Pazzo — Restaurant in Antwerp

TOP 3 World's Best Restaurants

My wife and I combined have more than 30 years Hospitality experience in world's best restaurants. We've worked and experienced restaurants from street food upto 3-star Michelin around the world. After opening a restaurant ourself and achieving 1 star in the same year and having the opportunity to help open the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Middle East, we took a step back and are enjoying life at the East Coast of USA.

We arrived at Pazzo on a Wednesday night around 8pm and were greeted friendly by (whom we assume) the manager or owner of the restaurant. He gave us a choice of table and wished us a wonderful evening. Promptly we were welcomed by the service staff with an amuse bouche (burrata, tomato and basil oil) which was the highlight of the evening, if not of our whole vacation. Wines were recommended accordingly and professionally throughout the dining experience by our head server 'Jens'. We could try wines before ordering them, but who needs that if the recommendations are always point on? We asked for some recommendations regarding our main courses, but that was more difficult than expected, because if we had to believe the manager, everything was great, so he explained us in detail all the dishes instead. And oh boy, what was he right! One of those rare occasions occured at the end of the meal, where we were reviewing our meal and tried to make an impossible TOP 3. Every single dish was so flavourful! But if you do want our recommendations... Here they are:

Enjoy your amuse bouche and hope they bring you a second one. Try the oysters (their way) and order the cold crab dish with the most amazing Langoustine Crème ever. Order the Chicken dish, even if it's only for the Lobster Bearnaise sauce they serve with it. I never find myself ordering a vegetarian dish, but the one I tried today blew my wife and I away! Thank you eggplant parmigiana.

Special shout-out to the chef; whom we unfortunately didn't meet. Your food rocked us of our socks!

Special shout-out to An; whom is the nicest lady you may imagine. She brought a blanket for my wife, when she was a little chilly and took great care of everyone at the terrace where we were seated. Even though we were full (but didn't feel "over full" or bloated) we asked for a dessert; whereupon the Truffle Ice Cream with balsamico was recommended by An. Believe me, it was to die for! They even have a cheese croquette on their dessert menu...

Apparently, they also have a wine bar / cigar lounge, but unfortunately not open at the moment, I truly hope it will be open one of these days before we need to leave again to Amerika.

Thank you once again for the service and the amazing food we were blessed to enjoy tonight!

See you soon...

UPD: Thank you for your reply, I did mention several times in front of the waiter that it was my birthday, yet there was no reaction :)

The truffle tagliatelle and ravioli are fantastic. Great wine selection, too. The rest, unfortunately, was not worth it. Although the burrata was delicious, Salmon Tataki were truly disappointing. Served as in a cheap sushi-bar, it had the most plain taste, definitely not worth the price. Not matching the level of this restaurant and other starters, in my opinion. I expected something more special since they claim to be a restaurant with a pinch of Asian fusion… 😔 The deserts were pretty basic, too. While in many other restaurants (and cheaper too) I’ve been to on my birthday I would get a compliment from chef, such as a small desert, here was nothing, not even a “happy birthday” from the staff. Not necessary, but would definitely make me feel more special on that day. I would not...

The atmosphere is exactly what it looks like in the pictures. I personally liked it a lot. The staff was also very friendly. Given its a winebar, they have a fair choice of wines from various areas around the world. We e.g. had a glass of green wine from Portugal with our fish food. Overall the wine choices is a bit on the more prestigious areas for wine though, which drives the prices a bit. Normally, if you're into wines, you can also get a bit more value out of the same prices elsewhere. BUT, what was a big plus is that they had quite a lot of wines by the glass which allows you to taste more varieties :-). The food was also quite tasty - just also slightly on the more pricey side (at least when you're German and it's your first day in Antwerpen: Turns Out the price level in Antwerpen is just a bit higher in general. So overall I'd say the total experience and really good service is in a...