WOW Bistro — Restaurant in Zhongshan District

Food: the food was subpar. The Caesar salad had no dressing; it was just lettuce, cheese and croutons. The soup of the day had soggy croutons; rarely do I ever go to a restaurant where the croutons are already soggy by the time it reaches your table. The pasta was undercooked and the risotto overcooked, neither were al dente. The truffle sauce for the risotto was very artificial and ruined the whole dish. Only saving grace was the fried milkfish which was decent.

Value for money/CP: given that with a set meal it was around TW$500 per person, I would say there are better restaurants around that serve better food.

Ambience: The atmosphere was decent, but you’re literally sitting beside the next table with little space which was kind of weird given that this is a bistro and not a local eatery. Unfortunately, was bitten by mosquitoes which soured the mood even more.

Service: Service staff were friendly and attentive despite the crowd during peak dinner period.

Unfortunately would not visit again as the food was...

Spaghetti with Mentaiko Sauce, Shrimp Clams, and Neritic Squid ($300): There is also asparagus in it originally but I asked for not putting that. However, there are still a lot of sliced onions that took me a while to pick up because I dislike onions. Get down to business, the squids, clams, and shrimps are all fresh and luscious. The noodles have great texture tasted delicious with the Mentaiko sauce and some peppers.

Fruit Tea ($90): It tastes fairly sweet, fleshy, tarted, and tangy. It feels like lemon tea but the flavour of lemon is a lot richer than normal.

In conclusion, moderate prices, great portion, and nice attitude but the spaghetti was delivered a bit later. There weren’t many seats in the restaurant, which was a tad crowded, and I barely got one without reservation. The location is between MRT Zhongshan (exit 4) and Shuanglian (exit 1), so both stations are approximately the same distance from the restaurant. Overall, it’s a 8.5 out of 10!

FYI, there’ll be 10% service charge included...

I ordered the mixed seafood pasta with pumpkin soup and lemon coffee. There's room for improvement here, but the experience and food was very good.

I was seated quickly, the waitress did her best to walk me through my options. The atmosphere is classy and the music was modern and decent. The kitchen looks clean.

I highly recommend the soup upgrade, it was creamy, sweet, savory and lightly salty... really you can't get much better pumpkin soup than that.

The pasta was dried spaghetti. I'm a little disappointed that and upscale Italian place like this doesn't make their own. The scallops and salmon were both overcooked, but surprising the shrimp was about right. The sauce was delicious, partially because the smoked salmon flavor seeps into the sauce, but it really saved the dish.

The coffee was also very good. It came out looking like a sunrise, presentation was fantastic.

Overall the service was great and the experience was very good. I'll be back, but probably skip the...