The place was packed when we arrived. I'm not sure if there's a no booking policy but Papa Gino's was able to fit everyone into his restaurant, inside and out. It was a very busy place, with plates and plates of pizza and pasta being served quickly...or so I thought.
We ordered two large pizzas and a pasta platter to share. For the pasta platter, there were 3 combinations that you can choose from. The server wasn't feeling friendly that night and cursed at the little gadget when our orders somehow got erased. Nevertheless, we had: fettucine carbonara, tortellini puttanesca and penne amatriciana.
The carbonara was the best among the bunch, with creamy but light white sauce and loads of bacon. Everybody loved it. The fullness of the sauce was just right and nothing was dry.
Second best came the amatriciana. It's a spicy tomato sauce with bacon with cream. The sauce was well made and the spiciness from the chilli flakes was just right, nothing too overwhelming and not too creamy that it overpowers the tomato sauce. Gorgeous.
Last was the tortellini puttanesca. I think we were all not used to the anchovies in puttanesca. In Manila, the anchovies part was usually skipped and you're left with tomatoes, black olives and capers in tangy tomato sauce but sweeter. Here, the sauce was more on the tangy instead of the sweet side and was loaded with anchovies. Good for anchovy lovers.
Now, the "fun" bit. After 10mins of devouring our pastas, the waiter came and asked if we were already finished with our pizza. No, the pizza wasn't served yet. 15 mins whizzed by. No pizza. We made two waiters to check on our pizzas. Nothing happened. Another 15mins passed by. Finally, one of them came by and explained that our pizzas will arrive after 8-10mins, since our orders sort of disappeared and was missed. He apologized but not yet forgiven.
We were about to give up with our pizzas came piping hot from their oven. They really looked heavenly and glistening in their own lovely juices.
Marinara - this one was the winner. With shrimps, oysters, mussels and anchovies, the base of tomato sauce and cheese wasn't too much as to overload the pizza crust. It was also creamy, like a cheesy bechamel consistency with stringy cheese.
MeatLovers - one of our mates was a carnivore by nature, so he asked this from the menu when he saw it. There were loads of salami, pepperoni and chicken bits with barbeque sauce. I have to say though this wasn't really anything special but it has its good points. First of which was the hotness of the oven cooked the salami into crispy bits, so you're actually eating salami cooked both ways. The pepperoni was a bit spicy and lively in the bbq sauce.
So we decided to forgive them after all. Thanks to the pizzas. But we probably won't be coming back again.
We ordered two large pizzas and a pasta platter to share. For the pasta platter, there were 3 combinations that you can choose from. The server wasn't feeling friendly that night and cursed at the little gadget when our orders somehow got erased. Nevertheless, we had: fettucine carbonara, tortellini puttanesca and penne amatriciana. The carbonara was the best among the bunch, with creamy but light white sauce and loads of bacon. Everybody loved it. The fullness of the sauce was just right and nothing was dry. Second best came the amatriciana. It's a spicy tomato sauce with bacon with cream. The sauce was well made and the spiciness from the chilli flakes was just right, nothing too overwhelming and not too creamy that it overpowers the tomato sauce. Gorgeous. Last was the tortellini puttanesca. I think we were all not used to the anchovies in puttanesca. In Manila, the anchovies part was usually skipped and you're left with tomatoes, black olives and capers in tangy tomato sauce but sweeter. Here, the sauce was more on the tangy instead of the sweet side and was loaded with anchovies. Good for anchovy lovers. Now, the "fun" bit. After 10mins of devouring our pastas, the waiter came and asked if we were already finished with our pizza. No, the pizza wasn't served yet. 15 mins whizzed by. No pizza. We made two waiters to check on our pizzas. Nothing happened. Another 15mins passed by. Finally, one of them came by and explained that our pizzas will arrive after 8-10mins, since our orders sort of disappeared and was missed. He apologized but not yet forgiven.We were about to give up with our pizzas came piping hot from their oven. They really looked heavenly and glistening in their own lovely juices.
Marinara - this one was the winner. With shrimps, oysters, mussels and anchovies, the base of tomato sauce and cheese wasn't too much as to overload the pizza crust. It was also creamy, like a cheesy bechamel consistency with stringy cheese.
MeatLovers - one of our mates was a carnivore by nature, so he asked this from the menu when he saw it. There were loads of salami, pepperoni and chicken bits with barbeque sauce. I have to say though this wasn't really anything special but it has its good points. First of which was the hotness of the oven cooked the salami into crispy bits, so you're actually eating salami cooked both ways. The pepperoni was a bit spicy and lively in the bbq sauce.
So we decided to forgive them after all. Thanks to the pizzas. But we probably won't be coming back again.
Comments
I visited your site and found it very interesting. I appreciate the way you talk about food and do the reviews on restaurants. With this, I'd like to give a $10 discount voucher to your site which your visitors could use in their take-away orders placed on Menulog (from 500+ restaurants Australia-wide). All they have to do is just type the voucher code (which I will provide you upon response to this message) at the check out.
Thanks,
Ruby Anne (ruby@menulog.com.au)