Aaron S.
Yelp
Taverna Brillo is on Stureplan in Stockholm - quite a confusing layout due to the fact it has two different entrances - the restauraunt and ice cream parlour, after arriving here I noticed it was closed so I went outside and attempted to phone in with no answer - only to realise this was the ice cream parlour entrance. I really don't understand the point of this as surely a sign on the door pointing to the restauraunt would make more sense - it was by chance I ended up turning left at the end of the street and finding here after my GPS must have led me to the wrong location.
The restauraunt is an Italian restauraunt, I came here before heading to the Friends Arena, where I watched Sweden draw 1-1 with Norway in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier due to it being in a nice area of the city and close to a metro station. I hear it is owned / by Swedish celebrity chef Tommy Myllimäki..
As you walk in there is a huge wheel you can spin which is pretty cool - although I'm not sure what it is as the staff member didn't offer me the chance to use it or tell me about it, and it was as expected - all in Swedish.
Inside, the area is pretty large with an open kitchen and bar area and another area where they were serving glasses and wine (quite interesting) - while I was sat at my table I was just there watching multiple staff members who were on shift, drinking glasses of wine in between serving tables and it wasn't even evening yet - it's five o'clock somewhere but surely employees shouldn't be consuming alcohol in-between working? I don't want my food served by someone intoxicated thanks.
Luckily, the staff member who served me wasn't one of the alcoholics - she was friendly and polite and able to explain that the pizza and pasta could be made gluten-free.
Inside, the place felt more like a chain than a nice, romantic/high-end restauraunt yet it still charged expensive, high-end prices - for just a margarita pizza it came to 180 krona, which when converted works out about £15.26 which I just don't feel is justifiable, especially considering this is one of the cheaper items on the menu.
My pizza was just edible - it was certainly better than the one I had from Vapiano the following day and for gluten-free pizza, the base was pretty good, albeit slightly burnt and it was black and tasted like charcoal in some areas - my main problem was the toppings, with the cheese tasting like it was a sauce - whatever it was it certainly wasn't fresh mozzarella, it was lumped together in a horrible mess and I had to scrape most of it off - the pasatta (tomato sauce) used also tasted pretty basic and possibly canned - this is again what you expect from a chain's cheap pizza, not an expensive pizza like this.
The gluten-free bread as a mini-starter was a nice gesture, however, I needed a lot of oil just to make it edible as it was really hard and tasted of nothing.
I did struggle finding edible food in Stockholm which wasn't junk food and was gluten-free, and this place does have potential as the gluten-free base might not be exceptional but it wasn't bad (trust me I've had a lot worse), but this place has so many flaws I can't justify over a two-star rating in the same way I can't justify the prices they charge for sub-par quality and allowing staff to become intoxicated during shift.
