Splendido re-opens with lower prices and less champagne
Champagne is out and cocktails are in at the newly made-over Splendido, which opened Tuesday for dinner. “Everything but the pea soup has changed,” says co-owner Carlo Cattalo, who recently bought the Harbord Street mainstay along with chef Victor Barry. The top-notch service will also remain, despite dramatically different decor, prices and menu.
The first thing regulars noticed were the chipper sky blue walls (we also spotted trendy new high-top tables and swanky lights at the bar), but the real shock likely came at the end of the meal. The bills are now about half of what they used to be.
The lower prices are part of the plan to keep customers coming back rather than just for anniversaries and birthdays. “We want to be a destination for foodies, for oenophiles, for the business community,” says Cattalo, “but also a place where people can drop by without having to commit to staying for three hours.” That’s why the tasting menu has been cut, at least for now.
Barry’s fresh pasta, which he prepares daily at 4 p.m., is the new focus. The most popular on opening night was the maltagliati with octopus, olives and capers (appetizer, $15; main course, $25), but Cattalo’s favourite is the pappardelle with braised pulled local rabbit and artichokes ($17, $27), inspired by a version his father made.
The pair plan to serve more wines by the glass but promise the selection of bottles won’t suffer. Cattalo and Barry have purchased the entire stock from previous owners David Lee and Yannick Bigoudan (now of Nota Bene) that Cattalo helped collect during his eight years as manager and sommelier.
While he’s excited at the prospect of adding some esoteric vintages, he says the champagne trolley has been retired. “Drinking champagne is for when times are good and the money is flowing,” says Cattalo. That won’t be anytime soon.
The food at this restaurant is excellent but grossly overpriced.
That being said, the service is the reason that you should not eat at this restaurant.
In my one experience at Splendido, the server managed to forget to fulfill my drink order after he took it, and failed to even take the drink order of my companion before hurrying away from our table to serve someone else. The server was gone for a good 20 minutes. When the server came back to take my table’s dinner orders before I had to stop him to insist that my drink order be fulfilled and that my companion’s drink order be taken and fulfilled before he took the table’s dinner orders.
When the server was bringing out the entrees, he ignored my gnocchi order. I asked the server where my gnocchi was, and started flipping through is pad of orders and asked “you wanted it on the side, right?” I told him I just wanted the gnocchi that I ordered. He then informed me that that the kitchen had run out of gnocchi. I asked the server why it mattered whether the gnocchi was to come on the side or not. He said “it was his oversight”, which was never in question in the first place – of course it was his oversight that I didn’t get my gnocchi. My companion’s entree-sized gnocchi was a very small portion. It seemed as if the server was trying to act like I did not order gnocchi in the first place to cover up the fact that the kitchen had run out.
The server never did anything to keep me from having a terrible experience at Splendido.
I advised the managers and chefs of my terrible experience with the server and they made no acknowledgment.
If you attend Splendido, you are asking to pay too much, get poor service and have your needs ignored.