IL Nostro Posto-Hardware Lane, CBD

Mr HSH and I met up with some friends for a catch up recently and decided to utilize another one of our Entertainment book vouchers. This led us to a Italian/Silician restaurant on Hardware Lane.Few things I've learnt about Hardware Lane-in general, lots of annoying people trying to sell your their food and drag you into their restaurant, and in general, expensive food that are of a low quality. On the plus side, the band playing on the strip does give it a lively atmosphere and for diners who aren't fussy about food, they might even enjoy the ambiance there. I'm not one of them. As nice as it is to have music around, I'm one who likes to be able to talk over my dinner and of the numerous times I've been to Hardware Lane, I've always chosen to be seated inside.

So far, I've been to Aloi Na which was okay, I've also been to Pop restaurant which had a promising menu but the food was very expensive (fine dining price-35-40 for mains) but the quality did not live up to expectations.

However, our worst experience was probably at IL Nostro Posto. Their waiters were probably better than most of Hardware Lane in that they did not beg us to go into their restaurant. Our one draw card, the Entertainment card did not make up for the ordinary meal we had.

First of all, we had a very hard time understanding our waiter due to his heavy accent. That's not his fault of course, I guess it just adds to the authenticity of the place. However, I found him to be slightly inpatient and even a little arrogant, as it took a while to choose from the menu...all reasonable I guess but not my idea of ideal customer service.

That wasn't a major concern for me. My major issue was with the food....Most of them were highly priced and of poor quality. Hoping this doesn't sound like I'm ranting too much, but as of today, I think this could possibly be the worst restaurant I've been to. Please refer to the captions underneath each dish for my comments. Our total bill came to about 177 dollars. That was for 4 people-2 entrees, two drinks and four mains. We got a 40 dollar discount but in general, it was still meal that was not good value for money.

I certainly would not be coming back.

To sum it all up, borderline service, below average food and high prices.

Entree-I think this was one of the "Specials" Beef meatballs in tomato sauce-unsure of the price but would have been around 14 dollars. Anyway, edible dish but just really poor value for money.

MR  entrepreneur's girlfriend's main-Carnaroli rice with wild mix mushrooms and truffle oil-$25.50I think this was okay but my friend only finished half, but more likely due to her being "full".

Mozzarella, tomato, basil, extra vergine olive oil-$14.50-"large house salad"-This was the most pathetic excuse for a salad. A few pieces of tomato with mozzarella carelessly thrown on top. I almost laughed when I saw this dish.

Sicilian rice ball” filled with provolone cheese and beef ragù-$14.50-Very boring, tasteless. Sauce appears to be store bought.

MR HSH's main-Typical Sicilian homemade pasta with veal ragù-$23.40-the pasta looked like silk worms (but from experience, Silk worms taste better)...very small serving size and tasted really weird. MR HSH thinks I'm too hard on his dish...he thinks it wasn't too bad...

Mr Entrepreneur's main-Best presentation I've seen at the restaurant for the day. He was quite happy with the dish and it certainly looked more palatable than MR HSH's or mine. 

My main-Home made ravioli pasta filled with ricotta cheese and spinach, dressed with tomatoes sauce and basil-$22.50. What more can I say? It was bland and boring. At least it didn't taste weird to me.