A Haberfield Italian Experience

There was quite mixed opinions about this restaurant after my family and I dined here for my brother’s birthday. There was some fun, some rudeness but ultimately decent food.

The Meal
Having ordered two platters of Buffalo Mozzarella and Prosciutto we were disappointed to hear they were out of prosciutto and were consoled with platters of Caprese alongside our Suppli. Caprese salad is both mine and Darryn’s favourite salad so it was not hard to impress us. The tomatoes were seasonally ripe and refreshing and the mozzarella soft and milky. What more could you want?

Being Italian cuisine, and with guests, we opted to ordering our own dishes (not something my family usually does, especially when dining out). I ordered a special, the Lamb Cutlets, which was a good size but really not much more than a plate of lamb. It is obvious they have a good meat supplier but being a little undercooked for my liking the quality was a little lost me. As a side I ordered the salad, which, along with Darryn’s main, took close to an hour to bring out. As it became obvious that our dishes had been forgotten Darryn got the attention of the wait staff to inform them. I wouldn’t say they were “rude”, a fact I am sure Darryn disagrees with, but they were definitely dismissive and unapologetic. Making excuses as opposed to immediately rectifying. When my salad did eventuate it was basic but fresh.

My advice would be to stick to complex and traditional Italian dishes, full of tomatoes and basil as this seems to be their strong suit. Pinching a small amount of Darryn’s dish, Polpette, soon escalated as I began moving much of the herby, tasty plate of three large pork and beef meatballs onto my plate and mopping up the rich tomato sauce with my remaining bread. I would argue that this meal redeemed any frustration from the service. This was forgiveness was only reinforced by the next course. 

Dessert was perfect. Taking advantage of the abundance of berries this season the dessert special was a berrylicious version of the traditional Tiramisu. Layered with Savoiardi biscuits, raspberries (similar to the Summer Berry Tiramisu) and a marscopne cream. The raspberries we summery, sweet but hung onto a delightful tang and served as a “sour” relief from the sweet cream, a relief from the sweet.

The Atmosphere
We came to Righetto for my brother’s 17th birthday and for this celebratory purpose it was very fun. Staff members would come out of the kitchen throughout the evening singing, dancing and smashing pots and pans together to Italian tunes. This, in addition to the special treatment my brother received as the birthday boy made the night very memorable. It did however make conversation borderline impossible. I have, what Darryn describes as “dog hearing” and was seated in the middle of the table perhaps assisting my positive outlook of the evening. Darryn was very frustrated. He was essentially excluded from any table conversation for the evening.

 

 

 

This restaurant was quite a battle to consider. Really great aspects seemed to be closely followed by disappointing negatives.

Overall
Rating: 6 out of 10

Pros:
Made the birthday boy feel very special
Gave us a couple of rounds of free limoncello shots
Dessert!

Cons:
Music was too loud (especially for Darryn)
They forgot a couple of dishes and were not apologetic

Details
Address: 103 Ramsay Street, HABERFIELD NSW 2045
Phone: (02) 9799 5500
Website: http://www.righetto.com.au/
Booking: bookings@righetto.com.au or dimmi