With a bright, multi-colored interior, a cute caricature of a blond girl as its mascot and a tagline that says, “where happy people meet,” we wanted to like this place. After all, it’s always generated good buzz, and the mother-and-son business had just expanded with a second outlet at Thomson Road. However, we were disappointed with the quality of fare we sampled from its menu—a Western selection of pizzas, pastas, steak, paella, risotto and stews. Our appetizer, the calamari rings were hard and tasteless, with the coat of batter slipping off the calamari like a sock when we bit into it. Our main, the garlic dory was alright, but our black ink linguine with braised oxtail and squid was below par—it was bland and too oily. Even our choice of dessert, the twin divine, a bi-layered chocolate and cheese cake, tasted as though it had been lying in the chiller for days, not “baked fresh daily” as claimed by the wait staff when we inquired. Yes, the prices are quite affordable and there is no service charge, but we’d rather fork out more for better-tasting fare elsewhere.
