It was probably our 6th or so visit to our local Italian, but this could be the last. We had decided to pop out for dinner on Easter Sunday. Our nearest restaurant the charming 'Greetje' was fully booked, so we ventured around the corner to La Tavola. Our expectations were for great Italian food with temperamental Italian service. The chef, Gerardo Mazziotta recipes have a classic, pure Italian base but my feeling was that Gerardo was on his Easter holiday on Sunday. The head waiter was definitely away.
The restaurant was unusually half full. (Maybe the locals knew something we didn't). On offer was a 3 course menu for 33 euros, which was unusual to not offer the full menu.
For starters my partner opted for grilled polpo and I went for my favourite- vitello tonnato. Both were fantastic, the polpo soft and delicate, with the veal just right. Maybe a bit heavy on the Tonnato. Then things started to go down hill.
Whilst waiting for our mains I started to get annoyed. The waiter and the cook's friends arrived. I'm no party pooper, but it was just unprofessional for them to be shouting and laughing when there are still customers close by. I felt uncomfortable and made the dining experience almost unbearable.
Our mains took some time to arrive. My partner had ordered a rib eye steak, that he had to return to the kitchen as it was only lightly seared. The steak was accompanied by a tasteless, bland sauce. Disappointing. On the otherhand my Dorado looked fantastic. Grilled on the bone, with shiny skin and white flesh it was a delight to eat, although the oil dressing again was just missing something.After the main's the wait continued, whilst the waiter humoured his friends. I was wanting to take a doggie bag home with the dessert's, but my partner is much more patient than me. The Tiramasu was ok but the flan with Strawberries was hard and undigestable. Thankfully we were full.
I so hope the chef was away as I'll be very disappointed if this is the low that Tavola has gone too. I'm going to have a break from there for a while, but hope the food is back on par in Summer.
Food: ** (usually ****)
Service: Zero (usually **)
La Tavola
Kadijksplein 9
(020) 625 49 94
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