Piatto
Etwal Mall, Al Malik Rd
Info & mapWrite a Review
Tel: 02-692-2501
Last weekend on a Thursday night just after midnight, I was heading home coming out of Star Avenue Mall with my wife when suddenly I craved pizza. It was late so I figured my only options are “Pizza Hut” or “Dominoes”. But it turned out I didn’t have to look further, for a few meters away of Star Avenue in Etwal Mall, I saw a brand new Italian restaurant still open and lively with patrons in and out. Just a couple of shops are between it and “Rossopomodoro” which itself opened a few months ago.
This restaurant when it was under construction had a sign reads “Duo” with the subtitle “ciao”, but now it is called “Piatto”, although their bags, cartoon boxes, and their wet napkins are still printed with the old name, but that anecdote is irrelevant. So where were I, oh yeah, I was curious and happy to have some pizza of an Italian restaurant as appose to American pizza chain (no offense to them), so I parked in front of the restaurant and asked the waiter who was standing at the door to give me the take away pizza. I took the menu to the car, and the wife and I picked two for take away. While we were waiting, we took a second look at that menu, and discovered that we liked what we saw. It was one extensive menu, and we decided, if we liked the pizza, that we would be coming back soon. When it comes to ordering pizza from a new place, we usually opt for the familiar, so we picked “Quattro Formaggi” with pesto, a combination that never disappoints, and “Quattro Stagioni” which gives you a chance to sample four kinds of pizza in one.
The prices of pizza in the menu vary between 35-50 SR, which is not that expensive. When we opened the boxes at home, the pizzas were not hot anymore, but they looked delicious and tasted even better. The Quattro Formaggi in particular tasted great and the pesto on it added a nice twist a familiar recipe. After finishing the pies, we decided that this place should be invaded sooner rather than later.
This Thursday, we decided it’s time, and we went their around 5 pm. When we arrived, the ground floor was already almost full, so the host asked if we would like to be seated in the second floor which was less occupied. We agreed immediately, even though I begrudged the fact that they don’t have a non-smoking section, a new alarming trend that is catching up to many new restaurants in Jeddah. We were seated in a table at the wall with comfortable seats and a long table, and the waiter offered us a partition, which we asked him not bring until the food is served.
The restaurant was decorated to mimic a traditional Italian village, with pictures of Italian buildings and doors printed on the wall, and a picture of Italian fishing villages (possibly Cinque Terre) occupying a whole wall. There is a gelateria on display in the front, so everything surrounding you puts you in the mood for some Italian food. Also there is a childrens play room in the back, so the restaurant was so quiet except from the mix of Italian music and some jazz and classic songs that were playing. We scanned the menu fast, and decided we will take it easy on the food to leave room for gelato. We picked Bruschetta Pomodoro (18 SR) for starter, Chicken Marinara (52 SR) and Porcini arugula pizza (49 SR), and two soft drinks (7 SR each). They served us the bruschetta first, but it came with assorted bread basket and complementary salad. The bruschetta was very nice, not the best in town, but very good nevertheless, and the bread and the salad as well.
Then came the main dishes, we expected the pizza to live up to our previous experience, indeed it did. The chicken marinara came with a side of penne in a gorgonzola sauce, and it was extremely good. The chicken breast was seasoned and fried to be crisp, but not the slightest greasy, and the penne was a nice complement to it. After finishing these delicious items we picked the gelato from the display, I had a waffle with coffee and hazelnut gelato, while the wife picked berry and vanilla (10 SR each) which we each enjoyed immensely. Finally we asked for the bill, and it was (including the 15% service charge) 175.95 SR, a very modest price nowadays.
I think “Piatto” is a welcomed entry to the ever crowded ever popular Italian cuisine in Jeddah, and as long as it maintains this level of quality and service, it will be among the first names that pops up to my mind when I crave pizza or pasta even at midnight.
This post was submitted by ayaa1977.
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Today was my first ever visit to Piatto and I would say that interior design and very friendly service were among the things that left pleasant impression about the restaurant. I loved the complimentary salad and the bread, the starters exceeded my expectation (bruschetta and fried calamari), though my seafood risotto as the main course was not up to my taste exactly, but I guess it’s very subjective, as my husband enjoyed his pasta! We ended up with hazelnut gelato and it was very yummy! I would say it’s good Italian food with great service and staff speaking English. This place is going to be on my visit list for sure. I wish they start selling their bread baguette for take away, not only give it as a compliment to the meal!
The orignal Italian pizza
Good service, nice place, I really love the no-smoking rule, but the pizza was pretty terrible. Cheese was poor quality, sauce was bland, crust wasn’t crusty.
love the food and the atmosphere>> Two thumps up
hello there!
yesterday was my first visit to this awesome restaurant, which is a NON-SMOKING restaurant. this is the first good point. although i am a smoker myself but i never liked disturbing people especilaly kids.
From the moment we entered the smell made me craving for food.
the menu was so rich especially the appitizers.
I loved the idea of having a ready salad with each order.
the bread they served were too good that even words can’t discribe how wonderful they tasted. in french we say “a ne pas raté” not to miss.
I also ordered the quattro formaggio pizza. the best pizza i had in Jeddah.
actually our experience was extravagant and we are looking forward for our next visit.
