this is a very typical Shanghai/China type of place. It has all the right ambitions, attempts and elements lined up, then comes short in delivering. It is a smoke free restaurant - cool. Yipee. Now if only the staff respects this, and not go smoking on the balcony, and then stink like an ashtray when serving you. It is still such an effort to get food at your table in one go. It is things like this that takes away from the experience. And what is with the closing time on sundays?? We're not supossed to eat dinner that day? es the food is acceptably good. And hats off for the wine chart = it is by far the most qualitative I've seen in town. Eduardo knows his grapes. Casa is too ordinary to be upscale - despite them billing you as such. Too many reminders that it is one thing to say how different and special you are, and quite another to have it show in service, attitude and overall experience. Been there, done that, not getting a Tshirt...
I have been hearing of Eduardo's new venture Casa 13 for quite a while and managed to head there for dinner with my wife for our first anniv. It was fantastic. We had the Chartunec (pardon me for the spelling) board which was about Rmb 150 and absolutely delicious and worth every yuan. We also had the apple and fennel salad which disappointed a bit (maybe thats how fennel tastes), and the chicken skewers which was finger licking good with the special sauce they give. We ordered wine by the glass which was about Rmb45 and quite worth the price. We tried the green tea panna cota (excellent) and the yoghurt based pannacota (not smooth enough to melt in your lips). On the whole a very satisfactory experience.
Nice place, nice food, nice wine, nice service !
Where is this place?
Maybe in Soho, NYC? Or Beverly Hills, LA? Or London, UK?
If it would be in one of those places, I would - of course - not wonder about an all english written menu as the official language is english.
But Casa 13 is in Shanghai CHINA (where the official language is mandarin) and has ONLY an all english written menu. Not even an option of a menu written in chinese.
Why?
What's your concept behind this? Racism? Lack of respect? Trying to be super international? Or actually dreaming of a location in NYC and oups...still in Shanghai instead?
Please dear Casa 13 owner, show your RESPECT to the country and people you do business in and with !
Been there, done that, seen it. Once and for all, not planning to go back there again. It was a smoke free restaurant. I was a smoker. So beware viewers, my verdict could be biased here.
But tell me if 8 pieces of less than 1cm in diameter scallops (though on the menu it's called "jumbo scallop); with extra glaze of sweet soy sauce on top, no side dish to go along, not even a sprig of parsley as garnish; worth paying RMB170 for. The Spanish Chorizo, never had a similar dish before, but tasted nothing more than Chinese sauage. Very very thin sliced sauage (too sweet) served with mini-toasts that were neither warm nor crisp. All their breads were so chewy (multi-microwaved) that really gave me a good mouth exercise. For the Mojito, I didn't taste any difference from those of other places. Only the glass was sufficiently smaller. De la Coast's happy hour Mojito is much better, with its impeccable view and comfortable seat! The check came as expected, RMB500+ for two, which got me a Casa business card (but won't need again) and a 1000-word review. It's worth the experience.
Apparently those at Casa 13 still need some more learning. We originally made a reservation for 2 people at 7pm last night, but were afraid we were going to be late, so in the afternoon, I called and asked to change the reservation to 8pm. I was told, "Not a problem, done." So we arrive at 8pm and were greeted by the manager and his artificial smile. After I told him the usual: name, party of 2, 8pm - he told us there was some confusion earlier and asked if I had received a call from the restaurant. After I replied, "No, what's the problem?" he stated that since the restaurant is small, they keep it to two seatings a night and that I had been put down for the 7pm seating and agreed to be done within 2 hours. This was news to me as there was never any mention of this either time I called and I told him so. He then made some feeble excuse about how my phone was turned off. (Side Remark: First, blatant lie as why would I turn my phone off on a Saturday afternoon when there is an option called "silent" if need be, and second, I never have my phone turned off due to the country's lack of voicemail usage.) As we were led to our table, he made us feel as if we were a big imposition of them and still some sort of comment on the big "confusion". I didn't understand what was so hard about the situation. We had a reservation at 7pm and called to change it to 8pm. At no point in time was there a mention about different seatings and a time frame. And truth be told, I am not in a position to review the food as we didn't even touch the menu. I even saved them the effort of pouring water for us. We decided that there are far too many other restaurants in Shanghai to receive this type of treatment so we left. I will say this though, the garden and sunroom looked beautiful and is a wonderful setting, albeit a bit out of the way. I too, will be sticking to Azul/Viva.
A long-time Eduardo Vargas groupie, deeply saddened by the downfall of 239, I was dying to try out Casa 13. Our first attempt (without a reservation) failed as all tables were taken in this tiny villa. For last night's meal I made a reservation days in advance. Two hours before our seating, I received a call from the hostess asking if she could seat us "upstairs" instead of in the courtyard glassed in sunroom to accommodate another guest who could not manage stairs. I agreed and was promised free dessert & coffee. When we arrived, the service seemed very promising, with the previous Syzygy manager Vince seating us with apologies about the space and telling us they were still learning - any suggestions appreciated. However, the service tapered off throughout the evening, leaving us with empty water glasses, refilling our own wine, and a forgotten steak.
Although we were mildly anticipating good service, what we were really looking forward to was the food. The plates are to share and we ended up with the following selection which fell into two camps. calamari with homemade aioli, rustic risotto, and tenderloin which were satisfying but nothing blew us away. Just OK were fennel apple salad, balsamic roasted asparagus, prawn scampi (not too special, and NOT prawns). The savior was definitely the desserts, which arrived without prompting. The Peruvian flan starred in a 5 piece sampler. The bill came and didn't break the bank, free steak and dessert helped.
Casa 13 has potential. The old lane villa space is fantastic, and there are several things on the menu we want to go back for (specifically the scallops). The cocktail list is creative and the wine is fantastic. Maybe after the hype wears off we could become regulars. Until then, I will stick with Azul/Viva for my Eduardo fix.
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