Dining disappointment

    Amici di Don Bosco is on the news lately because of its acquisition by the former owner of Red Ribbon. It is one of our “go to” places, our default when there is no new restaurant to try. A magic word to achieve consensus on where to dine. The restaurant is located at Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road) corner Chino Roces Avenue (Pasong Tamo) but Lisette and I walk all the way to Walter Mart across the street for their gelato. At Walter Mart, you can have Amici gelato for only Php 10 per scoop whereas the price at the restaurant is pegged at Php 35 per (bigger) scoop. For crossing the street we get three flavors of gelato for Php 30.

    Not anymore. Gelato prices are at Walter Mart and at the restaurant are now the same. Php 45 per scoop.

    We dined at Amici this afternoon to see if the new owner made significant changes besides the price of gelato. We weren’t disappointed. The restaurant has a fresh look on it, more red and green rather than the usual brown. It still looks like a canteen but brighter. Like an old furniture that has been polished.

    Lisette had lasagna spinacci and I, spaghetti vongole e gamberetti. Both were big disappointments. I never liked their spinach lasagna so I guess it hasn’t really changed. The serving size of my vongole shrank by 25 percent. Yes, we noticed that. The prawns were down from 3 to 2, mussels from several to zero. This must be what one of the new owners meant when he said they streamlined the menu.

    You can no longer enjoy watching your pasta cooked right before your eyes. Their kitchen is tucked at the back because they “standardized the food preparation and presentation”. As a result the food no longer tastes special. It became standard. Just one of those…

    Amici is now officially dropped from our default restaurants list.