My husband ordered chicken penne with pine nuts and he loved it. I ordered the tuscan steak, it was nice I liked it it came with grilled vegies which I love ane I have enjoyed my meal. My kids choice were pasta and chicken crisps and they loved it too. I like this place and I will visit it again ( insha’a Allah)
Went here for dinner this week, nice complimentary salad, enjoyed the mushroom and aubergine bruchetta, and onion soup in bread bowl. Nice atmosphere, will certainly return.
I went there Thursday afternoon and I still happy with then food, the service, and the ambiance. Do you know it is one of a few restaurants in Jeddah that are non-smokers friendly. The entire family section is non-smoking there and only a section of the single section is a smoking area. Compare it to Rossopomdoro next door, which is not only a wild west when it comes to smoking. I personally saw a manager of their occupying a table and enjoying a cigarette when the restaurant was full of customers in a very nonprofessional manner, which was a shame because I really liked the food there.
The environment was clean, service was good, pizza was mediocre.
I think they need to improve there gelato,but every thing else was good
The place was excellent, the food was so good & the only things they need to do is to inform the customers about the complementary salad when they start ordering the food so they can have the choice to get more salad or not it happened to me when they served 2 big salad while we was 3 persons only!! So I had to cancel my salad order
One more thing which I informed the duty manager is that they need to take care of the waiter’s attitude since sometime it get aggressive with the customers other than that it was a very good experience & I would go there again.
KING OF VALUE!
This place is really setup like a successful business you could tell just by walking in to the restaurant and seeing the design or checking the menu with the all pictures and not to forget the best in town prices for the quality.
Let me start with quality which is the most important thing. This place does NOT produce the tastiest Italian food for sure, but they defiantly use quality ingredients. Their food is more Italian food prepared in an American franchise style with a little more quality ingredients than typical, which is no surprise as this place is run by a an American restaurant’s veteran of 35 years.
Going back to the food, I eate there 10 times and had in the process the following:
Pepperoni – awesome pizza; pepperoni topping best in town, needs extra tomato sauce
Regina – quality mushrooms and awesome sweet onion slices; I replace ham with pepperoni
Quatro Stagioni – divided into 4; nice idea; 4 different toppings; not crazy about the artichokes and colored peppers
Chicekn & Broccoli Futtucini – nice; chicken could be a little tastier
Penne Arrabiata – disappointing; sauce not solid enough
Quatro Formaggio – nice taste; blue cheese obvious; could use another ingredient like mushroom
Wild Mushroom Chicken – very good, good portion, plenty of mash potato; vegetables disappointing
Grilled Roasmery Salmon – excellent quality salmon; seasoning a bit too basic
Ramadan Soups – asparagus – crab – pumpkin all nice with the first being best
Complementary Salad – its ok but could use some bread crumbs to add some taste
Bruschetta Mushroom & Eggplant – sorry have to end on a sore note, it sucksss!!!
To be fair that was the only item that was disappointing along with the Penne Arabiata. The prices area really great ranging usuly from 34 -46 for the pizzas and pastas.
The place is beautiful, the managers are wonderful, and the waiters are as usual clumsy.
Defiantly recommended!
few other items I forgot to include or just tried recently:
Spinach Ravioli: pink sauce, one of their best, very close to authentic Italian, comes with about 7-8 pieces
Fettucini Carbonara: very poor tast, bacon used not good for this application, fettuccine standard packaged kind, poor dish and poor cooking
Goat Cheese & Sun Dried Tomatoes Pizza: interesting taste, I don’t they got it right but interesting nonetheless, people liking many cheeses will like this
Spaghetti Bolognses: average taste nothing special nothing bad just pasta tomato sauce and ground meat, can be found better elsewhere
I guess they didn’t maintain their level of quality! My husband and I went for lunch. The place looks really nice…if only all those restaurant owners put as much effort into the food or the chefs. The menu has all the items you would want. I was especially excited about the appetizer section, so we ended up ordering 3 of them: the fried calamari, the fried mozzarella, and the meatball sliders, which I was super excited about, because I like sliders and because I haven’t seen “meatball” sliders anywhere else. To our great disappointment, all 3 items were over cooked….the calamari was your regular rings you could buy at the frozen section, so was the mozzarella, and the meatballs were so chewy and almost black on the outside. We also ordered the olive oil and garlic capellini, I couldn’t take more than one bite out of that….it was so garlicky and the garlic was also almost burnt.
I dont know what the people working there or owner is thinking but I know that the rest of the italian restaurants in Jeddah have nothing to worry about in terms of competition. Sorry guys.
I could not testify to the items you ordered. I can only tell you that the pizzas were excellent, and the chicken with the side of penne as well. Of course I was told I am wrong before many times, so you might even disagree with me on these as well. As for the service and the ambiance, these are just great. I don’t see the quality detrorirate in just two weeks, so it is just a matter of personal taste. Let’s wait and see what the other readers think of it.
I would agree with you that it’s personal taste if the food was cooked properly, and it was a matter of seasoning, ingredients, method of cooking…etc, but in this case the food was on the verge of being burnt.
I did visit, its so true, loved it…….i visited many restaurants no 1 gives free salad….for sure i got it.
free gelato and best dining in jeddah…
keep it up piatto team
sameer