I was really looking forward to some delicious Italian at Ciao Papi on Sunday with some fab views of the Brisbane River. The latter were abundant, but the former was not.
We arrived at 2.40 – fairly late for lunch. Although there were plenty of staff, I had to signal one out to have a menu and water bought over after quite some time.
Our first cocktails came out in a timely manner but that would be the only thing during our visit. We made our order and waited.
Eventually the charcuterie platter came out. It was simple, a selection of cured meats and some olives. It was nice, but nothing to call home about. It also came with some almost stale, chewy pizza bread. It would have been delicious straight out of the oven but cold, it just tasted old.
After a long time, I called out again and asked where our mains were. We were told they were coming. Then another waitress came over and apologised that they were running late and confirmed our orders. Eventually the supervisor came over and advised the meals were just being cooked and offered to put one of our drinks on the house. We explained we had an appointment in the city at 4.30 and at this point it was already after 4. She hurried the team along.
Our mains came out, they looked okay. My spaghetti cacio e pepi (cheese and pepper) came out very much like a cheese sauce that you make with flour and milk and cheese (like that goes on top of broccoli). The spaghetti wasn’t made fresh which I would expect at an Italian restaurant like this. All in all, very average. We had to scoff it down as fast as we could as we were due to leave.
We appreciated Ciao Papi’s supervisor’s efforts, but it was a bit too late by then.
Omg that is so shit!! Especially the charcuterie