Corso
None of the secondi struck our fancy, but we did order a substantial number of dishes. So substantial that instead of ordering by the names, I curled my index finger and thumb into a square bracket and pointed on the menu “we’ll take these four and these four, and the potato, and the asparagus please.”
That was 10 out of 25 “dishes” on the menu, if olives and salads could count as dishes at all.
Three years ago, I had a bite of pork belly sandwich from Corso. I remember nothing of it, except that it was memorably good. I vowed to come back, but my cravings are always either rice noodle or pancakes (although every time I get pancakes, their texture is gravely disappointing), so for these three years, the vow stayed as a vow and didn’t happen. I kept hearing from multiple sources near and far about how good Corso was, though, so my confidence for this Italian restaurant increased. When I picked Corso for dinner last Friday, I didn’t expect the restaurant to wow us, but I felt confident that the meal would be solid and comforting, that we would be well fed by the end.
The high note: the server replaced our plates and utensils after each course, yay for a clean platform to taste new dishes.
The low note: how low would you like to hear?
In general, this Asian does not have paramount hope for Italian food (to me, Italian food is pasta and cheese, both of which I find to be comforting yet boring), but there’s a reason Italian food is comfort food: assuming that you start from boiling dried pasta and that you have any sense of taste at all, it’s easy to cook an edible plate of pasta. Not perfect, but edible. Guess what, the tagliatelle al sugo at Corso was NOT even edible: it was pungent, muddy and in dire need of more tomato sauce and minced carrots. Each of us took one single bite, then a drink of water and that was it. The plate looked untouched when the server later cleaned up the table.
As far as bad restaurant experiences go, Corso had set a new record the moment they managed to screw up pasta and ground meat.
Were we well fed by the end? Well, we were fed up for sure. Why am I not trying to be nice with this review? Because I decided on this restaurant for dinner. I feel responsible when my friends couldn’t enjoy the meal, thus a positive review would be akin to lame excuses to sugar coat my poor decision. In fact, Corso left such a disappointing taste that it doesn’t even deserve a longer title in this post.
Bonus story: the table next to us ordered the butter-roasted chicken. The lady, who appeared to be in her 70s, looked over when our pastas had just arrived and said to her husband, who was signing the bill, “Look, they got the tagliatelle and the cavatelli. It looks good”. So I turned around, smiled with her and asked how was her chicken. She said it was laden with so much butter and cooked perfectly. I replied “It looked ah-may-zing.” (Chicken breasts never excite me, but I figured the situation called for a diplomatic comment.) In hindsight, did we just order the wrong dishes? Nah, it’s much harder to make white meat succulent than to make pasta edible. But I’m glad that at least one customer was happy with her meal.
The APPETIZERS (antipasti)
Marinated carrots – $5
Tasty level: banal (in any decent banh mi can you find equivalent carrots, with less oil)
Tuscan chicken liver pate – $8 – with sage, anchovy and capers.
Tasty level: Mud (I blame it on the overtone of anchovy)
Crostini – $8 – mussel ragu on toast
Tasty level: Good.
Why is it yellow? Beat me.
Grilled shrimp – $11 – in chili oil and parsley
Tasty level: Horrid.
The shrimps taste metallic. Was it overgrilled on open gas flames?
Salumi – $14 – spicy coppa, sweet coppa, toscano, ciccioli on toast, finocchiona.
Tasty level: Meh.
There’s no difference between the spicy coppa and the sweet coppa, or anything on that plate for that matter.
The SIDES (contorni)
Asparagus – $6
Tasty level: banal
I like the asparagus and I would have ranked it higher, but the sauce… They call it “fontina-tartufo fonduta”, which sounds like a chant to me, is so pungent because of the truffle.
Fries – $6 – One of the few edible items.
The first MAIN COURSES (primi)
Cavatelli – $14 – pasta with garlic pork sausage, kale, olives and parmigiano
Tasty level: Good
It’s not all that different from your homemade macaroni and cheese, but we could eat it happily.
Funghi e polenta – $15 – wild mushroom and polenta.
Tasty level: Meh
The polenta seriously needs more salt. There’s no taste in this dish at all. (The mushroom was faintly sour actually.)
Trippa alla Florentina – $9 – tripe stew with pancetta, spicy tomato, parmigiano and mint.
Tasty level: Okay. But it is too monotonic with the tomato sauce.
Tagliatelle al sugo – $15 – pasta with braised beef and pork.
Tasty level: Inedible.
What did they braise the meat with? Mud?
The DESSERTS (dolce)
Panna cotta – $6 – vanilla custard with spiced vino Lambrusco and Mission fig sauce.
Tasty level: Meh. (The custard is tasteless. The fig sauce is okay, though, it was neither too sweet nor too tangy)
Affogato – $6 – gelato with espresso
Tasty level: Good
If they had screwed up ice cream too, I don’t know what I would have done.
