon and romantic setting.
One thing these guys really know how to get right, is an Aperol spritz. A great glass, loads of ice and mixed to perfection with a good alcoholic bite. There are lots of nibbles on the menu here and to help settle us in while the sun set we had a small plate of mini bruchettes which were fine, if not a little basic. The star was the fritto misto. A very well cooked selection of golden fried king prawns, whitebait and calamari. Overall a nice dish but a little on the dry side, it wasn’t until I looked back at the menu after they’d forgotten to bring the advertised lemon mayonnaise.
Main courses were the best part of our experience here at L’Italiano. The pasta is made in-house and is really quite something with a good texture and cooked the right side of al dente. The fresh egg pasta was covered in a lovely traditional Bolognese sauce which had a good depth and the meat was soft, yet with bite. And then the steak arrived. An absolutely huge chargrilled rib eye steak with chunky chips, rocket, cherry tomatoes, parmesan and a light balsamic dressing. The steak itself was absolutely beautiful, cooked a perfect medium rare and oh-so smokey. The salad was perfect, dotted with huge chunks of quality parmesan and the dressing added a lovely touch of sweetness. The chips were OK, but with just an extra few minutes in the pan they could have been a lot better. We had no complaints about our side of zucchini fritte.
I’d read reviews online about L’Italiano before I visited and constant theme popped up. Portion sizes. Apparently they’re small here but for us that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Portions were either huge or well-balanced. What the restaurant did fail to do however was source a good selection of cheese for the cheese offering. There was nothing particularly wrong with the cheeses but there wasn’t enough variety and all had similar textures or weights. It was a shame because the accompaniments of schiappa ligure bread and pumpkin mustard was rather nice. My limone cheesecake on the other hand didn’t disappoint. A deconstructed rich and creamy cheesecake with a lovely raspberry sauce.
Overall we had a lovely time at L’Italiano. I won’t lie it wasn’t the best Italian I’ve had and a little rough around the edges but the quality was here – it just needed a little more attention to detail. Standout dishes such as the rib eye steak was fantastic and my cheesecake to finish off was a few little bites of heaven. If you’re in the Waterloo area then give L’Italiano a try, you might be pleasantly surprised. For those hunting out a bargain you may even find 50% off your food bill if you search around, but you didn’t hear that from me…
