Alpino Mount Maunganui — Restaurant in Bay of Plenty

Terrible experience. Started with two cocktails that tasted far too sweet and couldn’t even taste the gin.

Then came the flatbreads, the pumpkin & burrata and the snapper crudo. Sadly the breads are the star here. The pumpkin is a watery purée flop with a slab of burrata in it and the snapper was a burnt buttery mess of snapper pieces. Lacking flavour on both dishes.

Next came the bitter leaves, insalata sarda and carrots. We were informed they ran out of stracciatella for the carrots but continued to proceed. The bitter leaves had a mountain of olive oil over them (leaves with your olive oil anyone?) and was choked in Parmesan. Awful. The insalata sarda salmon was no better than a smoked cold salmon from countdown or new world out the packet on a mixed dish of grains, feta and other intricate items. Lacking flavour and any substance, this was the worst dish of all of them. Lastly, the carrots. They were rolled in olive oil and were hardly cooked. Firm to bite. Awful.

$160- something later; I couldn’t wait to get out faster. Total dining time for all of this was bang on an hour. Such a shame because the new sister restaurant that recently opened, Piknicka, was a stellar 10/10.

Definitely won’t be back when we can cook better at home....

The Alpino had been recommended to us by several friends, and it did not disappoint. Great central location in Mount Maunganui with a lovely, vibrant atmosphere. If I squinted my eyes a little to blur the pouring rain outside, I could almost imagine I was sitting in a restaurant in Italy. Almost ;) I had the Pappardelle Al Ragu (Beef) and loved it. Really rich. My partner who was celebrating her birthday had the Spaghettini Vongole (Clams). She said it was good but will go for something else next time. Our meal was complimented well with a bottle (or two!) of the JK “Nonna Silvana”, Pinot Grigio. The meal was finished off with a complimentary glass of Limoncello. Thanks guys,...

Disappointing meal - dined here a couple of years ago while on girls weekend and had a lovely evening so was looking forward to returning with the family. Two on our table shared the lamb shoulder (came out only slightly warm in middle so had to ask if they could heat up) I had pasta with prawns (prawns were sliced and hard to distinguish from the pasta - had been hoping for nice whole ones) and fourth in our group had lasagne which she enjoyed but fortunately wasn’t hungry as was on small side. No specials on offer as ‘were too busy’ so selection was limited. Service was friendly and good. Would have liked to do 2.5 stars but...