My DH and I recently returned from our first trip to the Food and Wine Festival. We had planned on dining at many different restaurants for dinner, but the weather did not cooperate. Since we were staying at the Swan, I had reserved one dinner at Il Mulino. The evenings of rain, however, provided us a second occasion to try this restaurant.
Having read some recent reviews here, I was looking forward to a very good Italian meal as I was missing my pasta (I'm Italian). On both occasions the restaurant was practically empty, although it did pick up a little later in the evening.
For our first dinner I began with the steamed clams and my husband opted for the calamari. The clams were done perfectly...sweet, tender and small..one dozen, I believe. They were topped with chopped basil, something new to me but it certainly didn't harm the dish. My husband's serving of calamari was enormous! He enjoyed them but couldn't finish the dish (a first for him). I tasted them and found them to be overly salted...a hint of things to come. My husband followed with the veal milanese which he dubbed just ok after removing a mountain of the tomato and arugula topping. I opted for the veal saltimboca, with a side serving of the pappardelle. I took the first bite and all I could taste was salt. I tried another bite, just to make sure. It was terribly oversalted which I relayed to our waitperson. She was quite apologetic and said she would have the chef prepare a new plate. She returned a few minutes later and told me that the chef tasted the sauce and didn't agree that it was too salty. He offered to remove the proscuitto (which the chef advised was salty) and return the dish to me. Frankly, I was insulted at this offer. Proscuitto is an integral part of the dish and it wasn't what caused the problem, nor was the sauce. The veal was overly seasoned, which I told her. She offered another dish, but I refused since my husband was nearly finished with his meal. I shared some of his and finished the pasta which was really just ok. We shared the tiramisu which our wait person served as "a gift". It was quite good and certainly enough for two to share. The veal, of course, was deducted from the bill with sincere apologies. Had it not been for the chef's handling of the situation, I would have been more pleased with our experience.
We decided to give the restaurant another chance on a rainy evening since our first experience wasn't terribly bad. I started with arancini and my DH with the ceasar salad. The salad was good, the arancini just ok. They would have been so much better had they been made with a bit more of the bolognese filling rather than a miniscule drop. That certainly would have offset the dryness of the rice. We both followed with pasta...linguini with clams for me and carbonara for my husband. Since I frequently prepare all the dishes I tried at this restaurant, I have a good idea of what to expect. Both pastas failed miserably. The carbonara was gluey and tasteless (if you can believe it, both pastas needed salt). The linguini with clams was also disappointing. Six small clams and about 1/4 lb of a tasteless mound of pasta. I thought it was quite ironic that the clam appetizer was $13 for a dozen clams and the entree was double that price for half the amount of clams. I also had a side of escarole with olives (another combination that was new to me). I love olives, but they were so overbearing in this dish that I couldn't even taste the escarole. I had only two bites and the waiter was gracious enough to deduct it from the bill. Our shared dessert was a flourless chocolate cake that was amazingly good. It certainly was the best part of the meal.
All in all, while the food was clearly disappointing, I felt the service was excellent. The eggplant and the bread at the beginning of the meal were also very good as were the two bottles of wine we drank. But I'm sorry to say that I will not return.
Having read some recent reviews here, I was looking forward to a very good Italian meal as I was missing my pasta (I'm Italian). On both occasions the restaurant was practically empty, although it did pick up a little later in the evening.
For our first dinner I began with the steamed clams and my husband opted for the calamari. The clams were done perfectly...sweet, tender and small..one dozen, I believe. They were topped with chopped basil, something new to me but it certainly didn't harm the dish. My husband's serving of calamari was enormous! He enjoyed them but couldn't finish the dish (a first for him). I tasted them and found them to be overly salted...a hint of things to come. My husband followed with the veal milanese which he dubbed just ok after removing a mountain of the tomato and arugula topping. I opted for the veal saltimboca, with a side serving of the pappardelle. I took the first bite and all I could taste was salt. I tried another bite, just to make sure. It was terribly oversalted which I relayed to our waitperson. She was quite apologetic and said she would have the chef prepare a new plate. She returned a few minutes later and told me that the chef tasted the sauce and didn't agree that it was too salty. He offered to remove the proscuitto (which the chef advised was salty) and return the dish to me. Frankly, I was insulted at this offer. Proscuitto is an integral part of the dish and it wasn't what caused the problem, nor was the sauce. The veal was overly seasoned, which I told her. She offered another dish, but I refused since my husband was nearly finished with his meal. I shared some of his and finished the pasta which was really just ok. We shared the tiramisu which our wait person served as "a gift". It was quite good and certainly enough for two to share. The veal, of course, was deducted from the bill with sincere apologies. Had it not been for the chef's handling of the situation, I would have been more pleased with our experience.
We decided to give the restaurant another chance on a rainy evening since our first experience wasn't terribly bad. I started with arancini and my DH with the ceasar salad. The salad was good, the arancini just ok. They would have been so much better had they been made with a bit more of the bolognese filling rather than a miniscule drop. That certainly would have offset the dryness of the rice. We both followed with pasta...linguini with clams for me and carbonara for my husband. Since I frequently prepare all the dishes I tried at this restaurant, I have a good idea of what to expect. Both pastas failed miserably. The carbonara was gluey and tasteless (if you can believe it, both pastas needed salt). The linguini with clams was also disappointing. Six small clams and about 1/4 lb of a tasteless mound of pasta. I thought it was quite ironic that the clam appetizer was $13 for a dozen clams and the entree was double that price for half the amount of clams. I also had a side of escarole with olives (another combination that was new to me). I love olives, but they were so overbearing in this dish that I couldn't even taste the escarole. I had only two bites and the waiter was gracious enough to deduct it from the bill. Our shared dessert was a flourless chocolate cake that was amazingly good. It certainly was the best part of the meal.
All in all, while the food was clearly disappointing, I felt the service was excellent. The eggplant and the bread at the beginning of the meal were also very good as were the two bottles of wine we drank. But I'm sorry to say that I will not return.
