Tiffany M.
Yelp
I wish my second Allelo experience was as phenomenal as the first time. Sadly, it missed the mark.
To preface, I came here to celebrate a big accomplishment at one of my favorite restaurants. When the reservation was booked, we noted that tonight was a celebration and provided details. When we arrived, the host asked if it was a special occasion, and we once again shared that we were celebrating. When we were seated and our server greeted us, they asked for a third time if we were celebrating anything. Then nothing happened. Not that anything needs to happen, but what is the point of asking for information if you are not going to do anything with that information? There was no effort to make the night special or share in our celebration on Allelo's part, which was a let down.
As for the food, it was inconsistent. The beef tartare and branzino were as delectable as I remembered them. Instead of the cacio e pepe I tried the capeletti pasta stuffed with mushrooms, and was not a fan at all. The mushrooms were sour with a sharp bite to them, and that was the only flavor the dish had.
To make matters worse, the desserts (with the exception of the chocolate cake with cherries and strawberry syrup) were BAD. I never thought I would have a bad thing to say about Allelo, but the desserts were really not good. We tried an espresso martini, the polenta crème brûlée and the deconstructed lemon pie. The espresso martini fell flat and came with a gummy, but cute, branded logo. The polenta had no business calling itself crème brûlée because the only commonality was the caramelized sugar top. The flavor and texture were both off-putting. The lemon dessert was almost as off-putting, and I struggle to determine which was worse. It was essentially a hard bar of frozen lemon milk that was so acidic I was surprised I did not instantly have heart burn. It was topped with candied fennel (not bad, but not good) and plated with an olive oil emulsion and a pasta water emulsion. Why anyone would think those two emulsions are a good idea is beyond me. Neither added anything to the dish and actually took away from the already lacking quality.
It is a shame that Allelo can deliver good appetizers and entrees but cannot pull through with good desserts. All in all, this experience was disheartening. Our server was a 5/5, the beef tartare and branzino were a 5/5, and the prices were 5/5, but the cons outweighed the pros this time.