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| - Disappointing. I came here for my birthday with high expectations. While Piano Piano has the look of a five star restaurant, it clearly is not.
The overall vibe of the restaurant is very off beat, quirky, and family friendly, a direct contrast to the very romantic and understated Splendido (same location, same owner). Victor Barry has done a good job of creating a restaurant that will appeal to guests of all ages with a simple pared down menu that features classic Italian dishes but the flavors are simply not there or off-balanced.
We ordered the highly recommended Chopped Salad because of it's interesting combination of ingredients (salami, polenta, and dandelion?) and although it was unique and ambitious, the flavors didn't gel well together and we found the cubed salami far too spicy and overpowering.
For our mains we ordered Ravioli con Bolognese, Egg Yolk Raviolo, Spaghetti Vongole, and The Fun Guy pizza (a fun play on words for mushroom lovers).
The pizza, upon arriving, was completely burnt black at the bottom. When we told the waiter he said they would replace it but also claimed that it should be burnt since they use a wood oven pizza. I've been to plenty of restaurants that use a wood-fired oven to cook pizza but it should never come out with the base completely burnt. The replacement was far better but had a strange texture as if the dough was still slightly raw.
The Ravioli con Bolognese and Spaghetti Vongole were okay. Hearty but nothing extraordinary. The best dish, by far, was the Egg Yolk Raviolo. The brown butter added a bit of sweetness to the dish, but there was just a bit too much salt that ruined an otherwise solid and well-balanced dish.
For dessert we ordered a Soft Serve Sundae that lacked some of the ingredients listed on the menu. The ice cream itself tasted super sweet and artificial.
Otherwise a bit disappointing. I have nothing against doing a menu with simple dishes but I would expect them all to be executed well, especially for paying such an expensive amount.
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