Restaurant iZi does it perfectly!
My friend’s birthday was coming up and I thought to treat her to a meal out someplace she had not been before. This friend of mine has put herself through night school majoring in an adult cooking course; she keenly tries different cuisines whenever she can. When I heard she had not eaten Italian in an Italian style restaurant, I just knew iZi would be the perfect place to treat her.
iZi is very popular amongst visitors and locals. They are consistent in their product of service and good food; the restaurant is cleanly simple in décor, lending the dining area to be gorgeous as it is or, as happened the night we were there, allowing for a little dress up of a celebration table. Overall white with splashes of bright red and window “drapes” of waterfall features this restaurant is simply lovely.
The slick service by the wait-staff never seems to slip; we were offered a table right away as we were early; we had the choice of inside or outside. Choosing to be inside, we saw that a long table for a large party had been set with lovely vases of flowers and balloons in coordinating colours.
We ordered our drinks and settled back to understand the menus. Our waiter lent to the Italian experience because he spoke with an accent – my friend was delighted to hear words like Senorita, Grazie, Buono and some other unrecognizable Italian words.
The main menu offers pastas with different toppings; the pastas are homemade in house. Homemade pasta makes all the difference to a dish. There are other choices on the menu if one does not like pasta dishes and there are also gluten-free pastas for those who need to make the choice.iZi's menu makes it easy to customize your dish with their “pick your pasta, pick your sauce” options. For the summer, they have a fabulous deal going too, a three-course meal for an excellent price.
There was an entire small menu card with flatbread choices; we ordered one of those with the vodka-shrimp topping. It was delicious and my friend, who said she was not too hungry, shared my enjoyment of it. We also ordered a starter each. I was curious to try the eggplant parmigiana and she wanted to have the crab cake – we shared these too of course. She said the eggplant was nice but she “can make that!” The crab cakes were intriguing and she would like the recipe as they were different to the local crab cakes.
Our main course was taken from the specials menu because she wanted to know what the “truffle” was like, so she chose the risotto. I had the same seafood, truffle topping but chose to have it on gnocchi (I am on a bit of a gnocchi kick at the moment). Both dishes were good, the rice just perfect (not too “al dente”) the gnocchi tender, the sauce delicious.
During the evening, there had been a few “birthday sparklers, songs, flashing lights” and staff gathering around to sing happy birthday which intrigued my friend a lot. She had not experienced this before and of course did not know what was in store.
iZi is known for the way they go overboard in making a birthday special and so when it came time for dessert to be brought to our table, the total confusion breaking into wondrous delight on my friend’s face was fabulous to see – iZi certainly proved how they love birthdays and how they make a big deal out of them.
The dessert was excellent and another first for her; we had the panna cotta and as a true chef, she immediately wondered how she could perhaps make a different sauce with seasonal fruit, although she admitted it was perfect as it was. The whole evening was perfect!
iZi Italian Restaurant
Welfare Road, Simpson Bay.
Tel: 544-3079
Open: 6-11pm (except Tuesdays in low season)
Cuisine: Italian
Good: Hip-vibe, great service
Price range: $$
Ratings:
Staff friendliness: ****
Service speed: ****
Restaurant cleanliness: ****
Food quality: ****
Value for money: ****
Ambience: ****
