Took my old man out for his birthday - as usual I suggested that he picked the place because he doesn't red eat meat/chicken.
I assumed that he'd opt for Goldie, which he can't find fault with and is Cork eatery - this is the Gold Standard (no pun intended) my old man is uber-critical - I am still mentally scarred from his Junior B match-day post-game analysis.
However, he chose Rossini - a restaurant that, even though it has been open in Cork for over 25 years, I have never eaten in in my life.
Now... I love Italian food and the kitchen staff in Rossini might have been having an off day but mine was absolutely terrible start to finish.
To start, I got the calamari which was fresh but that's about as good as it got. It was overcooked, oily/greasy and salted to fuckery. Accompanied by a few sad-looking leaves. Ate two pieces of the six served. Horrible.
My old man got the seafood crepe which he said was pretty good. If nothing else it was huge.
Then the mains - I got bucatini cacio e pepe - which was a gelatinous, sticky mess. The sauce was so thick that it had clumped the pasta into one giant nest. They had also flooded the thing with cheap pecarino and black pepper that the dish lost any subtlety. I ate a third of it and gave up.
The oul fella had farefalle with salmon in a white wine sauce - it looked marginally better than mine but really it was another gloopy mess.
The portion sizes are massive - I think that quantity is preferred over quality in this case.
Ordered a side of garlic bread - this arrived near the end of the meal. Absolute shite quality - it was piss poor white bread which was barely, heated nevermind toasted.
To quote Alan Partridge: "What you've got there Michael is warm, floppy bread."
2x Starter,
2x Main,
1x Garlic bread
1x small bottle San Pelegrino sparkling,
1x glass primitivo red,
1x espresso
€103.50 - excluding tip, the service was alright.
Oh... and then I was told that they don't accept tips on card - cash only for the tip. I had a tenner in my pocket so that's all they got which I felt bad about.
Left and walked my dad to his car. Asked him if he enjoyed it. He said that he did, that it wasn't as good as Goldie but he didn't want me spending too much money on him.
I informed him that Goldie wouldn't have been much more and felt like kicking his car.
Was Rossini ever decent? The menu that I got looks like lowest common denominator bollix and not really Italian in the truest form.
I assumed that he'd opt for Goldie, which he can't find fault with and is Cork eatery - this is the Gold Standard (no pun intended) my old man is uber-critical - I am still mentally scarred from his Junior B match-day post-game analysis.
However, he chose Rossini - a restaurant that, even though it has been open in Cork for over 25 years, I have never eaten in in my life.
Now... I love Italian food and the kitchen staff in Rossini might have been having an off day but mine was absolutely terrible start to finish.
To start, I got the calamari which was fresh but that's about as good as it got. It was overcooked, oily/greasy and salted to fuckery. Accompanied by a few sad-looking leaves. Ate two pieces of the six served. Horrible.
My old man got the seafood crepe which he said was pretty good. If nothing else it was huge.
Then the mains - I got bucatini cacio e pepe - which was a gelatinous, sticky mess. The sauce was so thick that it had clumped the pasta into one giant nest. They had also flooded the thing with cheap pecarino and black pepper that the dish lost any subtlety. I ate a third of it and gave up.
The oul fella had farefalle with salmon in a white wine sauce - it looked marginally better than mine but really it was another gloopy mess.
The portion sizes are massive - I think that quantity is preferred over quality in this case.
Ordered a side of garlic bread - this arrived near the end of the meal. Absolute shite quality - it was piss poor white bread which was barely, heated nevermind toasted.
To quote Alan Partridge: "What you've got there Michael is warm, floppy bread."
2x Starter,
2x Main,
1x Garlic bread
1x small bottle San Pelegrino sparkling,
1x glass primitivo red,
1x espresso
€103.50 - excluding tip, the service was alright.
Oh... and then I was told that they don't accept tips on card - cash only for the tip. I had a tenner in my pocket so that's all they got which I felt bad about.
Left and walked my dad to his car. Asked him if he enjoyed it. He said that he did, that it wasn't as good as Goldie but he didn't want me spending too much money on him.
I informed him that Goldie wouldn't have been much more and felt like kicking his car.
Was Rossini ever decent? The menu that I got looks like lowest common denominator bollix and not really Italian in the truest form.
good man