| Panama's Trattoria Toscana: A Disappointment |
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| Written by heidibella | |||||
| Tuesday, February 26 2008 | |||||
This past weekend I visited the new Tratorria Toscana on Via Porras to have dinner. The service was lacking, the food certainly not worth the price...is this really a trattoria? It was not full despite our 7:30 pm arrival time and we were able to grab a nice corner table.  Our menus came right away and we ordered a bottle of wine to start. There wasn't much of a selection though, but we were able to find a nice, affordable bottle that was good. There wasn't much to choose from in terms of food either. They offer a few antipasti, maybe four pastas (primi) and four or five main dishes (secondi). I'm assuming that they will have more variety once they get going as they only just opened on February 12. When the wine came, the waiter let us both try it but then just put the bottle down and left without pouring us full glasses. That was a bit strange, I think just an oversight, not standard practice for them. We ordered an antipasto platter which was ok, but nothing to rave about. I thought it was interesting that the antipasto included some sort of frittata which I was anxious to try but it was a bit bland, as was the spinach. The bread was very nice. Our basket included a regular white, crusty bread and one with olives which was delicious. We asked for olive oil and balsamic to dip our bread in which they brought but it kept disappearing from our table. Our food came promptly and it was good and hot, ingredients seemed fresh. I ordered a risotto which was very good. The consistency of the arborio was perfect and it had great flavor. My dining companion ordered taglialini with shrimp which he said was delicious, but we both agreed though that our dishes were on the salty side. When dessert time came, I was understanding when we were told that there was no tiramisu because it's not a dessert normally found in Northern Italy, but I was unforgiving when told that the chef has not yet been able to perfect a good Tuscan dessert for the restaurant. As for ambience, I would dim the lights a bit and put candles on the tables to make it a bit cozier, and to draw attention away from the faux stone walls and foam painted to look like wood beams on the ceiling. A Trattoria in its traditional Italian form is a casual restaurant, often times with no menus and the food is served family-style and on common tables. If the owners of this restaurant were being true to tradition I would say keep the casual service and limited menu and play up the stone/wood/brick rustic ambience. But the prices we paid were not casual at all and for that kind of money I expected better service and a scrumptious culinary experience...trattoria or not. Having said that, judging from the energetic gentleman who chatted with us several times and who didn't stop bustling around the restaurant (I'm assuming he was the owner) I think things can only get better at the Trattoria Toscana. This article was contributed graciously by Heidi of http://www.heidibella.com
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| Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 ) | |||||
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