Nero Nero - Penang — Restaurant in George Town

UPDATE Sept 30, 2025 My wife and brother in law ate at Nero Nero again last night and just wanted to reiterate this restaurant is excellent, seemingly better than ever. Our starters of Burrata and Frito Mare were excellent and the pastas were as always perfectly al dente and delicious. Loved the Carre di Agnello main course and we even had a pizza which we thought we would bring home but devoured at the table it was so good. Great food and with Alex leading the crew out front (including the ever helpful, Yasin, and the bar master, Inder) it is a wonderful spot.

UPDATE: Feb 8, 2025 Last night was our fourth visit to Nero Nero - Penang and it was as good as ever. We eat out very often and it is still our favorite fine dining restaurant in Penang, actually in Malaysia. My wife and I are in Italy every year and the kitchen crew (compliments to the chef and team) put out food that is delicious and creative and would be at home in any restaurant in Italy. It was a new menu (to us) last night and like every other time at Nero Nero it was great. The carbonara, boscaiola were pure Italian and the snapper was beautifully prepared. The bruschetta, melanzana and frito mare starters were all a great introduction for what was to come. Unfortunately the tiramisu, which is legendary, was sold out. There is a nice wine list and Alex and his out front team (as in the review below) were very attentive and totally professional. This wasn't our last visit for sure!

Feb 2024 Had dinner last night at Nero Nero. We were excited to try the restaurant after reviews on line and from friends who had eaten there. We were not disappointed! From start to finish the food and service and ambiance were all great. We arrived a bit early but were shown to our table by Alex the sommelier (and I think Manager). He was very helpful and totally professional. We had an interesting chat about wine later, about which he is very knowledgeable. My wife and I wanted to try as much as we could so after the amuse bouche we had the pear-beet salad on the specials menu and the bruschetta. Both were delicious. Bruschetta which can be boring was great with burrata and pomodoro. Next we tried the pasta and had the rigatoni with sausage. It was also great with pasta cooked perfectly meaning a tiny bit al dente. Next we had the lamb shank which was as good as I have had in years and then the tiramasu which was better than I have had in years. Our friends had the snapper off the regular menu and the gnocchi and they said they were terrific. The wine list is well thought out (although they didn't have our selection at the time) and there is BYO for 100 MYR. I would be remiss in not mentioning our very capable servers Yasin and Jahed. Again Alex was really great too. The chef (owner?) even tolerated my Italian! Nero Nero is not cheap but not crazy expensive and is worth every ringgit. We will be back. PS. I forgot. We also had an Evisa pizza...

First of all, be aware that it's pricey. I am not saying that in a bad way. I enjoyed my meal here. The restaurant has a calming relaxing vibe. The light is soft and the design minimalistic except for the huge fountain at the back. The waiters are attentive and friendly.

As for the food, I enjoyed the salad. Fresh crunchy greens with light tangy sauce. The octopus was well cooked with a nice chewy non rubbery consistency. The prawn in olive oil was superbly flavoured. Salty, spicy and underlying charred garlic aroma balanced well. Only thing is the prawns seems slightly under done. It's not raw but another half minute cooking would've made it perfect.

The seafood stew / bisque is a little heavy. 3 pieces of soaked bread at the bottom and lots of seafood superbly cooked. The taste has a heavy tomato base but has a strong lingering seafood aroma. The clam spaghetti meanwhile could've been better I think. It seems underflavoured. Strangely when you taste the gravy by itself, it's nice. But when you eat it with the spaghetti, the taste becomes suboptimal.

The tiramisu however was sublime. The bitterness, the sweetness, the perfect moist nature combines for an incredible taste. I fully recommend that you try this.

In short, I enjoyed the vibe and the meal, short of a couple of small imperfection. Price point will mean eating only at occasions but not regularly. But as in any skill required product, price is a recognition of effort...

Several visits and I have to say the waiters here only treat customers who order more/expensive dishes well.

Back then when I visited both branches in KL and Penang with my family, we received top notch service as my parents went for the wines and every course of their food from starter to dessert.

This time, from the service, both my bf and I received hard selling pressure to order a starter. I told the waiter I’m good with my orders but he told us that if we didn’t order a starter, we will have a long wait for our food to arrive. The restaurant was just half full, in fact, only 5 tables occupied. Are you saying if the restaurant is full, I will have to wait till the next day for my food to arrive (sarcasm)? Again, I told him I’m good with my orders and he repeated the same excuse. Feeling pressured, we ordered one starter, ugh.

A few moments later, he served a complimentary focaccia. We doubted if we can finish our food with 1 complimentary focaccia, 1 bruschetta (4 pieces), 1 pizza, 1 pasta and 2 drinks. True enough, we had to takeaway half of the pizza and the fact that we are flying off tomorrow morning with half of the pizza to settle. 🤦🏻‍♀️

My suggestions to the restaurant: Do not hard sell. Do not lie to your customers just to boost the sales. Learn to estimate if your customers’ food orders are sufficient and ensure they didn’t over order. You could add value by advising on this. Do not...