Cucina — Restaurant in Kuta Selatan

Vibe and service is very different from the other restaurants and venues at the Sofitel Resort.

Finding the entrance to the restaurant is really difficult. We were walking circles around the restaurant for ages, and had to use a back door to get in. We only found their main entrance afterwards.

I had the grilled salmon fillet (Salmone Grigilato). My partner and friends ordered a mushroom soup (Funghi Porcini soup), a beef tenderloin steak (Fillet Di Manzo), and a Brasato (braised beef on mash), and we shared a Pizza Funghi E Tartufo (mozarella and truffle pizza).

Food came out fast and hot.

Truffle pizza was delicious. The creaminess, coolness and milk notes of the buffalo mozarella cheese really complements the dish.

The Brasato (braised beef on mash) was divine. My partner finished it before I could taste it. Serving size of mash is also quite generous.

For the two meat dishes (the beef tenderloin steak and the salmon): The steak: really nicely cooked and seasoned. The grilled salmon: the portion size of the salmon relative to the size of the serving board made it look very disproportionate and small. However, the fish was well seasoned, and the mustard sauce and roast garlic was divine. The extra pink salt was not needed in both dishes. Only let down for our meat dishes were the rosemary potato side. I understand the traditional roasted rosemary potato vibe, but the flavour could be greatly enhanced with some butter, salt, and other aromatics (e.g. garlic and/or thyme). Rosemary was used sparingly, and it with the oil did not impart strong flavours that would complement the potato. The potato species (bite and texture) was wonderful (yukon gold or similar?).

My friend found the consistency of the mushroom soup too thick. The soup is effectively cooked and blended mushrooms, and was so rich of mushroom that it had the consistency of liver pate. Flavour however was really strongly porcini mushroom and was really good. Offering and/or providing additional cream or stock on the side to thin the soup, and a slice of bread on the side for dipping or spreading (or timing the bread or breadsticks at the start with the soup), would have dramatically improved the experience for this dish.

The owner (who I did not realise was the owner at the time and I really wished that she did introduce herself as the owner) did come by our table to ask us how the food was. Please take the time to introduce yourself next time. It was a pleasure to meet you in person, and although we later realised you were probably busy with the kitchen, we would have loved to chat to get to know you better.

One thing I loved seeing was their 1m long pepper grinder. It is a nice comic relief. Would have loved for the staff to offer additional pepper at our table.

The biggest let down at Cucina was that one of the waiters was very pushy at the end of the night: he kept coming to our table to get us to leave a positive review on TripAdvisor and to name drop him. He kept running back to our table every minute to check and make sure that we left a 5* review on TripAdvisor, and kept asking us to show our phones to him so he could confirm. I found this tactic very desperate, unnecessary, and really poor form. Good quality food and good service is pull marketing, not push. Leave us the recommendation for where to leave a review, and if we had a good experience, we will leave it. This was the main reason for a...

Preventative measures taken as a family with young children is to douse the kids with deet and picaridin when in Bali. Since there's been numerous bites during our stay at the Sofitel. I didn't spray the kids thinking we could have a nice meal inside Cucina.

When we arrived at 6pm, there were around 40 to 50 vacant tables. Around 30 inside and 10-20 outside. We were told all tables were reserved for the first sitting (5-8pm) and were asked to come to the second sitting (8-11pm). We said given we have small children and since 1 hour and 17 minutes have elapsed since the first sitting that started at 5pm, could we have a table from one of the no shows? They initially refused, eventually agreed when calmly explaining the number of vacant tables available of around 40 to 50. Unfortunately we were only given a table outside when there were clearly vacant tables inside. See photo attached of evidence. This is absolutely disgusting behaviour when there are numerous dengue incidents in Bali. Especially since I had young children with me. So the dinner started with running back to the room and dousing the kids in mozzie repellent.

The food itself was very average. The restaurant is supposed to take you on an Italian adventure. It was more like a cheap DVD copy of an Italian movie in the back alley of a seedy neighbourhood.

I had the gnocchi - was like rubber and oversalted and saturated in a white sauce. My wife had the tagliatelle with pancetta and the latter was burnt. Appetizers were average too - crumbed prawns/calamari. The kids had hot dogs as their main and PBJ Sammie's. Not sure how these are Italian diahes. The deserts were at least ok - custard cream beignets and tiramisu. Oh I liked olive oil served with the bread at the start. Overall an extremely unpleasant experience.

Skip this place. And eat at Kwee-zeen - Sofitel's other restaurant. The buffet food is actually good. The staff is super friendly. No pom, no fake vacant tables inside...

Disappointing Experience at CUCINA – Not What You’d Expect from a Sofitel Property

I recently dined at CUCINA Restaurant in Sofitel Nusa Dua, Bali, and while the setting is elegant and the place is clean, the overall experience fell far short of expectations—especially for a restaurant in a five-star hotel.

To start, the staff were friendly and welcoming, but there was a clear language barrier. Communication was a challenge, as they seemed to struggle with understanding English, which made it difficult to clarify basic questions about the menu and ingredients.

The food quality, unfortunately, was the most disappointing part. I ordered the crab linguine, only to discover that the crab was not fresh but rather canned and imported—a surprising choice, considering Bali is an island known for its seafood. I had specifically asked for fresh crab, and it was only after being served that the staff clarified it was canned.

Next, we tried the grilled octopus from the appetizer menu, which was not fresh and had a bad taste. It was so unpalatable that we had to ask for it to be removed after just one bite.

As for the pizza, it arrived cold, suggesting it had been sitting out before being brought to our table. This lack of attention to detail is unacceptable for any decent restaurant, let alone one in a luxury hotel.

In summary, CUCINA fell far below the standards expected of a Sofitel-branded restaurant. While the ambiance is pleasant, the poor food quality and communication issues severely impacted the dining experience. I sincerely hope Sofitel takes a closer look at the management and quality control of their on-site restaurants, as experiences like this can negatively affect the reputation of what is otherwise a respected...