Tavolo in Gothenburg - a giant horse's head, top-notch pizzas and a waiter who let the side down

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Arrival and setting

Tavolo sits on Magasinsgatan in Gothenburg, and the entrance alone is an experience. You step through a gigantic door into an impressive old hall, and it genuinely feels like stepping into another world. The restaurant is large, dramatic and immaculately styled, with something grand and almost cinematic about it, a little like the lavish elegance of the 1950s and 1960s.

And then, of course, there is the horse's head. In the middle of the restaurant stands an enormous horse's head that completely dominates the room. It may sound over the top, but somehow it simply works with everything else, and you instinctively reach for your phone ;) The place was nicely busy on this Wednesday evening, and there was plenty of life in the room.

Service - an unfortunate start

Unfortunately, the restaurant experience itself did not begin quite as well as the arrival. Tavolo works with a concept where several of the dishes are designed for sharing, which is a lovely way to eat when there are a few of you around the table. But on a first visit, it is nice to be given a proper introduction to how the menu works and how much you ought to order. We never got one.

We will not pretend otherwise: we found our waiter grumpy, arrogant and with very little interest in helping us. It mostly felt as though we were expected to order as quickly as possible, and at one point he turned his back and walked off while we were still mid-sentence. That is simply not a pleasant way to be treated as a guest. It was especially a shame because the other waiters in the restaurant seemed both smiling and welcoming, so we had probably just been unlucky with our particular waiter. Our criticism is therefore of the service at our table, not of the staff as a whole.

What we ate

Thankfully, the food was another story altogether. We started with arancini (185 SEK), the classic Italian risotto balls we often order at Italian restaurants, and bruschetta (215 SEK). The bruschetta was a genuinely pleasant surprise - a delicious version with pear, gorgonzola cream, nuts and parmesan.

Then came the pizzas. The children shared a classic Margherita (205 SEK) and we had a Diavola (245 SEK), and they were really good. We like it when an Italian kitchen also makes room for the very simplest dishes, and a Margherita is a good way to get a feel for a restaurant's approach to pizza.
We also had the Pollo Parmigiana (295 SEK), an Italian chicken dish and the most substantial plate of the evening, with a side of spinach for 75 SEK. All in all, we were very taken with the kitchen.
The girls also had 2 portions of pasta bathed in butter, which they loved.

The desserts

We finished dinner with a Chocolate Lava Cake (140 SEK) and a Mirtillo e Pistacchio (140 SEK), while Olivia had a children's ice cream. It was a lovely way to round things off, and we paid the bill at 21.44, so we had been there just under two hours from ordering.

Champagne, wine and cocktails

We began the evening with two glasses of Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial (135 SEK per glass). With the food we chose a bottle of Bramito della Sala from Antinori (875 SEK), an Italian white from Umbria, and later on we also had two Espresso Martinis (168 SEK each). It is the kind of evening where you want to linger and enjoy the food, the wine and the beautiful surroundings, and the setting at Tavolo certainly invites you to do just that.

Tavolo with children

We had Alberte and Olivia with us, and it is lovely when a restaurant with a more ambitious kitchen also makes room for the children's very simple requests. The restaurant is large and lively, and neither the decor nor the atmosphere made it difficult to bring children along. The only thing we missed was the friendliness and attention that makes both children and adults feel welcome.

Price and level

The bill came to 3,371 SEK for two adults and two children, roughly 2,200 Danish kroner. That covered all the dishes, two desserts and a children's ice cream, two glasses of champagne, a bottle of white wine, two Espresso Martinis, soft drinks and water. Tavolo is not a cheap little Italian, but it also offers an entirely different kind of setting and experience, and with that many drinks on the receipt you have to take the whole picture into account when judging the price. (Not sponsored)