AVIDO RISTORANTE — Restaurant in Orange

Good: The decor is beautiful and well set out. Fair options on the menu. The zucchini flowers are amazing. Each dish is presented well. Bad: The service is pathetic, you can't get their attention and they constantly wander around but won't make eye contact. The manager or lady in charge was the worst. Gave us a wine menu and never returned. Completely forgot about us. We had to flag down a passing staff member 15 minutes later to ask if we could order. The pork cutlet tatsed like the oil it was cooked in. Nothing special about that dish. We ordered 2 pizzas. The one that did arrive was nice and fresh, the second never came. You'd think, seeing 3 people at a table and only 2 with meals in front of them, you'd follow up on this.. We again had to grab a passing staff member and asked about our missing meal, 5 minutes later we were told they're "just putting the finishing touches on it". Another few minutes later they came over and apologised about forgetting to place the order, said its being made now and will only take 4 minutes. Everyone at the table had finished their meals so we advised them to just cancel it. We were then given a complimentary serve of tiny arancini balls, which also tastes like the oil the pork cutlet was cooked in. Overall we weren't impressed with our visit. Considering the prices, you'd think the food would be a little better. And considering Sammy has 2 other wonderful restaurants in town, each with fantastic staff and amazing food, you'd hope this one would too. It's a fairly new place so, fingers crossed he smooths out the kinks and gets the staff...

We walked past Avido on our arrival in Orange and seeing how busy it was, we made a booking for tonight with high expectations. Sadly, those expectations were not met. Things didn't start well when the first 2 bottles of white wine ordered weren't available. Then due to a mixup, the 3rd bottle was a red (which my wife can't drink due to the higher histamine level) not a white. The mixup was corrected and we ended up with a very nice local pinot gris. Shared entrees were a nice burrata along with what turned out to be the smallest bruschetta we've seen. The mains turned up however the entree plates had not been taken away. The waitress attempted to put the main plates in front of us as we were hurriedly trying to make some space! My wife enjoyed her main of chilli prawns and my son was happy with his pork cutlet with eggplant parmigiana. My chicken diavola however was on the dry side and had very little hint of the hot spices mentioned on the menu while the fennel salad was nice. Desserts were also hit & miss - my pannacotta with pistachio praline & strawberries was lovely while the others had the tiramisu which appeared to be 75% whipped cream, didn't seem to be any mascarpone in them. Hit & miss dishes with average service ... won't be rushing back to Avido the next time...

I went to AVIDO tonight for a dinner. This review is written in the context of spending an average of 62.50 per person. The service was okay at best, but, for 60 dollars each, it should be far better. I personally had the fettucine pasta and arancini balls. Starting off strong with the arancini balls, they were very delicious, hot and had an excellent balance of cheese, mushroom and rice. Next, came the fettucine pasta. This was disappointing, as the serving size was absolutely not up to scratch for 28 dollars. I would describe it as half an expected serving for this price, and, while it was tasty, it definitely is not 28 dollars tasty. I'd say maybe 20 dollars tops. To finalize it all, we did bring our own cake. I definitely understand that it does remove from the restaurant's bottom line to allow customers to bring their own dessert, and, in they are in the right to charge for it. However, at no point to them taking the cake, and bringing it back out at the end, was it mentioned that there would be a 20 dollar service charge. I would be fine with it, if, it was communicated upfront. While the food was fine, I would recommend La Milano for the same (if not cheaper) price point, with better service and...