Antonio's Trattoria Calabria — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

I don’t understand the positive reviews for this place at all. Dreadful, dreadful food. Antonio’s seems like an Italian place that was perhaps acceptable when it opened in 2003, but simultaneously has declined in quality while also being left behind by the dynamic KL food scene.

We had a pizza, linguini vongole and baked cannelloni, and they were all just barely edible.

The pizza was overly cheesed and the crust was thin but not crunchy with zero fluffiness or flavor. The vongole pasta was truly shocking - a gooey sauce similar to a Chinese cornstarch-thickened sauce texture, but somehow still with no taste. Finally, the cannelloni gave me flashbacks of a typical Kitchen Nightmares episode where a chef serves Ramsey a microwaved frozen cannelloni covered in a goopy tomato sauce… the pasta was totally over cooked and mushy while the chicken filling was obviously defrosted and soggy. The tomato sauce had little tomato flavor, and simultaneously watery (from defrosting?) and too creamy

Every dish was just gross honestly, and we had wobbly stomachs the rest of the night. Nothing was even remotely authentic, nor even fusion in a modern way. The house red was Australian for gosh sakes

While the host was friendly; in a half-empty restaurant, the first dish still took over 30 minutes to arrive… way too long for the quality. We also had to watch one of the staff peeling mushrooms in the dining room with his mask off and constantly rubbing his face. The decor is antiquated, but it’s the last thing I’d complain about, given this place’s problems.

I can’t think of a single thing to recommend about this restaurant. I sincerely hope the management makes some major changes, because lasting almost 20 years is no small feat; the restaurant’s decline must have been gradual and unnoticed/ignored. I want this to be a wake up call, because it can’t survive long serving this kind of food. Especially with all the amazing restaurants in...

My friends and I are not food snobs but - dining here was like being in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Expect an Uncle Don/Malaysianised type of Italian with a heftier price tag and nothing to shout about.

To start off, the Soft Shell Crab salad. It was a plate of thousand island/mayo, garnished with limp lettuce. The soft shell crab was thickly battered and deep fried. Mixed together, the ratio was so off, we couldn't finish it. Mind you, we're 💥broke young adults💥, we ALWAYS finish food. Alas, we couldn't down a plate of mayo.

Pizza. Not Italian, bready, very flat and not great quality ingredients either. Very much like an easy-bake or reheated pizza you'd get at a Bar that doesn't serve much food. Some dribbles of Tabasco saved it, not by much though.

Salmone (smoked salmon) pasta was edible, Arrabiata pasta was meh. The plates were sauce heavy (blended//can type) and the arrabiata was very dark brown. To note, it costs as much as Back Alley Pasta but it is noooowhere close to being a memorable pasta dish.

The Mushroom Risotto dish was it's saving grace. It was steaming, saucy and acceptable in flavour. It's not reaaaal risotto and it wasn't very mushroomy, but the flavour was enough and comforting. The bed of salad at the side was garnished properly with balsamic vinegar and was pleasant.

In the very least, it's a quiet place that caters to large-ish groups but...they're so many others that you could be going to for much more acceptable food nowadays, especially in this part of town. They'll need a remake of their large...

Updated review

Food ⭐⭐⭐⭐️ The taste is alrite, not bad, not amazing. It's okay. Lunch set, chicken chop for Rm19+. 👎Chicken chop literally just came with a chicken chop and a side of lettuce. 📝 It would have been better with a side of mash or fries. Pizza was delicious, all the pizza was good. Didn’t find a pizza that I didn’t like. The mushroom soup was good. Lasagna was nice, salty from the cheese, sour from the tomato’s. Can still be better with more minced meat. I did like the drink it came with. Tasted like grape juice. Presentation ⭐⭐ Not very good but it was okay. Pizza presentation was nice. Portion ⭐⭐ Chicken chop could be better. Pizza Portion was good. Can’t really go wrong with a standard pizza. Service ⭐⭐ Staff doesn't acknowledge us when we talk to them. When we asked for a glass of water they just walked away and brought a glass of water. When they asked if we wanted ice in our drinks, I said no ice and came back with ice in the drink. They look unhappy and don't enjoy their work. Environment ⭐⭐⭐ It's okay. Interior looks old. But that’s okay, it’s family run business that would probably be passed on to the next generation. Price ⭐⭐⭐ Lunch set had 2 category. rm16+ and Rm19+ Comes with soup or salad, and a drink.

📝 Improvement to be made 📝 Staff training,...