| rev:text
| - There are a lot of reviews that are kind of all over the place. This is a seafood restaurant, so let me just say that when I read less than stellar reviews by people who didn't order seafood, it irks me a bit.
This place does seafood great. The presentations are not fancy and the emphasis is on the pristine freshness and quality of the ingredients. This place is expensive. Really expensive. But the fish and shellfish are flown in every few days from Italy. Where you gonna get that anyhow? And in the middle of a desert? Sure, it's gonna cost you.
We had the Bravo Top Chef tasting menu - this is their best tasting menu. This is a lot of food. Some of it was not that memorable but there were a few dishes that were crazy good. I mean, so good that it stopped you in mid-chew. You pause before taking the next bite because you want the flavor to linger in your mouth longer. Nope, not even a sip of delicious wine will be allowed to disrupt the gentle decay of the sensation.
Enough of the poetic waxing. Let's get down to it. I'm going to go over my raves and then a few complaints. The ravioli di ricotta con caciotta Toscana (sheep's milk ricotta cheese ravioli with pecorino and marsala wine glaze) is perhaps the most delicious pasta I've ever had. This is one of the restaurant's signature dishes, and rightfully so. OMG. The grilled rock lobster is case in point on how fresh ingredients, simply prepared, can be sublime. Other highlights were the tiny soft shelled crab, the octopus salad, and the salt crusted snapper.
The service was in general very attentive. The wine selection is large but pricey. $80 for Santa Margherita pinot grigio? Where do they think they are, Vegas? ... Oops. We did settle on a beautiful Chablis and a knockout Brunello di Montalcino.
My biggest complaint was with the bar. I asked for an Aviation cocktail - a classic gin-based cocktail that is not obscure by any means. The waiter came back and said the bartender didn't know what that was. Huh? Don't they have a recipe book back there? So I used the cocktail app on my phone to give the waiter the recipe: gin, lemon juice, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, lemon twist. Ok, that's weird. At least they didn't ask me for any food recipes - I have an app for that too. Then the waiter comes back to tell me that they did not have Luxardo maraschino liqueur. What kind of high end Italian place doesn't have Luxardo maraschino liqueur? So I ordered a martini. They knew how to make that.
The bar issues and a few duds (bland risotto, boring seafood rigatoni, uninspiring desserts) brought my rating down to 4 stars.
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