Not that impressed at Villa 22 this time

We have been to Villa 22 a couple of times and we have been pretty pleased with it. Now they have been open over a year and we went for a dinner there on a Friday night to check it out again. This time we were not that impressed.
We had a reservation at 7.30 (they have a very good online booking system) and we came there a bit early and started with a drink at the Bar Negroni which is connected to the restaurant. When we walked through to the restaurant we got a table right away and sat down. Our waitress appeared fast and asked if we were ready to order before we had even glanced at the menu so the service seemed a bit rushed to start with. Our table was partially at the window and the restaurant provides excellent views to the harbor of Stavanger.
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We decided to go à la carte instead of having the tasting menu. Nikki started with pickled mackerel that she enjoyed and I had some lovely ravioli with ricotta and spinach and the sage butter sauce was very good. Once we were done with the starter, our table was not cleared so we had a few plates on the table. After a while a waitress walked over to our neighbor tables and asked if they had ordered pasta and pork neck. It turned out that this was our mains that very ready to be served but that was not that easy as there were no space left on our table. So we had to hold the plates with the main dishes while she cleared some of the table – not very professional. Nikki’s main dish was pasta with a generous portion of mussels on top. Nikki enjoyed this dish even if it was a bit on the salty side – but it was served with fresh herbs and local produced tomatoes. The only thing missing was a small bucket to keep all the empty mussels.
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My main dish was pork neck served with onion, tomato and potato. I usually associate porn neck with very tender meat but that was not the case here. The meat was OK and it was juicy but not very tender at all. And the grilled onions on the side were lukewarm and the whole dish just seemed uninspired.
I think the best part of the meal was my dessert – a very rich chocolate ganache cake served with a very good raspberry sorbet. Highly recommended if you like chocolate but it is so rich that you can easily share it with someone as this is more pure candy than a dessert.
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It took some time to get the check as all the waitresses seemed to vanish after people was done eating. When we first got the check I noticed that the wine price was not correct – when I mentioned this to the waitress she took it back and corrected this. The wine selection is not that extensive by the way and it is still sad to see that a bottle of pretty simple Chianti that cost 130 kroner (16 USD) at the local wine shop ends up being 575 kroner (72 USD) at the restaurant.
Without the wine the meal was 1075 Kroner (135 USD). The food had some highlights but the main dish was a bit of a letdown for me. And there room for improvement when it comes to the service and organizing of staff it seems like.
Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com

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