Thursday, June 16, 2005
Pomodoro Quadrato
Introduction: At 315 Toorak Rd South Yarra this small restaurant is as Italian as Italian can be
Ambience: Comfortable, unpretentious
Service: Lucia Gesualdi, the owner, ran off her feet making everyone welcome. I felt almost as though I was eating in her own kitchen!
Food: Straightforward Italian dishes excellently cooked. Assagini ($6.50) set the tone for a really good meal. Bresaola with rocket, whitebait and Eggplant Parmigana were all that could be expected.
Mains ($ 21- 29 Less for pasta or rissotto) were handsome serves. We tried Saltimbocca ala Romana, Rabbit casserole and Eye fillet steak. All were very tasty, tender and satisfying
Wine: Licensed for BYO, corkage $5 / bottle, small wine list with some inexpensive house wines ($18) and several wine by the glass
Comments: This is an above average restaurant with below average prices
Score: 14.5/20
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I went back to PQ 1 September 2005 - I don't know whether there has been a change of management/kitchen staff but the food and service were so disappointing that I feel compelled to tell people about it!
When we ordered, the calamari antipasto that we wanted was not available on the menu. OK no big deal. Then the eye fillet with baked zucchini on the menu was turned into a rib eye. OK still no big deal - he ordered rib eye done medium rare. I ordered a roasted beetroot risotto and then we ordered "chubby chips".
Our meals arrived - my beetroot risotto was good. However, the rib eye was well done on a bed of tired looking vegetables (not a zucchini to be seen). When the owner/waitress asked us if we wanted anything else, he said "we ordered some chips". She went back into the kitchen then came out saying "oh we don't have chubby chips - would you like mashed potato instead?". Which is weird because last time I looked chips and mashed potato were made up of the same ingredient….
We said not to bother with the mashed potato….but the steak was well done. The owner looked at us and said "Ooooh, can't do anything about that" (as if we wanted her to change transform it into a medium rare steak) so I suggested that we get another one. She seemed OK with that, although did not give us anything to feed on while we wanted for his second steak.
The second steak arrived - with chips! The chips were in a half-filled bowl - and they were obviously frozen chips because they were too perfectly cut. I couldn't believe a restaurant had the audacity to serve half a bowl of frozen chips for $6.50! He cut into the steak - again well done…by which time he was too hungry to care so ate it.
We went to pay - he said to the owner "actually the second steak was well done too" and the owner looked at us and said "well, why don't you tell the chef". So I went to the chef, who looked at me in a bemused way and didn't seem to register that he had cooked two well done steaks! We got the bill - and were charged the full $31 for a (well-done) rib eye. He said "you're charging us the same price for a rib eye as an eye fillet?" and the owner threw up her hands and said "well, I got you another steak, didn't you? And you still got the pate and truffle oil!". I was very annoyed that we were being cast as difficult customers when I thought it was completely reasonable to return a well done steak and not be charged the same price for a lesser cut of meat.
All in all - $58.50, no tip and a very bad taste in my mouth.
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