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| - With Summerlicious 2016 winding down, my friend and I decided to try Mark McEwan's Fabbrica Italian restaurant for lunch. It was our first time there.
We were greeted and seated promptly. The decor seemed nice, kinda what I would describe as Warehouse Chic - low-back chairs, high-backed banquette seats, open kitchen, wood-burning oven, concrete floors, wood on some of the walls, high ceiling. Nice but not necessarily upscale.
Their Summerlicious menu offered three choices each of appetizer, entree, and dessert for only $23. It seemed like a good deal.
We started with an Arugula Salad and the Cured Branzino. The salad was okay, nothing special. There isn't much you can do with Arugula. The Branzino wasn't what we expected. The plate was colourful but it was hard to see where the fish was on the plate. It was sliced so thin and really has no colour of its own. The flavour, even though it was cured, was so subtle, it was overpowered by the citrus on the plate, both visually and on the palate.
For our entrees, we had the Capicollo Steak and Perch Fritti. Our server brought two steaks to the table and it took a few minutes to correct the order and bring the fish. The (pork) steak was about 5 or 6 ounces by my guess. It was very tender and could have been eaten without a knife. The plating of the fish was very attractive. Both dishes, however, could have used a little more seasoning, especially the fish.
For dessert, we had the Neapolitan Gelato and Lemon Mousse. The gelato (pistachio, vanilla, cherry) was good. It was served in a paper cup. Really? Paper cup? The lemon mousse probably had the most flavour of anything we had. It was a good finish to the meal.
Overall impression? Meh. We found the entire experience quite underwhelming. The portions were small. The flavours were subtle. The service could have been better. There were times we wondered where our server was. With a total bill of almost $80 (with a glass of wine, a cappuccino, tax, and tip), we kinda expected more.
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