Pete's Place

It has been a long time since we came to Pete's Place for dinner.  The reason for our recent visit was simply because my mother in law has a $120 voucher that is expiring imminently.  The voucher was given by Club at the Hyatt.  Our initial plan was to dine at Mezza9.  But upon studying the menu of both places, we have decided that $120 could buy us much more at Pete's Place and so here we were on a Monday evening.

The place was quiet and peaceful as it was a Monday evening.  We were pleasantly surprised that every order of main course before 7 pm would entitle us to a helping at the salad bar.  So we piled up our plates with the fresh vegetables, cherry tomatos, beans, nuts etc and ordered some soup and main courses.  The bread selection was as good as it ever was and it was free flow.  I think I could have filled my stomach just by eating the walnut bread which was oven fresh.

The soup of the day was tomato clam soup ($9++).  I have much preferred the minestrone ($9++) which was more tasty to me.

The beef tenderloin ($40++) was done medium well as requested.  It was slightly crispy outside and juicy inside.  Wonderful!  It was served on a bed of risotto which was cooked in a creamy and tasty sauce. 

The Cioppino ($38++) was exactly as we have remembered.  Spagethi in tomato sauce loaded with fresh seafood.  We counted 3 clams, 3 huge prawns (fresh and crunchy), 3 huge scallops and half a baby lobster crowning the dish.   It looked fantastic and tasted even more so.  It must have been the highlight of the dinner.

We hardly had space for dessert.  But the restaurant offered scoops of ice creams and sherbets at $4++.  We opted for the less sinful yogurt ice cream and strawberry sherbet.  They were not too rich and helped to clear the palate.  The yogurt ice cream was especially delicious.

The waiters were friendly and efficient.  Having been a member of the Club at Hyatt myself years ago, I have been to Pete's Place countless times.  The standard of food and service has always been very consistent.  I am quite sure if I were to renew my membership again in the future, the main reason has to be Pete's Place.

It was in our interest that we decided to give Pete's Place a shot, having acquired recently, a 1 for 1 set dinner voucher. Holed up at the basement of Grand Hyatt, the name of the restaurant gave it a more personal and casual connotation as opposed to that of a swanky fine dining Italian restaurant usually found in hotels.

And living up to its casual billing, Pete's Place boasts brick walls coupled with checkered table cloths and an open kitchen where the chefs prepare your food. Being underground, there are no windows to speak off but the place oozes a nice comfortable feeling, one that evokes memories of sitting by a fireplace while having your meal.

You can help yourself to the limited variety of bread at the tiny bread station. None of the bread struck me as fantastic but gives you something to chew on while you wait for your food. There is of course the salad bar as well, which I thought to be pretty decent.

Seafood Pasta - The pasta wasn't al dente, coming across as a tad too soft while the tomato base sauce was a little too runny for my liking. I appreciated the generous serving of sweet, crunchy prawns as well as delectable and sizable scallops. A little less salt would have been ideal though.

Saltimbocca Alla Romana - This veal dish is apparently a classic Roman dish that counts fresh sage as one of its main ingredients. Honestly, this is the first time I've eating this and I can't say that I'm a big fan of it. Firstly, I thought that it was overly salty and though tender, the meat had a weird "coated with flour and steamed" like texture. I did like the mashed potato though - finely whipped with a seductively strong hint of butter. Nice.

Tiramisu - Well it was between this and a scoop of ice cream. It was a no brainer for me really. But the tiramisu turned out to be a flop, unfortunately. Too much sponge, too little mascarpone cheese. And a teetotaler version to boot. At least there was the vanilla bean sauce with the occasional sighting of a bean or two in it.

Thank god for the 50%, paring what would have been an unreasonable amount of money to pay ($153 after tax) for such average food to something more manageable ($77). Even then, I don't find it exactly value for money. On the upside, service was reliable, benefiting from the experience of the wait staff, most of whom seemed to be in the older age bracket.

See all my pictures here.

pasta is my wife's 2nd love, she always insists that she could live forever in italy eating nothing but pasta everyday. of course, i'd say, i'm her 1st love, and that she needs to correct herself, she could live forever eating nothing but pasta, and my love...

she had a rough day at work the day before, so i offered to bring her to pete's place to cheer her up, well.... hoping that will allow me for some 'action' later that evening, of course. ahem.

FOOD
we arrived at 645pm. to our surprise, SALAD is free before 7pm if you order a main. woo-wee. as usual, we stuffed ourselves silly with that great range that is pete's place salad. best in singapore, JB and batam, no doubt. quality mushrooms, pineapples, vegetables with 4-5 sauces, and 5-6 different kinds of bread.

we also had the soup. the MUSHROOM SOUP is great, my soup of the day of potato and leek, i wish i didnt have, not so much coz its not nice, more coz it filled my tummy, stops me from taking more bread!

for mains, i had the LOBSTER AND SEAFOOD PASTA, and my other half, the LAGSAGNE. LASAGNE was great, cheesy, soft and tasty, just like me, i'm sure my wife was thinking. but the pasta, it was fantastic! so good and so satisfying i instantly wondered if i still need the aforementioned hoped for 'action' later on.... it's got half a real lobster (not crayfish...), numerous BIG scallops, good serving of prawns and vongole.

i've tried the CALZONE, the VONGOLE and the CABONARA and they were all great. with the CABONARA simply the best, the best that i've ever had... the calzone was good and decent, so was the vongole. definitely above average.

my impression after going there quite often is that the pasta there is fantastic, the pizza good, the mushroom soup worth ordering. with the salad as appetiser, we've never ordered any other appetisers there.

