Dropped by Pete's for a random lunch, the restaurant location is really convenient and the price for the buffet is very reasonable. Considering that the reviews for this place were very mixed I decided to give it a shot.

I have to conclude that despite being crippled by hunger, the buffet here is sub-par, or only average at best. The ingredients are fresh and of excellent quality, but despite that, the food fails to deliver. Let us examine why.

The salad bar was all right, everything was fresh. Fine. But who cares about vegetables anyway!

Bread bar and soup - Bread was cold, but it's just left there so I shouldn't expect too much. Unfortunately the varieties I tried were just plain bad. Overly chewy and touch crusts coupled with heavy and doughy bread were the order of the day, and while the sundried and herbed butters were mildly entertaining, the bread hardly provided scintillating accompaniment to my overly salty leek and potato soup.

Food - Small variety, as might be expected considering the reasonable price of the buffet. However, with a smaller spread there should have been greater effort put into the quality! The chicken in white wine reduction with mushrooms and stuff was quite good. I had three helpings. The sea bass was fishy and seared badly. It was too salty, and even the tomato based sauce failed to mask this.

The beef lasagna was standard fare. Like a previous reviewer mentioned the cheese was very gooey and I could have taken the entire sheet of cheese off the top of the dish.

I believe a good Italian joint should always have an awesome aglio olio. However, the aglio olio here wasn't tossed properly and I can't be expected to toss the pasta in the communal dish laid out. Dry. Bad.

The seafood fusili was very very average and forgettable. The prawns were fresh but the hearty tomato based sauce just assailed the mouth and left little room for any nuances or subtlety. It got tiresome after a while.

Dessert - I was hoping the desserts would save the day, especially considering that there have been rave reviews about the tiramisu and whatnot. The fruits were very very good, in keeping with the theme of fresh ingredients. The strawberries were awesome. Actually, it was just the strawberries. Everything else was average.

There was a chocolate tart that was good as well. Dark chocolate mousse or something. Rich and quite sinful, there was no stinting here and the chocolate filling was generous. There was some sort of sponge cake that I did not bother with as well.

Finally, the tiramisu. It was a very disappointing rendition. Sure, it was (too) moist, coffee flavoured, alcohol, etc. Unfortunately, it totally lacked character. There was nothing special about it at all. I expected a richer texture, as would befit a classic Italian dessert. Also, I could not detect even a hint of mascarpone cheese.

Overall this joint is very average. The ambience is charming and romantic (dark). Unfortunately I was there with a guy friend. The service is very average. They called me sir. Nothing is bad, very little is good, and although it is quite cheap for a hotel buffet lunch in town, it still isn't worth it. Considering the farce that is Straits Kitchen, I think I'll only eat at the mezza9 if I were to dine at the Hyatt in the future.

2 of us came for the Saturday buffet lunch. We could choose between the full Italian buffet (salad, soup, bread, meat, pasta, dessert and fruits for $26++) or the soup & salad buffet (salad, soup, bread, dessert and fruits for $19.50++.)
The salad was generous and fresh.
2 types of soup were offered. I had the minestrone which was a bit salty.
The Italian bread were free flow, fresh and an impressive array.
The pasta was ok. Cannot expect too much as it was a buffet. But the chicken with penne was good.
The stewed beef cheek was tender and tasty.
The pan seared snapper was fresh and robust in flavour.
Fruits were fresh. Never had such huge strawberries before. The grapes were crunchy and sweet.
Tiramisu was sinfully rich. There was also lemon mousse and a orange flavoured cake.
We rolled out of the restaurant:)

I enjoy going to resturant pete's place very much, do enjoy seeing the familiar service staffs' there. Just to do some justify for this resturant, for sgd$20 !!! and u can dine in a hotel resturant? it is consider very cheap ardy and its buffet! (eat all u want/can)

I think the limitations of buffet has to do with the restriction of place in the resturant for the buffet set up.. sounds true right? However, wheneva i dine there.. i would always request for chef nelson there to cook personally (ala car-te order) only.. P.S to ask him cook buffet hehez...

what you pay is what you get.. It is a very decent italian resturant in sg. 1 needs to understand that everyday the buffet dish will be different. (may call up the resturant and check with them the dishes on display) that is what i do :)

While waiting for our friends, we decided to check out the bread bar. There was quite a selection of bread. One can take as much as he likes. There were also three kind of spreads for the dinners (sun dried butter spread, garlic herb spread and normal butter). My only complain about the bread bar is the bread are cold! :( Opposite the bread bar was the salad bar. Dear and I wanted to grab some salad as well but we weren't too sure if it is chargeable. In the end, we did not take any and went back to our table and that was when I realized that the create your own salad at the salad bar costs $19. However, the restaurant gives free salad for early diners. So do come before 6.30pm if you want the salad.

We ordered a cabonara ($23), seafood pizza($25), risotte($32) and crispy fried fish ($30) (chef's recommendation). Friends were in the mood for wine and they ordered a bottle of white ($85). (cant remember the exact name but it was pinot something).

I like the cabonara. The bacon was very crispy and the spagettie was al dente. It was not too creamy and therefore one will not feel jerlat after a few mouth. I asked for Parmesan cheese to go with my spaghetti. I was expecting a saucer with the cheese. Guessed what! They took out a whole block of cheese and started grating onto my food. Amazing! However, they deprived me from having more cheese. Haha.

The seafood pizza was alright. Thin crust with scallop, prawns and dried mussels.

Tired some of friend's risotto. This is basically Spanish rice cooked with seafood and tomato sauce. The rice was not too hard or over cooked. A decent amount of seafood was given. However, I prefer the one at Esmirada. That one is more flavorful and the amount of seafood given is much more and bigger.

Friend had the crispy fish. It was normally normal. It came along with a white sauce. I was not impressed by the sauce.

On the whole, things are on the pricier side. There are other alternatives around which cost lesser and taste better. But well, its the company that matters. Food is secondary in this case.

Great place located at the basement of Hyatt hotel. Pizza here is delicious. Got to love the tiramisu which is impeccable. Good place to have a date, not too noisy and not too formal setting.