La-Piazzetta recently opened its Wanchai outlet at Number 44, Hennessy Road, and, as this restaurant’s name implies, it serves Italian-styled food. 

This is the second restaurant, opened by its owners since 1996. 

On the day after its Wanchai debut, TARGET (泰達財經) visited the restaurant without a reservation.  

It is not a very large establishment, accommodating about 50 customers on 2 levels; the tables are very close together. 

The serving staff comprises all Filipina and Nepalese females.  

At least, that was the case on the day that this medium visited La-Piazzetta on Wednesday, October 21, 2009. 

All of the serving staff appeared to know little to nothing about their art and, certainly, little to nothing about the food, being offered at this restaurant. 

On the day of TARGET’s visit, this was the menu chosen for the luncheon: 

Set Lunch 

Soup of the Day
Seafood Soup

Main Courses 

Crispy Pizza (Latest Italian Version)
Al Salume Pizza 

and 

Gnocchi Con Gorgonzola
Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Cheese and Cream Sauce 

Desserts 

Tiramizu 

and 

Sabayone 

HK$315

The soup was loaded with fish meat, shell fish and shrimps, but contained little actual broth, which had a very strong tomato taste. 

It resembled more of a thin stew than a soup and this medium could not help but ponder whether the dish was too shallow or the soup’s ingredients too plentiful. 

Whatever, the soup tasted as one would have expected a seafood soup to taste, but, after a few mouthfuls, there was no more soup to drink and one was looking at the carcasses of dead shrimps and shell fish. 

The Gnocchi Con Gorgonzola resembled more of a soup than anything else. 

The little potato dumplings were immersed in their cheese sauce and, believe it or not, there was more sauce in this dish than there had been liquid in the seafood soup! 

There was little wrong with the gnocchi except that the plethora of cheese sauce made the entire dish much too salty to eat. 

As for the pizza, it was of the thin-shelled variety and, while some people might have appreciated it, this reviewer did not. 

One was not quite sure whether somebody had overcooked the pizza shell or all of that charcoal was the way in which some people in Italy liked their pizza. 

Be that as it may, it was insipid – unless one enjoyed eating charcoal, which is very good for one’s stomach, by the way. 

The desserts were terrible and, after one teaspoon of them, TARGET asked for the bill. 

Perhaps, it was the fact that this restaurant had only been opened for less than a week that made things as bad as they were, with the service, being absolutely chaotic. 

But whatever was the reason, Management has a tough time to whip this place into shape. 

This is not to say that the staff was not trying to do their best, but the fact is that they had no idea what to do. 

There was a Japanese couple, sitting beside TARGET’s table, and the Filipina waitress got everything wrong for these poor people, except that she did bring the correct tin of beer. 

Never once did any of the 2 Filipina serving staff question the reason that this reviewer was not eating more than a mouthful of any dish. 

The best part of this meal was the quick exit out of the door and away from the chaos that was La-Piazzetta. 

The price of a lunch is relatively cheap, but so is the food. 

Editor’s Final Comment: If any of the above dishes is wrongly spelt, please blame the error on the Management of the restaurant.