For the Thanksgiving holiday Gabriele and I drove up to my hometown of Stamford, Connecticut. On Friday night we went to dinner at Cafe Silvium, an Italian restaurant with a strong local reputation. http://www.cafesilvium.com/default.asp
The restaurant is in the Shippan area of town and only seats around 40 people at a time. The restaurant does not take reservations for parties smaller than five, but luckily we just hit that number and there wasn’t too long a wait. We all had nice meals, but the wine recommendation and the service did not match the quality of the food.
I asked our server about a Barbera on the wine list, and he strongly recommended the Casaia Rosso Toscano 2006, a 50-50 blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet. I like clear recommendations from restaurant staff, so I went for it. Unfortunately in this case the wine was very mediocre. It had a bland bouquet, with a light body and a finish that was a bit sour. Neither varietal stood out — it was almost like they cancelled each other out somehow. The wine was drinkable, but a real disappointment after such an enthusiastic suggestion. And at around $12-$13 retail, a pretty stiff markup.
The other disappointment was the service. It was gruff to the edge of being brusque, with absolutely no personality or warmth. As written above the wine suggestion was a poor one, and four different servers approached the table at one time or another. The entrees did not all arrive at the same time, and the food was “auctioned off at tableside” as the expression goes, i.e. the server asking who gets what.
This was a shame, because the food was excellent. We started with two orders of grilled calamari that were very good, fresh tasting with peppers and salad. Every entree was strong. I had a large portion of Osso Buco that was perfectly cooked, with relatively little fat and a nice vegetable saffron risotto. Linguine with seafood and cavatelli with mushrooms and arugula tasted as hand made as advertised. And sauteed red snapper was fantastic with onions, capers and black olives in a basil tomato sauce.
Perhaps the strength of the food means Silvium doesn’t have to try as hard in other areas. But it would be a more satisfying dining experience if they paid more attention to service. Additional video commentary from our party shared below.
