Food Reviewer - Xin Foo's Review Comments

da Mario Pizzeria
Overall - 5 Food and Beverage - 4.5 Ambience / Setting - 4.5 Value - 5 Service - 6	Will you return to this place? Definitely Not Review Date: 02 Aug 2008

60 Robertson Quay, #01-05/06 The Quayside, Singapore

Can we trust the reviewers?

After reading the reviews from de Mario, my boyfriend and I decided to give a try. This time, I would not want to believe with the pictures that some of the reviewers had taken but instead to witness myself since it has been having good reviews.

So there, I was again at Robertson Quay this time. Actually I wanted my boyfriend to try Cugini pizzas since the one that I had for the first time, I fall in love with the texture and unique sauce but my boyfriend said we should try something new since we both never been to Mario.

We walked about 8 mins from the Fraser indoor carpark. It was right at the corner.It looks very bright from the outside. The outside table did not look cozy so we decided to dine in. It feels like going to a countryside home in Italy. They have picture frame of different types of pastas and the map of Italy. Honestly, I dont feel quite comfortable because it look somehow filthy to me.

I had the pizza with parmaham and rucola salad ( as what I had in Spizza before).My boyfriend had the buffala mozarella pizza. The pizza bread was soft but tasteless. Seriously no taste! Even my boyfriend said the same.We couldnt even taste the mozarella, tomatoes and pizza bread. It was just too greasy with too much olive oil.We didnt finish the whole portion of the pizzas. My boyfriend was quite disappointed,well it was not my idea ;)I told him we should have gone to the one I like!

We didnt want to spoil our dining experience but yet we took the risk to try their tiramisu.Not impressive at all. I wonder why it looks the same like some others Italian restaurants around.In fact the presentation looks the same.Classic example would be the rectangular shape and spongy texture.Do they actually make their own or buy it?

Well, I do not know whether I can trust or rely on the reviews here in HGW. Some are just ridiculous and worst disappointing after we actually witness it ourselves.

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	Russ says:	2 Aug 2008 14:47
Probably a matter of personal taste. I liked Da Mario and Spizza a lot. You didn't. I thought Indochine was a disaster (so did about 8 other with me). You liked it. That being the case, I think it may be better for you not to rely on any reviewer here since your version of good seems to differ from the mainstream. Trust your own tastebuds!

	ice says:	2 Aug 2008 15:10
I agree with Russ. Reviews are written usually with some bias of some sort. Taste is subjective so do take reviews with a pinch of salt. The tiramisu here may look like any other tiramisus around. La Nonna (you commented there), Senso, Ristorante de Parma, Pasta Brava's tiramisus all look the same but that doesn't mean they source from the same supplier. In fact, all or most of the Italian restaurants make their own. Taste each one and you'd be able to tell the difference. Alcoholic content differs greatly from place to place.

	Xin Foo says:	2 Aug 2008 15:50
Russ, I am glad that we have the different taste. Judging from the tastebud I got, to be honest, I had been living in Rome for 3 years and been around, Parma, Bologna, Milan and Naple - just to mention a few. I love and enjoy REAL food. You said Indochine is disaster? You must be kidding. I wonder how Micheal Ma can be so successful. I just wish that the reviewers here are more educated on food and dont just simply review on junks. Ice, if you agree with Russ good for you.How do you know that well that the restuarants you mentioned above do not source from the same supplier? So you mean that they actually got their tiramisu from the supplier and did not make their own?I did not judge tiramisu from the content of alcohol(marsala). I only look at content of alcohol on my cocktail.

	ice says:	2 Aug 2008 16:38
Xin Foo: Having lived in Rome or overseas for that matter doesn't equate to having more discerning and shrewd tastebuds than those who haven't. I don't think I need to spell out the specifics of the tiramisu. Each restaurant tiramisu's proportion of mascarpone to sponge ratio, coffee, marsala, cocoa etc. are all different from one another. Eat enough of them and you'll know. What I meant in my previous comment is that each restaurant's tiramisu is unique coz they make their own. It's not that difficult to actually make one. Cheers.

	Xin Foo says:	2 Aug 2008 18:14
Ice, having lived in Rome as a person we are able to taste the real italian cuisine.Its like having an expat living in Japan, knows what real sushi are. It is the matter of tasting the originality of where the food comes and not spoiling the image without any accredited knowlegde. And because I had enough of them so therefore I can compare. And also,it is not the matter whether it is easy to make, because then why there are still some restaurants who buy the tiramisu (for example) from their supplier?

	ice says:	2 Aug 2008 19:59
Hello no hard feelings. :) But we're talking about sunny Singapore here and not comparing across countries. imho, non of the local restaurants actually serve what you term as "real" and "original" cuisine. They can only offer what we can't get to savor with a plane ride. So we can only be fair and compare across restaurants in Singapore. If you would like to taste authenticity, I think it's quite hard for you to eat around Singapore. So which restaurant in your knowledge buys tiramisu from suppliers and not make them in-house? It'd be good to inform. Thanks.

	Russ says:	2 Aug 2008 22:35
Like I said, personal taste. Quite a number of people I know did not like Indochine - in fact, some though it is a big rip off considering the $$$. The Western expats love it, hence the success. You lived in Rome - well, I think you should just totally avoid any Italian joints here - even the best may not be good enough for you. I have been to Italy too and so far, IMO, nothing here compares to what I had in Rome. I have made over 200 trips overseas to all sorts of countries (Europe and Australia are my most visited places). The best Chinese food I have had was in China, the best Italian in Italy, the best Thai food in Thailand etc. But when in Singapore. My colleagues in Melbourne rave about a cojuple of places serving fantastic Malaysia/Singapore food in Melbourne. And I have been dissappointed. Good by Melbourne standards, very average by Singapore standards. Anyway, good to get this out in the open. Best that you ignore most reviewers on HGW. And I now know to disregard yours too (there are a number of regular reviewers on HGW who have over 100 reviews each and so far, I have found their reviews to be 90% reliable. Have fun eating.

	Xin Foo says:	3 Aug 2008 01:23
Ice, as you mentioned," if i would like to taste the authenticity,its quite hard for me to eat around spore," so my question here is " why are the HGW community reviewed da Mario as " a rare gem"?If none of the local restaurant in spore serve original or real food so are we actually eating crap? There are some real italian restaurants here in spore and I am talking about authenticity( to exclude da mario). Dont just get fool by just to save your pocket money. I would prefer to spend slightly more to have a proper meal and not get insulted by a cheap tiramisu and others.

	Xin Foo says:	3 Aug 2008 01:39
Russ, save your money for junk food. Atleast the western expat are smart to know the real food. I know the best italian restaurants here and they are good. I would rather have a little trust to reviewers who write less reviews because I wonder those who wrote up to 100 over reviews are either sponsoring the restaurants or a genuine passion for food? You and ice responded to me in split second and this is my first comment out of my so far 10 reviews. I now start to feel funny about HGW.

	macadamia^n says:	3 Aug 2008 03:51
basically its jus a matter of diff people with diff tastes. or maybe it just wasnt your day when you dined there. ultimately, HGW is a place where each individual is entitled to their own opinion about their dining experience. BUT to discredit reviews made by hgw-ers who put in effort to write em and accuse em of doin so cos they were given free meals, thats just wrong. If these reviewers are so unreliable and then just do not bother reading their reviews.