Italiano Cuisine-o Anyone?

My husband and I planned to check out the new Forum Mall in Whitefield this evening and then head straight to TGIF for some nice beer & Mexican food. In Forum, I changed my mind & decided to visit Baskin Robbins, the Chocolate Lounge, practically every eatery we saw. We finally zeroed in on Toscano, the Italian restaurant.

Mistake #1: Never do Italian when you initially planned Mexican. The former is bland whereas the latter is spicy. It's a mental setup change, like a culture shock!

The ambiance seemed good, dim lights, candle light dinner, quiet music & un-hassled waiters. We ordered a wine mocktail for me (Cranberry Sangria) while Ullas had water, as he was going to be driving. It was good. It looked like it was going to be a good dinner, after all and we were both thoroughly enjoying it. We had a nice conversation going on when the starter arrived.

Mistake #2: Understand what you are ordering. When you ask for 'smoked salmon', it's going to be just that. "Smoked" Salmon, not cooked!

Yeoww yeoww yeoww, it was awful. I loved the apples, even the lettuce in the dish but the salmon itself was awful. It was raw & just smoked... ugh! It left an after taste that felt like a dead animal inside in my mouth. I love fish but I just hated this, it nearly made me want to throw up! My husband, on the other hand, who hates anything that smells in his plate, ended up finishing my share of it too. And then admitted that he didn't like it either. Now, that's one thing we will never order if we ever went back to Toscano!

Soon after, the Wood Burn Pizza a.k.a Toscano Pizza arrived. Well, wood burn it was. It tasted like wood that was burned! The crust was really hard. Both of us could not cut it with our knives & we eventually ended eating with our hands. It didn't taste too bad but it didn't taste like chicken either. We got a doggy bag home for Lucky... well, she liked the crust, so I'll still say the wood Pizza was not too bad.

The husband had ordered chicken Risotto. I jumped in to taste it and aww aww aww... it tasted like steamed rice and bland chutney. Poor baby, he finished the whole thing. I would've vomitted right into the plate if I had any more of it. Awful, awful, awful Risotto. If you ever want Risotto, visit 100 Ft Boutique on 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar. Never try Risotto at Toscano.

We were done & we paid. Yeah, they charge the illegal 10% for 'service charge' too, so we didn't have to tip them. The experience with the food was so bad that the moment we walked out of the restaurant, it felt great! We felt like we had suddenly stepped out into a brighter world. Of course, there was more light outside and it was brighter but that was not what this was about. We felt lighter, less stressed. That's it guys, I'm never stepping into another Toscano again. Bad italian-oh experience-oh!

Next time I want Italian, I'm heading to Little Italy. However, something tells me I'm not going to be eating Italian for a long time to come, after today!