Much has been written about the view which Il Lido boasts and yes, it does make for a great date place (by conventional standards). Went there with the ex-boss (with the banking out of pocket expense budget) and we sat outside in the humid evening which caused me to gaze longingly at the airconditioned indoor seating ever once in a while (someone pass me a blotter already!). Although sipping pink champagne while soaking in the views is really pretty cool.

I had the panroasted goose liver with apricots and moscato wine sauce which was not too bad, but prefered my dining partner's sea scallops “milanese” with green beans and fresh almonds sauce. Both of us had the lobster ravioli with lemon verbena butter and broccoli which was not bad, although more ravioli would have been good (thank goodness for the starter).

For dessert we shared the red wine pear with crunchy heart & “monorigine equateur” chocolate ice-cream which for all its fancysmazzy-sounding was only so-so.

Service I found to be disappointing. Would have liked service, while attentive, to be more refined backed with more grace and sophistication. One of the servers was clearly nursing a bad flu and could not help but feel queasy each time she came to clear a plate.

Overall - I walked out of Il Lido feeling that the place is a bit of a victim of the (over)hype, and the top dollar I'm paying is more towards the location/view rather than the food per se.