Alta Pizza — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

Was really looking forward to dining at Alta and had planned for a family member’s birthday here. Unfortunately perhaps expectations were set too high, wasn’t what we hoped to be. Won’t return.

Have never written a review this long in my life but felt needed (short version below essay).

——— The long version (Alta):

Service Had booked for 5, but we had to be seated at a table for 4. Was no biggie since 4 of us arrived around 10mins early and the young gentleman staff assured us that he would sort out a table for us to seat 6. The first chap that attended to us was very accommodating and professional.

As our other 2 guests had finally arrived, another staff that tended to us insisted that 6 of us squeezed to a 4 pax double table. “No. There is no more tables to seat 6.”, the tone of voice for one was so unwelcoming and off-putting. For two, the tables are not mounted to the ground and it wasn’t a full house mind you. At least be polite in asking us to just hold on for a few more mins for another bigger table to move to once the other guests are done.

This staff had also taken our orders and was not very good with menu recommendations. While birthday girl was still viewing the menu, he swiped it away. Regardless of whether I was dining at a kopitiam or casual/fine dine, basic manners and tactfulness is a bit far fetched to expect it seems? Not ok.

Food Truffle Tagliatelle: Under-seasoned, sadly. Bland. Spaghetti: Texture was more on springy noodles side rather than al dente pasta. Taste wise so-so. Quite fusion feel actually. Pizza (3 kinds: Stracciatella, Mushroom, Chorizo): Ok. Didnt have much flare. From dough to topping to crust, not comparable to many other joints out there. All in all, nothing ‘popped’ to put it plainly. Pizza over the pasta for sure though. Portion was small, pasta is not sharing friendly. Didnt order more since the food was just mediocre

Atmosphere Lovely place, nice kitchen / open oven to look over. Ambience for the gram. down side is that it’s actually quite warm, perhaps from the oven. But then again been to other places with open oven area, didnt feel the same heat compared to Alta. sitting outside or by the door likely more comfortable. But then again, requesting for a table movement would’ve been much of a tall order

Others: We have never heard of ‘cake-age’. It’s apparently corkage for cake. For a place that doesn’t serve cakes aside from desserts like tiramisu, panna cotta and rice pudding, we couldn’t celebrate with a birthday cake on the table without paying ‘cake-age’ Wasn’t a disclaimer on menu (or could be fine print we didn’t notice), nor was told in advance by the staff when we handed over our cake to chill. ‘Cake-age’, something new we learned, is RM25. If I was at an actual bakery / dessert restaurant serving only cakes then fine, but a place that doesn’t (??). Mindblowing info.

All in all, put aside being disappointed. Above all, i’m so embarrassed - to have chosen this place to dine, and bring my family for a birthday celebration here. I do believe honest reviews like these would help shed light for improvement. However, we will never return.

———

The short version: Take a walk down the same street, towards the end of the block you will find a quaint little gem named Juno. Go there.

You will be THE MOST pleased with their delectable and so cleverly crafted food, SUPERB table service, cozy romantic ambience (they will adjust lighting if is too dark for you btw).

They’re also excellent in guiding you to select a wine of your liking, super courteous of your dining comfort (cared about keeping mozzies away! Super thoughtful!), even brought a complimentary desserts for birthday girl although we had brought a cake - of which the staff was so soooo kind to help us slice and plate carefully WITHOUT cake-age.

10/10 perfection. Saved our night from what was....

Great pizza but everything is a bit overpriced and it’s not the greatest environment! For a new restaurant, the AC was barely keeping up, and it was way too hot in the dining area. Spent the whole meal sweating even though we were right under the AC.

Staff also not trained very well… there was just one server and although there were only 3 tables (one of which was finished), he seemed rushed and harassed. I don’t think he was unfriendly, just not trained for service. I asked for pepper, but he was in the middle of fetching something for another table, and waved me off dismissively (he did come back after.) Later, we asked what cheeses were on the 4-cheese pizza and he went to ask the kitchen. One of them was Toma, and when we asked what kind of cheese Toma was, he replied “you can Google it yourself.”Yikes!

The four cheese pie was tasty, but the grapes don’t work, as they add a lot of extra liquid to the pie, which is already quite oily. Also, one of the cheeses was either thicker or chilled before cooking, because it resulted in some bites of the pie being noticeably cooler than others. Further, it’s the only 4 cheese I’ve ever had without blue or goat cheese, so it’s missing that jolt of flavor which breaks up the monotony of 4 cheese pies (Fior de latte, Parmigiano and Taleggio are the other cheeses).

This is all a bit nitpicky though, because held up to a napoletana pizza standard, it was very solid. Perfect leopard spotting and slightly crunchy/firm underside; crust was internally crystallized and airy, keeping its chewiness without tasting doughy. Probably should have tried the straciatella/margherita to get a feel for their tomato sauce.

The pie was rm48++, which I’m sad to say is getting to be the price of good pizza in KL, but still about 20% higher than the ingredients would indicate.

I’d try the other pizzas here in the future, because their dough fundamentals are impeccable, but Proof is nearby at APW. For all the other issues here, the great pizza isn’t worth the hassle of coming...

After a long day at work maximising shareholder value, we wanted to have a nice, relaxing dinner where we didn’t have to worry about what went in our mouths. We started off by ordering the chorizo pizza noting that they do not specify what meat is used in each pizza. As we both don’t eat beef, we ordered the chorizo pizza thinking that it was made from pork as chorizos are. After we ordered, we sat in silence. The waiter, Raj, caring guy that he is, kindly let us know that the chorizo pizza is made from beef. we were shocked to our core, as cows are blessed animals. he offered to switch the pizza to any other pizza on the menu. he walked us through the pizzas offered, as we don’t eat beef, the escargot pizza captured our attention. i incorrectly thought that escargot was snails, until the waiter confidently informed us that it was a special, premium, part of a goat. my boyfriend, sharp as he is, fully believed that the pizza we ended up ordering was called “escargoat” — a hybrid of snail and goat. i had a sneaking suspicion that this was no ordinary goat, so i asked another waiter what part of the goat this was from. he told us that it was goat intestine. i was still wary as what intestine is black? Giddily , my boyfriend gobbled up all the “goat”. Moments later, there was nothing left on the plate, only two full stomachs yet to find out that they were audaciously deceived. As we were debriefing in the car much later, my boyfriend felt a little tingle in his tummy. We revisited the possibility that what we had just consumed was no goat, not at all. In the end, the facts presented itself and we came to the bitter conclusion that “escargoat” was actually ‘escargot’, which is a snail — for those (much like my boyfriend) who...