Palato — Restaurant in Hibiscus and Bays

If you're craving good pasta in the shore, this place is worth trying. However, I hope your experience differs from ours.

The pasta was great, and the chef was lovely. Unfortunately, the overall service left us feeling very unwelcome. We were pointed towards an area to sit, so we picked one of the multiple empty tables and settled. Not long after, we were reseated to a table right by the kitchen and counter despite numerous available tables. We assumed there might be reserved seating arrangements, but our discomfort grew when another couple arrived not long after and were offered a choice of seating. This made our dining experience uncomfortable, especially considering the constant movement of the waiters by us as we ate. If there were no more seats available, we would understand and not have any issues with the seating. In this scenario, though, some tables remained unoccupied during most of the stay.

The waiter's demeanor also contributed to our negative experience. Our wine glasses were swiftly removed, which we understood given our youthful appearance, yet it felt slightly awkward, especially in conjunction with the seating situation.

However, the tipping point was when the waiter pointed out that we should order from the soda options upon handing us the menu. This made us feel patronised and belittled as these comments were very unnecessary.

We ate our meals and left as soon as possible as we felt like we were being "supervised" the whole duration of our dinner, especially being seating right by the counter as if they were keeping an eye on us. We felt less like a customer and more like a liability during our time here.

Although the food was delightful, and we appreciated the personal thank you from the chef, the service significantly detracted from our overall experience.

Compliments to the kitchen team! Despite the service, we had some...

Have been waiting to try this place out for ages, and it was absolutely worth it. The food was fantastic, but the service was even better; I rarely tip servers in New Zealand, but the attentiveness and gentleness by which Diyana served us was incredibly outstanding. Thank you Diyana.

We had the: Cos salad. I usually don't go for salads but this was extremely refreshing and the foccacia crisp provided such a nice crunch. It ended up being my favourite thing that we ordered, though everything was really really good. Pork belly. Again, delicious. The plum and mustard was something I've never had with pork belly, and I loved it. Just fantastic. Fried halloumi. A really different way to serve halloumi! I really liked it; the only minor nitpick I had was I wish there was a bit more halloumi:crust/honey ratio so that the flavour of the halloumi could also shine. But the sweetness of it was almost unexpected and it was really lovely. Corn mafaldine. DELICIOUS pasta, coming from someone who generally goes for pizza over pasta. In love. Can't wait to return and get this again. The creaminess was perfect, the shape and texture were perfect, everything was absolutely perfect.

While the food was brilliant, the true positive experience of the night came from Diyana's service. We also got to briefly meet the owners, and they were incredibly friendly. A really pleasant evening that delighted us in every way. Can't wait to return and try the rest of that menu (including the foccacia bread I saw other patrons having... looked so delicious)....

palato is always a hit!! we’ve been to their previous cbd location a couple of times last year and it was love at first bite. so when we found out that they reopened in browns bay we had to visit asap. we tried the bucatini (with red pepper sauce) and campanelle (non-traditional carbonara). and they were both so DELICIOUS. the bucatini was so saucy (i love red pepper sauce YUM) and the squid was so tender. the campanelle has a special place in my heart as it reminded me of the carbonara i grew up eating in malaysia hahaha, and even if you didn’t have any childhood attachments this was still an excellent dish. i’m a huge mushroom + cream fan, and the pasta shape is like a spoon to hold the sauce, mushroom and pancetta in one yummy bite. the portions were so generous we had to take the rest home, can’t wait to have it for dinner 😈😈😈 they also have entrees and desserts now! we tried their baby cos salad (thank you chef!!🫶🏻) and ricotta cheesecake. if all salads tasted like this i would eat more salads, the dressing is so addicting and the focaccia crisps are soooo crunchy. after such a hearty meal, the dessert was a great way to end it. the tangy passionfruit sauce cuts through the richness of the cheesecake so it was very refreshing 😍. we had such an amazing lunch. the service was great. the owners are always so lovely 🥹🥹🥹 and it shows in their food as well!! can’t wait to come back 🤩🤩🤩 hopefully the corn pasta and chicken pot pie pasta makes a...