Sauced Pasta Bar (Windsor)
148 Chapel Street, Windsor
1300 728 233
Healthy Food, Italian
$$$
Food
- Arancini Balls
- Pollo Fungi Fettuccine
- Spaghetti Bolognese
- Bomboloni
The Good
The Arancini Balls were quite enjoyable. With a crunchy outer and topped with shaved parmesan, breaking open the crispy skin revealed a soft and cheesy mixture of rice and cheese. While not particularly flavourful, the inner was cheesy and moist enough to be enjoyable. However, a tangy sauce like a tomato puree would've been a welcome addition to add variety in flavour.
The Mediocre
The Pollo Fungi was thoroughly unimpressive. The cream sauce was noticeably bland and lacked flavour, cream or otherwise. Coupled with the slightly dry chicken and less than generous amount of mushroom within, we definitely weren't off to a great start. Thankfully, the Fettuccine itself was cooked flawlessly to just the right softness and, topped with an abundance of cheese, they jointly saved the day.
The Bad
The Spaghetti Bolognese (or rather the more traditional name of "ragu alla bolognese") is the staple of an Italian meal, and any respectable and authentic Italian eatery would serve up a mean, tasty rendition of this traditional dish. Unfortunately, the Bolognese sauce was once again undeniably bland. The minced beef didn't carry much flavour with it other. Coupled with the stringy "spaghetti" that felt more like flat Asian noodles, there really wasn't much hope for this dish.
We polished off the meal with Bomboloni, which are fried Italian doughnuts. Unfortunately, the outer looked, and definitely felt quite over-fried, appearing dark brown rather than a nice golden brown. The inner dough was also far from being cooked, resulting in a very mushy and doughy experience. The promised chocolate-filled inner was also lacking both in quality and substance. Being overcooked on the outside, undercooked on the inside, this is the epitome of amateur hour.
The Verdict
Overall this was a highly disappointing experience. Being a Pasta Bar, the pastas were barely acceptable, and the food overall are practically devoid of their true Italian heritage.
Would Penguin Eat Again?
Absolutely not. While it's always fun to have a plethora of choices and be able to mix and match sauces to the pasta of your liking, the execution here was extremely flawed. I can easily whip up something tastier at home, at a fraction of the cost.
These simple, rustic dishes that we sampled should never be butchered and mutilated to this degree, and it just seems like the chef tonight couldn't care less.