ZICO is an Italian restaurant and bar and on first glance I suppose that is obvious because it says it on the sign. Zico is also an Italian football player so it seems appropriate to eat at this place while that soccer event thing is on. Inside they do try to portray Italian culture through their clever use of what I think is Italian art and photos of Italian stuff. They also have that cliché Italian music playing pleasantly in the background. All these attempts to capture the Italian experience are ruined by the waitresses who clearly aren’t Italian. They don’t even try to use accents! I think they should a job requirement as not only are they supplementing the setting, the waitresses will become twice as hot with an accent.
The menu has plenty of choice, kinda felt like reading a short story. They did use a lot of Italian for the names of their meals which made it bloody difficult to know what I was ordering. I always have the philosophy though that if you can’t read or pronounce the item on the menu then it must be good. I ordered the lamb cutlets and beef Mignon, two meats will be better than one right? We also ordered your typical breads for the table because going out for tea and not having garlic bread is like missing out on the pre ball drinks before going to the actual ball sober. The bread was good, the normal bread had a similar texture to stale bread but the garlic bread was had a better texture. They came with a parsley dip and an olive oil and vinaigrette dip. Another sign of a decent restaurant, both were incredibly tasty.
We ordered a Merlot, I was an amateur and did not note what year or what vineyard it was from a silly mistake on my behalf. Not as silly as how the waitress looked trying to open a cork bottle with an opener from the $2 shop. The wine was smooth and rich with the taste of grapes and not too heavy. It would compliment the meal I ordered unlike my mother who ordered fish, clearly my critic skills were not from her genome.
The main arrived which consisted of the two meats, a superbly cylindrical shaped bit of mash, a couple of tomatoes and a random lemon. What was with the lemon? I didn’t know if I should eat it with the meal or use the juice from it on my cutlets and Mignon. I wasn’t advised so left it out in distaste. The meat was cooked well, rare could do with a sauce or marinade but I suppose they wanted to focus on the quality of the meat. While my meat was cooked to my liking my sister’s steak resembled a freshly cut piece of muscle despite ordering it to be cooked medium.
There was also a side of fries with a rich tomato sauce that actually tasted like tomatoes, this place dominates the dips.
I was satisfied with the meal knowing too well I was going to get a bunch of free food at a 21st later on. We didn’t order desert despite being asked twice, once by our waitress and another by a rookie waiter whose face resembled a sunburnt beachball. This was my first real taste at Italian food. Italian always made me think of pizza or spaghetti or jersey shore. I now know it also incorporates flavoursome dips, a kind of tomatoey taste and undercooked meat.
Zico Rating
As I said the rating will be different for this review as it is a bit different to the free sandwiches and savouries we get occasionally. I have a rating for setting (5 stars), taste (6 stars), presentation (5 stars) and service.(5 stars) , adding up to 21 stars
Setting- 4/5
Taste-4/6
Presentation-3/5
Service- 3.5/5
Total- 14.5/ 21 stars
Cheers
Larry
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