Octavium Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

I secured my booking 2 months ago for Christmas Eve dinner. My first red flag was when I had to reconfirm 3 separate times with their staff that I even had a booking. They said it was confirmed all 3 times but didn't ask for a deposit which I found strange. Then a few weeks later, they all of a sudden demanded a full-payment to secure my reservation, completely out of the norm for the reservation processes of all restaurants, let alone a Michelin star. I proceeded to go in and pay (I had to go into the physical restaurant, I couldn't sign a form or anything) and pre-pay for my whole meal - which is out of the norm for most Michelin star restaurants in Hong Kong. I paid the full amount, making my reservation 100% confirmed, they even told me and showed me on the system they would be giving me a private room that night because of their full capacity. On the night of the 23rd, I called in to confirm my reservation again. They said it was confirmed but they never called to reach out to tell me my reservation was confirmed - again, odd for any restaurant. I booked for 8pm but I was running a bit late (around 15-30 mins) so I called ahead and told them and they said no problem.

When I arrived at Octavium, I stood at the entrance, very visible to the staff inside for at least 5 minutes before anyone acknowledged me. After 5 or so minutes, they acknowledged me by just saying "wait", and then I waited for another 5 minutes. Then the maitre d finally comes up to me, looks at her system for my reservation, and says we don't have a table for you yet, you'll have to wait maybe 15 minutes - which is completely ridiculous especially for a Christmas Eve dinner in a Michelin star restaurant. We proceeded to wait anyways, 20 minutes pass and there is no clear table that is finishing. Then I see a 2 person table (I had booked for 4, for my family and I) being set up as a 4 person table, extremely squeezed. I ask the maitre d, are you in charge of the bookings? She said she wasn't, which was strange, and said she'd call for the person who was. I wait another 5 minutes for that person to show up, and then I ask do you plan on squeezing my family into the tiny 2 person table. She said, no, I will move another one of our dining parties, also a party of 4, to that table in the middle of their meal to that small table and give you their table. That made me and my family extremely uncomfortable as that's no way to treat anyone on Christmas Eve or let alone any day at a Michelin restaurant unless there were two seatings that night, which I was made aware that they didn't. The whole restaurant was staring at us at this point because it made it seem like we kicked someone out of their table, which was very uncomfortable - due to Octavium's extreme lack in planning. We kindly said we weren't going to take the table as that's no way to treat any customers on Christmas Eve. Leaving us with no where to eat on Christmas Eve at around 9:30pm already. The staff was not in the slightest apologetic and trying to make up for what happened, which I was also shocked by due to the important date that is Christmas Eve and that they hold a Michelin store. The staff did not offer any compensation or complimentary items, just simply try to make excuses and put blame on their customers for staying at the table for too long. They were hesitant to give our payment back which was also absurd. I have eaten at Octavium before, and the food itself is very delicious. However, in my belief, the Michelin star encompasses food and service which the service here is not worthy of any star let alone even a Bib...

Horrible service, asked for the food to be expedited as we were famished. Waiter tells me this is fine dining as if I didn’t know, tells me this is not chacha or whatever cheap restaurant he was referring to. I’ve had well over 100 starred restaurants and it’s the first time the waiter makes an offside remark mocking the customer as if we have not had “fine dining” before. Then he brings the next course and leaves without introducing the food. Very interesting service from a “fine dining” restaurant. The person making the weird, mocking response seems to be some service leader or the sommelier as he frequently goes to the bar. Bluesuit red tie. Now back to the food, no wow factor, some combinations seem forced like the first caviar and fish, added too much greens that make the flavor extremely earthy and not flavorful. Sawara, known for a strong silver fish flavor, has almost no flavor, paired with morel mushroom that also has no flavor, need a lot of sauce to make it palatable. The pasta was ok nothing too crazy. The deer was so blend tasting it was really hard to eat. The beef was not so hot either, sauce in the middle extremely strong, tenderloin but ain’t like the A5 tenderloin from Japan, tastes like a A4 wagyu at best. Both the beef and venison has such a bland taste to it, perhaps some seasoning while cooking would have helped.

The service had me shocked but the food made it even worse, not too sure how it deserves a two stars when only the prawn pasta was any good.

I wanna make it clear, service of other members of the restaurant was normal. Not too attentive and chats too much overall. It was just the waiter in red tie and blue suit that was rude. I hope my comment serves as a precaution for those who may come and hope the restaurant owner sees and corrects your service staffs behaviour and attitude. No one comes to pay 3000 hkd a person to get mocked, if I want my food faster because I’m famished I will tell the staff everytime and it should not warrant rude comment from the any service staff, especially not at a restaurant in this price range.

At end of the dinner I ask the server for the bill and after paying I wanted to reflect what went on during dinner and the waiter walks away without responding. When I ask again he comes and doesn’t apologize or anything and when I tell him that the older server/ sommelier was rude he just doesn’t say anything and as we are leaving, not a single server came to apologize to even say farewell. Very disgusting experience, a stern warning to everyone that wants to try this restaurant.

Atmosphere: dark Food: unbalanced flavors, either bland or too strong, lack of any coherent flavor profile except for the prawn pasta. Service: worst service ever received at a “starred” restaurant, rude staff making uncalled for and mocking comments. No apologies and not...

Went there on Friday night for Valentine’s Day dinner and ordered the special festival set with wine pairing. Initially thought it would be nice and fun experience but everyone who ordered the set (5 of us) started feeling nausea and got food poisoning Saturday night / Sunday morning. Talked to other friends who went to the restaurant on the same day but at different times and tables, we found out that surprisingly we are not the only ones who are experiencing the issue.

Called the restaurant today and informed the management team regarding the issue. But looks like the management is trying to walk away from responsibilities. They kept telling us that they will report the issue to the department who oversees food safety without a clear timeline on when they will get back to us. And there is no clear evidence that their food caused our food poisoning issue.

All we want is a formal apology from the restaurant and proper handling on such important issues. After all, food safety is the most important and most basic thing that a restaurant should offer to its customers. But the results have been disappointing. To be honest, the food was delicious. We were considering visiting again and recommending it to other friends. But I guess when you talk about a restaurant, service should be the #1 thing. Until this point, the restaurant still hasn't got back to us on how they would prevent such incidents from happening going forward. Instead, they are having people post good reviews on their experience on Valentine's Day. Am I the only one that feeling weird and skeptical right now that all of a sudden, right after we start taking actions to make ourselves heard on social media, good/5-star reviews without any pictures get posted?

I am very disappointed at the way Octavium handles the issue. The restaurant is just being irresponsible and unprofessional. I couldn't really see the hospitality mindset of this place. I highly suggest that y'all who are thinking about going there for a nice dinner wait until we get further responses from the restaurant. This is a very serious group food poisoning issue that needs to be addressed asap.

If anyone else who went to the restaurant on Friday night and is experiencing the same awful issue, please feel free to contact us to get the problem...