ChiChi Kitchen — Restaurant in Christchurch

Tried to dine in here on Monday 28/08. When we rang I asked for a 7:45pm table...as there was originally two adults and one baby. Was asked by the man (presumably the chef or person behind counter based off my impressions when we arrived at the restaurant later... If it's the owner then that would be more worrying ) for how many people we'd like. It wasn't until I mentioned we had a third (baby - high chair needed ) that the tone changed and the " sorry we have no tables " came out as it was fully booked tonight? Prior to that he was happy to ask us for how many people would we like? Seems odd that for a fully booked restaurant your happy to start with that? I thought...sure why not we're last minute dropping in and the reviews indicate this is a busy restaurant.

Rather than missing out on the chance to try the food I went against a table at another highly rated Italian (using google maps) who were more than happy to accommodate us that late at night (we were ringing close to 7pm+) and order takeaway. Was told as busy it'll be 8pm for pickup

I arrive on the dot for 8pm and foood is ready. No issues. But the main dining area where the cash register and takeaway is has a few tables with customers and a heap empty. I counted at least 4-5 empty tables that could accommodate 2 adults. Now one did have finished cutlery from a diner gone by. But unless Google maps is incorrect with the 9pm close time surely more than half the tables didn't finish and leave between 7:45pm when we wanted to book and the 8pm pickup? The website allows 7:45pm bookings so surely the issue wasnt a closing kitchen.

What was also disheartening as a customer was walking out it's a cute restaurant and there's a second space (restaurant is split across two physicals ) across with people still eating... And lo and behold even more empty tables I could see. Again I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt but somehow can't help but feel we were fobbed off when there were plenty of spare tables staring at us. Surely left a bitter feeling and wondering if we were just fobbed off because of the little one or people who wanted to head home early.

Disregarding the lack of accommodation for a table ... The takeaway was lacklustre. I mean maybe we're spoiled for Italian over in Australia but our experience with the takeaway was far from as impressive as other reviewers. And I mean this entirely disregarding any bias from not being served a table. The squid ink linguine pasta was ok, but the capers are few and far between. It felt lacking, unlike other squid ink pasta with some form of meat or other accompaniments this was just bare and lacking.

The rose sauce pasta that frequents images and reviews was ok, but the sauce just didn't have any standout taste , which may be due in part to a lack of it. I know takeaways soak up sauce but there wasn't enough that some middle parts of the pasta when mixed just didn't feel coated in sauce at all. I doubt the 10-15 mins until we are from pickup soaked up all the sauce and this has never been an issue with other Italian takeaway.

Sure it's affordable.. but if your used to good Italian I'd recommend going elsewhere for your pasta fix. If you have a baby... Well you can try getting a table as my experience may have been an once off... But unfortunately it's enough for us to not warrant coming back in person. Perhaps the food in persons also better judging by reviews... But the takeaway just was that lacklustre to make excuses for.

P.s. the other Italian with good ratings was Tutto bene on Papanui road which I'd say bypass the hype here and give that a shot first...

Reply to owner's response: In my experience, customers don't usually ask lots of questions when they order, I see there are cheese, onion, garlic, looks like a good ol' cream sauce pasta and why should there be any further qn. about such a straight forward ingredient list? smacked by surprise when it turned out to be a very salty dish. Good for those that like salt and enjoy their meal. My friend and I both agree it's too salty. The reason why I did not return after 1 or 2 bites only is because I thought it may not be that bad and try to finish it but couldn't because my throat start to hurt which never happens when I eat a meal unless it's either too spicy or for the first time, too salty. My opinion is the chef can offer adding some cream sauce into the dish to dilute the salt, no need to further cook the pasta. But of course it's up to the chef if he/she wants to help make the experience better.

By the way the sauce is broken.

Original review: Food looked promising as its got 4.7 star review on Google, which is the reason why I chose to try out this restaurant. Ordered the Gorgonzola cheese sauce with Campanelle which was one of the recommended dish. Turned out to be too salty for me. It's the first time I had to ask the waitress if it's supposed to be this salty because I know it's better not to send the food back to the kitchen. But it's just too salty and impossible to finish as it is. Waitress kindly checked with the chef. The chef response according to the waitress is it is a cheese sauce so it is supposed to be this salty. My throat hurts half way through eating it because it is just so salty. Felt like I might get hypertension on my way home. Don't order unless you have loss of tastebud.

No solution offered so had to finish it by adding more water to dilute the sauce.

Not the best...

My partner booked this for a date night, and we had high hopes after seeing the reviews, but were very disappointed. First of all, the room we were seated in was freezing, lacked much ambiance (no music playing , you could just hear other peoples conversations) as well as the table being really wobbly we had to try and fix it with a napkin. We ordered entrees and mains, and drinks. The entrees were fast to come out but once they had we were told that there would be a bit of a wait for the mains. It was more than a bit of a wait though, and ended up taking over an hour and a half for our mains to come out. It would have been nice to have known this before ordering, as if we had known we would have gone somewhere else. I have just read a review on here with someone having a similar experience , and they were given meals to takeaway for free, but were were never offered anything of this kind. My partner asked to cancel the meals getting in to about an hour and a half of the service, but we were told that the kitchen was plating up, but then proceeded to wait another 15 minutes. I understand that sometimes there are staffing shortages, but since we already had a booking we expected better than this. The food tasted good when we did get it, and the waitresses were nice , but looked stressed and we were never asked how the meals were or if we wanted another drink, the little things you'd expect when you are paying...