We’ve covered Italian food in hotel restaurants before with the now famous (to me at least) visit to Theo Randall’s place, and the consensus was mixed but generally positive. If only we’d visited Vetro first; it would’ve seemed prodigious by comparison.
There are several things wrong with Vetro, the first of which is the dining room. It’s capacious, cold and confusing. The deeply polished floors with the garish green colours make it look like you’re at a swimming pool complex. They don’t really know what to do with their decorations either. It’s a mix of rustic Italian jars and preserved produce along with dried flowers and plants. In fact, so much fake vegetation adorns a structure in the centre of the room it looks like a long-defunct fountain on which nature has taken its course.
As much as I’m rambling about the ambience of the place here, it does need mentioning because if you’re eating in a west end hotel (The Montcalm in this case), you expect to be comfortable and relaxed. This hollow room did nothing for me.
Service was flawed if enthusiastic, which actually made things worse. (Clumsy, overbearing…that sort of thing.) In the circumstances I would’ve hoped they would be slightly quieter and reserved. The food started well enough: some roast quail was pretty decent, served with potatoes and hazelnuts yet well-cooked and seasoned. Similarly, a carpaccio of seared beef with mushrooms, parmesan and summer truffle (just where are you getting summer truffle from in December?) was juicy and tangy.
Main courses were where the meal started to wobble. In fact, after mine I was almost lost to the cause. A ‘special’ steak (it wasn’t on the menu) sounded delightful, served with mushrooms and jus accompanied with seasoned mash. It was tough, overcooked, bland and very disappointing. Not far behind was the leg of rabbit, which again sounded fine, served with pancetta and potatoes. It was far from delicious. Unimpressive, under-supported and too dry made for a second poor main course.
I hoped (though not with any real conviction) that desserts could salvage proceedings. Since we weren’t feeling massively enthused, we ordered the trio of Italian desserts to share: an interesting and creative deconstructed tiramisu, a passable and fairly enjoyable panna cotta and a ropey-as-anything wheat cheesecake. The first two were quite good: a combination of biscuit fingers dipped in strong coffe and sweet cream; and smooth fruit-sauced simplicity. The cheesecake was a huge mistake right from the conception of the idea. Dry, tasteless, maybe even cheeseless and certainly not something I’d want to eat again.
Vetro will need to buck its ideas up if it’s to compete with rival hotel restaurants in the area. Starting with the dining room and finishing with that cheesecake, the place is in need of a re-think. The good (starters) were good, but the bad will stick in the memory longer, and that just isn’t what we’re paying for.
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