Cucina Restaurant

I've always been curious about this long standing Italian restaurant, at the front stretch of Holland Village mainly because it has survived so long where many other eateries have come and gone. Noticing that they had a reasonably priced set lunch menu at $15 for a main, a dessert, and a drink one afternoon made the decision to drop in for lunch even easier.

I was clearly not the only one who thought so. The place was almost full, surprising as it was a Monday afternoon. Unfortunately that also meant that the staff were overwhelmed with three waiters attempting to manage a packed lunch crowd. After I was finally seated (which took far longer than I expected), I was pretty much forgotten. After a good 10 minutes and a significant amount of hand waving, I was at last noticed by the wait staff - and that was just to get the menu.

The service was, to put it mildly, indifferent - as in, the waiters were largely indifferent to my existence. Getting any kind of attention required behaving like a spectator at a football match, waving your arms around frantically whether you wanted to order, to get more water, or to ask for the bill. I found myself remembering a recent study about the kind of bosses that employees hated the most: not those who were rude or annoying, but rather those that effectively ignored and failed to acknowledge them. I could empathise given my experiences at Cucina - even bad service seemed preferable to receiving no attention at all.

Decor wise the place was a very odd mix of traditional Italian cantina complete with faux wall fresco of angel holding a sword, open concept kitchen, and slightly modern kitsch. The oddness was largely due to the incongruity between the bright red fake leather seating and the overall attempt to create a rustic look.

It was also an unseasonably warm day, and I suspected that the open concept kitchen contributed even more to the temperature. You know the air-conditioning needs to work better when you find your legs sticking uncomfortably to the fake leather seating.

Food wise, I was not blown away. I ordered a bacon and mushroom pasta, and I found it simple and unspectacular, not vastly different from something you could conjure up in your own kitchen. In particular, the sauce was far too salty, and the bacon overpowering any hint of the mushrooms. The bacon was also chopped into rather ragged bits. In all, the dish certainly could have used more balance and also more texture to it.

Bacon and Mushroom Pasta

Where things certainly did fall flat was in their dessert of the day - tiramisu. A good tiramisu is very hard to do - it is particularly hard to get the various layers just right. It is one of the tests of any good Italian restaurant in my book. To try to make tiramisu en mass is usually misguided and so it proved - mine was a rather mushy lump, with the bottom layer a fairly flavourful but soggy mess.

All in all, I found my experience at Cucina to be a disappointment. Perhaps others will have better dining experiences here, particularly if they come for a more leisurely dinner and order a la carte. Cucina seems to have gone mass market, what with the cheap set lunch and with the parent company branching off into catering. I would say that while it has had its time, there are far better and more authentic Italian eateries out there.

Overall Verdict:

Despite its admirable longevity, Cucina seems past is prime with fairly indifferent food and overworked staff. I would certainly give it a miss.