Convivio was one of the places I would recommend to people when they asked for a special occasion restaurant that wouldn't be a huge commitment. It's not cheap (especially if you pile on the wine, aperitifs, and digestives as we tend to do), but a pretty good deal in my opinion - $59 gets you antipasta, pasta, entree, and dessert. So when my own parents came to visit, I took up my own recommendation and made a reservation at Convivio. Overall, the night was a success - we had a great time chatting and eating, the food was great as always. But sadly, that would be the last time I recommend Convivio. Yeah, the service turned me off, which was such a bummer cuz it really did ruin such a great night. But I'll get to that later after the foooood.
We. Ate. A. Lot. We being my parents, J-me, and moi. We started the night with some sfizi, basically these little tapa-like dishes that we shared before our first course. We got 3. The first was the saffron risotto croquettes (arancini). If you can't tell, I have a softness for fried rice balls of any shape and form. Heck, I have a weakness of riceball of any shape and form, fried or not. These were damn good. The light crispy fried protective layer was sadly ineffective in shielding the helpless creamy innards from the will of my teeth and hunger. Crunch, I did.
Despite my dad's apprehension towards chicken liver, I ordered the chicken liver crostini. I am a good daughter, yes I am. It was delicious. The lightly mineral-y liver was sweetened by sauteed marsala onions and balsamic vinegar (I think, based on my feeble memory). The whole thing was held up by a piece of toasted country style crusty bread. Love. The last of the sfizi was the grilled mushrooms. Grilled mushrooms = always good.
On to the first courses! My mom got my first choice - baccala. My third rule of ordering at a restaurant (first being always order rice balls when available. Second being always order offal, like chicken liver, when available) is to order baccala when available. Oh man, why is rehydrated fish so delicious? Creamy, salty, oceany. I love all baccala! Equal opportunity to all you rehydrated fish!
Dad got the braised meatballs in soup. These meatballs literally melted as soon they came in contact with human flesh. I wish I can bathe in that soup, surrounded by those meatballs.
J-me ordered the chilled tomato soup with seafood salad. This was such an ingenious idea! Seafood salad doesn't need sauce. It needs a whole soup! I like.
I got the marinated sardines with mozzarella and roasted peppers. Why don't more people eat sardines? They are such fantastic fish. Oily without being greasy. Incredibly tender. Tangy and sweet at the same time.
Then we moved on to our pasta course. Mom again got my first choice, which was the famous malloreddus, or saffron gnocchetti with crab and sea urchin. My two favorite seafoods joined forces to create one of the most delicious and complex pastas ever.
Dad loves them creamy pastas. So I obliged and recommended the carbonara. Not gonna lie, I love good carbonara too. But I swear, the recommendation was not made because I wanted a bite of the pancetta, pecorino, and egg goodness.
J-me got some sort of dumpling like pasta. I only know that because of pictorial evidence. From the below photo and the online menu, I deduced that it was the agnolotti stuffed with burrata. I'm sure it was good, but I can't remember. *hangs head in shame*
I do remember my pasta course, the baked cavatelli with rabbit ragu and ricotta. I don't know what possessed me to order this dish. Although I love a good mac and cheese, I don't tend to order its cousins at temples of pasta perfection since it doesn't show off the gasp-inducing bite of a well-cooked al dente strand. It was tasty, in that super cheesy and heavy creamy way. The rabbit was cooked well and super moist. But I couldn't finish my pan of hypertension. Came close, but ultimately failed.
On to our third course! What did mom get? Yes kids, she got my frist choice again, the branzino. What can I say, my mom has great taste. I worship branzino (black bass). I worship the way they are usually prepared - pan fried lightly to seal the crunchy crust which contrasts against the delicate, flaky meat. The whole thing garnished in light sauces or broths. Convivio's version was garnished with fava bean puree, cuttlefish, radishes, mint, and almond salad. Or in short, summer! The piece of perfectly cooked fish was swaddled in summer! My favorite season.
Dad got the grilled lamb chops with salsa verde, escarole, tomatos, and beans. The lamb chops were perfectly cooked - tender with a hint of gaminess. My dad loved it. I would have liked a tiny more gaminess, because I like lamb and like to be hit over the head by lamb.
My dish was the grilled scallops with zucchini, rock shrimp, dressed in a lemony garlicky sauce. I LOVE scallops but usually hate ordering them since they, like chicken, are so easily destroyed by inept cooks. But these were huge, plump, juicy, nicely charred on the outside, flavorful and creamy on the inside scallops. Win!
I, um, forgot what J-me got cuz apparently I forgot to take a pic. I was kind of tipsy, okay?
For dessert, we got shared a panna cotta (rule number 4, always get panna cotta if it's available), budino, caramel tarte with salted caramel, and a cheese plate. Budino is quickly replacing panna cotta as my favorite dessert. If a cake married a pudding and had a baby, the would call it budino. Soft, moist, rich, but not too rich that it gags, budino is the best of all worlds.
The panna cotta was fine, but slightly too watery for my taste. I like a super jiggly panna cotta, but not a liquid-y one.
The caramel tarte was fine. It just that I'm not a huge fan of dense desserts.
The cheese plate was good, then again, cheese plates are always good in my book.
So all in all, it seemed like a great meal right? Yeah, if we were only talking about food. I'm a firm believer of great service at restaurants of Convivio's caliber. I don't ask for too much - don't care if the waiters fawn over me and attend to my whims. As long as the staff is genuine and has good timing, I'm a happy camper. Convivio has very bizaare service. Most people were nice, but in that super fake "because I have to be" way. You can tell that they were rolling their eyes as soon as they turn their backs. But whatever, a lot of restaurants are like that. If I were on my feet for so long, I probably won't even wait until my back is turned to roll my eyes. Also, our waiter was strange. He would chime in randomly when our table was chatting. Who does that?! The guy who brought our cocktails before we sat down was nice though. I'll give you that.
The thing that pissed me off was our wine fiasco. J-me asked our waiter to recommend a bottle of wine. He did and we accepted. After our glasses were poured, I tasted it and decided that it had gone bad - it was sour. More sour than most fruity wines should taste. So I told the waiter that the wine had gone bad and if we could please have another bottle. The waiter was somewhat flusttered and went to discuss with the sommelier. After awhile, the sommelier came over and explained that the wine was supposed to taste sour. He was one of the few master sommeliers in the US and knows his stuff. Oh well, if he knows his stuff, then fine. Although we didn't like it, we'll take his word for it. I love wine but am no expert by any means. Tis life and we move on. So we thanked him and went back to tackle the bread. Then the sommelier said that if your mom and you really don't like the wine we will give you two glasses of another wine and the boys can keep the bottle. I thought to myself, that's super nice! So we accepted and enjoyed our new wine. I will also say, the sommelier was very nice.
Then later on, we noticed that they charged us for the additional glasses! I was super surprised. Because 1. if they were planning to charge us, they should have asked what price range we were comfortable with, 2. good restaurants should be responsible for their wines. If we really hated a bottle, espeically one recommended by the restaurant, they should take it back. I was pretty disappointed. Sad really. Convivio went from one of my favorite places to one that I wouldn't go back to anymore. *sigh*
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