BUFFET LUNCH
they serve buffet lunch at quite a decent price with a good spread. most of which is the excellent salad buffet, together with the mushroom soup, these alone is about worth the value. on top of these would be some appetisers like carpaccio. it has a price that comes with wine, and one for teetotallers.

AMBIENCE and SERVICE
dim lighting, cozy setting with brick walls and wooden furniture all over. it's cozy and nice with a warmth feeling.

staff are professional, attentive (fills up your water without being asked), smiles a lot and some would even chat with you a bit. they look snobbish in their uniform and speaking well, but they're not snobbish at all. best service one could hope for.

VALUE
decent pricing for a restaurant, esp one in a hotel. esp if you get the salad free, or take the set menu. you'll definitely leave the place filled to the brim. i'd say great value for money. the lobster pasta is at $38 and not incl as an item on their set menu at $39 (if i remember correctly).

DESSERT
we tried their dessert once and i remember that my wife and i, we agreed that its not really that great and we'd be better off having "desserts at home"... if you know what i mean. slurp!

It was 8 years ago, when I first came to Pete’s Place for a nice romantic dinner with my then beau. It was our 2nd date. I remembered being fond of the quaint little underground restaurant that had red checked napkins placed on top the contrasting matching blue gingham tablecloths on every table. Cute. It reminded me of my kindergarten uniform. I must have had a great time cos I went on many other dates with him thereafter.

I was keen to revisit the place when I saw a one –for-one coupon for the set dinner at $65++. The meal includes a glass of red or white wine. The only approaching occasion that calls for a celebratory toast was my sister’s big three-Oh. She was fine with the venue and so a date it was.

Stepping into the restaurant 8 years later, I was quite surprised that the decor was still same old. Even the arrangement of the furnishings was pretty much the same.

We were presented with the Women’s Weekly Special Menu with the following:

Appetiser: Salad Buffet or Minestrone Soup
Main Course: Saltimbocca Alla Romana (Veal escalope with parma ham and sage in white wine sauce, mashed potato and sautéed spinach) or Seafood Pasta (Pete’s Place spaghetti with scallops, clams, prawns, crabmeat and fresh herbs in tomato sauce)
Dessert: Tiramisu or a scoop of ice cream
Coffee or Tea

Both of us opted for the salad buffet, veal and Tiramisu unanimously. Well, we are not sisters for nothing.

Before commencing on the salad, we went for the free flow of bread station. I was in awe of the great selection of breads available. I saw about 7-8 types of different bread; Breadsticks, breads with sunflower seeds, olives, dried fruit, sourdough, bagette, ciabatta, etc. I love the buns/breads that were very crusty, especially the sunflower seeds ones. Butter came in 3 different flavours with Sundried tomato, salted and herbed. Sis liked the former 2. I preferred the herbed one as it tasted familiar to me, with a garlicky aroma.

I was also overwhelmed by the array of ingredients, toppings and dressings available at the salad bar. Let’s see, there were the sweet corns, chick peas, luscious mushrooms, varied huge fresh leafy greens, hard boiled eggs, beetroot, croutons, walnuts, tuna mayonnaise and raisins, dressings of Thousand Island, Honey Mustard, Caesar and Italian. There were still many more that slipped my mind but I can assure you that the salad bar was fully equipped with almost everything that was required of a self respecting salad.

I was almost full after helping myself silly to the breads and salads but we were still looking forward to the main course with its interesting description. Honest to Pete, never in my 100+ reviews have I said that any food sucked before. The veal at Pete’s Place could not have fit that adjective more aptly. First of all, presentation was dull and unappealing. Then, I almost spat out the first bite of the meat. There was no hint of parma ham at all. Unless I had misunderstood my entire life what a parma ham is. The layer enveloping the veal tasted more like fried dough that had been soaked in water. It was very disgusting. I couldn’t get past the 2nd bite even though I scraped the outer layer off. Mashed potato came with no gravy and I wasn’t keen in more tasteless carbo. Sautéed spinach came with 3 small tomatoes that were too sour for my palate. My only consolation was the spinach that was still copacetic but for Pete's sake...more vegetables!? I believed I just had the most regrettable moment in my life. Thanks Pete, whoever you are. My sis, who was more tolerable, even though she found the course unappetising, managed to finish most it. Unfortunately, she had a slight tummy upset the very evening about 2 hours after ingesting it. I’m very sure our consumption of food and drinks from the evening came from only 1 establishment.

Tiramisu was not moist enough but I was fine with it. There was no hint of liquor content at all. Not a problem with me. The cake was sweet without being cloying; I kinda enjoyed it.

The older service crew around the restaurant was a notable change from the usual teeny boppers wait staff so often seen in Singapore service scene. Dismally, that didn’t mean better service. Waters were refilled intermittently but it seemed like the crew liked hanging around each other. There were either all at one place, or disappeared together at the same time. It was really tedious trying to find someone to clear the defiled dishes from our table after they laid there for more than an hour without anyone coming to check on us.

I was uber aghast at this 2nd visit and very compunctious towards my sis for the birthday dinner that went awry. Luckily, the great company more than made up for the bottom of the barrel experience.

Now I wonder. Has its standards dropped, or has my paradigm shifted over the years?

location with friendly service and regular pasta and pizza makes this a very safe choice for people like myself who needs to bring friends from overseas to a convenient and nice italian joint. i must admit that the food was better years ago but it's still considered above average. their sundried tomato butter with the bread and salad bar is a good one to have before the mains are served.

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.