Pastarito, Reviewed!

When City Center opened, it was filled with all kinds of stores and restaurants. At the time, there were many Pastarito ads posted on highways and elsewhere. We decided to give it a shot.

Service:

We ordered a pizza and lasagna, both of which arrived impressively fast. However, the drinks took a while to arrive. It took even longer for the desert to arrive, 20 minutes to be precise. The desert was a type of pastry, something that would take only 10 minutes to prepare. The staff was generally doing well at serving us, but we can't say that they were the happiest bunch. (Their frowns were especially hard to ignore with all the grinning and dancing going around at the TGI Friday's next door)

4/5

Presentation:

When we got the food, we were glad to notice that it was hot, as a pizza should be. It also smelled lovely, and we couldn't wait to dig in. The lasagna was also a looker, and we felt remorse for having to split it in half and ruin its beauty. The facilities looked clean and the utensils seem to have been thoroughly washed and taken care of.

4/5

Atmosphere:

When it came to the atmosphere, we were pretty disappointed. It seems as if they weren't even trying to create any sense of being in an Italian environment. The decor, at least in the outwards seating area, did not even have a hint of Italian architecture. Aside from the quasi-Italian bakery inside, there was nothing to be impressed with. However, they managed to give their dishes an Italian feel.

The benches were not too impressive either. They felt very flimsy, and whenever the person sitting behind you would laugh, for instance, you would feel the annoying vibration. May god help you if the person sitting behind you is a garrulous, chunky, inconsiderate fellow (as was the case with us).

2.5/5

Food:

The menu is HUGE. It has many dishes and many categories. It includes sandwiches, pizzas, salads, desserts, appetizers, grills, drinks. They really didn't miss a thing. The pizza was very good. It had a small amount of tomato sauce, making it lighter than your average pizza. The lasagna, on the other hand, turned out to be poorly cooked. The ratio of meat, cheese, and tomato sauce were poorly considered and the overall taste was nothing out of the ordinary. All the dishes had appropriate heating.

The dessert was, without a question, the pinnacle of excellence that Pastarito had to offer. It was called the Botta di Vita. The ingredients sounded very peculiar. It was basically a dough with Nutella chocolate mixed with some kind of cheese that we were neither able to pronounce nor remember. We thought it would be horrid. We were wrong. Go try the desert!

4/5

Pricing:

The pricing at Pastarito was appropriate. Their portions weren't stingy even though we didn't feel keen on spending 5 BD on lasagna alone. It's all a matter of knowing what to get. Expect to spend at least 4 BD per person.

3.5/5

Final Score 18/25
Reviewer: Yazeed Al Dughaither