Stay away from this place!
My wife and I went there for lunch the week before last and were very disappointed. We were seated in the Cafe Studio, but when we informed them we wanted the Pasta a Go-Go offer, they moved us to another room in the back - empty except for half a dozen workmen putting together banquet tables and stacking plates noisily. I told them they could move us right back to the main room, thank you very much.
We moved back to our original seats, and a waitress came up with a small plate of pasta and said something about kai wei liang mian, (cold pasta appetizer)
“Huh?” I said. “We have 19 regional sauces from Italy with 26 different kinds of pasta to choose from, right?”
“Huh?” she said.
She was replaced with another waitress who this time didn’t speak to us, just shoveled some pasta on our plates. I got 3 mini bow-tie pasta pieces with shreds of ham, my wife got 4. We’re both confused about what is happening. I eat the three noodles and then wait for ten minutes. Nothin happens. I call the waiter over and ask him when we get to order the kind of pasta we want, and could we see a menu outlining our choices, please?
“Huh?” he says.
I get the manager and tell her that I want to order. She tells me that that isn’t the way it’s done. We are supposed to wait for mouthful by mouthful portions of different pasta dishes served at random and with no regard for personal preference. I ask her how long this is supposed to take, and if I could have more than 3 noodles per serving. She said that it was part of the dining experience, and that it could take hours to properly enjoy such a meal. I asked her how well the phrase “Pasta-a-Go-Go” represented such a meal. She said that the slogan probably wasn’t very well though out. I ask her why we were seated alone in a back room, and she says that all the people who order the special are put back there so they can concentrate on the “dining experience”. Finally, I said look, we don’t have all afternoon. Bring me a plate of pasta - pao mian would be acceptable. Just do it now.
She runs off to the office and brings me a computer printout of the sauces in the kitchen. I order the arrabiata sauce on a penne noodle. My wife orders something else. She gets hers (but no cutlery), but mine doesn’t even arrive. Instead I get another minion who comes over with the same fucking bowtie pasta salad and tries to give some to me before I send him off with a snarl. I hold my hand up in the air like a fourth-grader asking for washroom privileges, and after 5 minutes the same manager comes over. I asked her about the arrabiata I had ordered from her. Her face blanches. I asked her if the special included cutlery. She stammers weakly “Yinwei…”
“Yeah, whatever. just give me the damn bill. This is not a restaurant that deserves to be in a 5-star hotel.”
“Was the food not good?” she asks, before remembering that my food never came at all, and my wife hadn’t had a chance to try hers. She catches herself and asks if we would like to order something else. I laugh at her. She finally redeems herself by apologizing for the service. I said I didn’t care. I just wanted a nice Friday afternoon lunch before going back to work, and she ruined it. I told her that I would enjoy my about-to-be-bought 7-11 sandwich more than the laughable service we had enjoyed at the Regent that day. I hand her a thousand NT, but she has the good sense to not charge us for the “meal”, and won’t take it, apologizing again. I won’t go back there EVER. 