I like the vertical theme
Kristen studying Corso menu.
Kristen also reviewed Corso on her blog, Put It on Kristen’s Plate. We shared the same meal, and her review shows the same grave disappointment but with more thorough consideration than mine.
She also raised a good point: when the server approaches you with the question “Is everything okay?”, how do you respond when the food, in fact, is not okay? Do you say the common “yes” to just send the server away from the table? Do you explain what tastes bad? Do you ask to speak to the chef?
Address: Trattoria Corso
1788 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 704-8003
Dinner for 4: $172.77
Reservation is advisable. Despite its surprisingly horrible food, Corso continues to thrive in North Berkeley. All tables later than 5:30 pm on Friday were booked.
Attractive element of content. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to claim that I get in fact loved account your weblog posts. Any way I will be subscribing on your augment or even I success you get admission to consistently rapidly.
1Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your site on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the info you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, fantastic blog!
2Howdy, i read your blog occasionally and i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you prevent it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me insane so any help is very much appreciated.
3Your style is so unique compared to many other people. Thank you for publishing when you have the opportunity,Guess I will just make this bookmarked.
4Absolutely indited written content, Really enjoyed reading.
5Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to grasp a lot approximately this, such as you wrote the ebook in it or something. I believe that you could do with a few to power the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I will certainly be back.
6Normally I don’t read article on blogs, but I wish to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thanks, quite nice post.
7hello!,I like your writing very much! share we communicate more about your post on AOL? I need a specialist on this area to solve my problem. May be that’s you! Looking forward to see you.
8Hi there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your article seem to be running off the screen in Chrome. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The style and design look great though! Hope you get the problem solved soon. Many thanks
9I’d forever want to be update on new blog posts on this website , saved to fav! .
10Thanks for sharing superb informations. Your site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you’ve on this blog. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this website page, will come back for extra articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched everywhere and just couldn’t come across. What a great web-site.
11Horse Gelatin Trick
12I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was wondering what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100 sure. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Kudos
13horse gelatin trick
14Good blog! I really love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I am wondering how I could be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your feed which must do the trick! Have a great day!
15We absolutely love your blog and find a lot of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write about here. Again, awesome blog!
16I conceive you have remarked some very interesting details , thanks for the post.
17I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this web site. I’m hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming also. Actually your creative writing skills has encouraged me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is a good example of it.
18I’ve been exploring for a little for any high-quality articles or weblog posts in this kind of area . Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this website. Reading this info So i am glad to express that I have a very just right uncanny feeling I came upon just what I needed. I such a lot certainly will make sure to don’t omit this site and give it a look regularly.
19obviously like your web site however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I find it very bothersome to inform the reality nevertheless I’ll definitely come back again.
20Hi there! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog. Is it hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about making my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Appreciate it
21Hi my family member! I want to say that this post is awesome, nice written and come with almost all significant infos. I would like to look more posts like this .
22I love the efforts you have put in this, regards for all the great articles.
23Usually I do not read post on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very pressured me to check out and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post.
24Very interesting details you have observed, appreciate it for posting.
25I am not sure where you are getting your information, however great topic. I needs to spend a while finding out much more or figuring out more. Thank you for wonderful information I used to be on the lookout for this info for my mission.
26Very interesting topic, thanks for posting.
27I’ve recently started a site, the info you offer on this website has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work.
28I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have put in writing this blog. I am hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good example of it.
29This design is steller! You certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Excellent job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!
30Real nice design and good written content, hardly anything else we need :D.
31Yesterday, while I was at work, my sister stole my iPad and tested to see if it can survive a 30 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My apple ipad is now destroyed and she has 83 views. I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!
32WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
33Woh I like your content, saved to fav! .
34Vapo Cept
35Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very neatly written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to learn more of your useful information. Thank you for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.
36Greetings! Very helpful advice on this article! It is the little changes that make the biggest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
37I am often to blogging and i really appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information.
38It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
39Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write on my site something like that. Can I implement a part of your post to my site?
40Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
41You made some good points there. I did a search on the subject and found most persons will agree with your blog.
42As I website possessor I believe the written content here is rattling superb, appreciate it for your efforts.
43Wow, marvelous blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is excellent, let alone the content!
44Merely wanna state that this is handy, Thanks for taking your time to write this.
45I’d should examine with you here. Which is not something I often do! I enjoy studying a submit that may make folks think. Also, thanks for allowing me to remark!
46I like this web site its a master peace ! Glad I found this on google .
47Hello There. I found your blog the usage of msn. That is a very smartly written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your useful info. Thank you for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.
48Some really prime blog posts on this internet site, bookmarked.
49Just desire to say your article is as surprising. The clarity in your submit is simply cool and i can suppose you are a professional on this subject. Fine along with your permission allow me to clutch your RSS feed to stay up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks 1,000,000 and please keep up the gratifying work.
50