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    La taverna Armento

    5.0 (1 review)

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    5 years ago

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    Spago Italian Bistro - Tiramisu and profiteroles both with chocolate sauce and fresh cream

    Spago Italian Bistro

    3.0(2 reviews)
    67.3 km

    We were in the Heritage hotel on a two night deal. Our deal included food in their Italian Spago…read morerestaurant (see photos). A ciabatta with olive oil, cheese, tomato and tasty as well as a generous portion; a duck leg main and a sirloin steak main. I asked for the steak to be medium. It was. It was a good thick tasty steak. It had a good pepper sauce on the side. I asked for English mustard - best mustard in the world too - no problem. Mashed potatoes, chips and a mix veg of turnip, green beans & carrots. All perfectly tasty, all perfectly cooked. Desserts of profiteroles and a tiramisu - both liberally dosed with chocolate sauce and cream. Phew. The cocktail waiter cheerfully conjured up two cosmopolitans (€10 each). The staff were attentive and efficient.

    Spago is one of the two restaurants owned by the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel. I'd visited previously…read moreon my hen weekend last year and enjoyed it so when we came back to Portlaoise (ironically enough on a voucher for a free night given to me due to a horrible experience in Kelly's Foundry, the other restaurant) we decided to go back, big mistake. Spago do, what appears to be, a good value dinner menu, 59 euro for a 3 course meal for two and a bottle of wine. When we arrived we were told the lamb shank was gone but we could have chicken instead, off to a bad start. I ordered the baked ricotta for my starter which came out cold, I'm not sure this chunk of ricotta had ever seen the inside of a microwave never mind a real oven. My main of chicken supreme was actually quite nice, the chicken was really tender and the chicken pasta himself got was apparently lovely. The white wine was fine at the start but it needed to remain ice cold to be drinkable, even the slightest hint of warmth turned it to vinegar. The service, as in all my 1 star reviews, was where our night really started to go downhill. Our table was tucked away in a corner so we were virtually ignored for most of the night, for periods of 10 to 15 minutes at a time. Our starter arrived quickly, then there was a long gap until the main arrived and then a huge wait to even get a dessert menu. After sitting with our menus in front of us for ages (well I did manically wave mine in the air a bit to try catch some attention) himself got up, walked over to the other side of the room where our server WALKED RIGHT PAST HIM and gave our order to one of the three waitresses standing around. The other staff seemed much more concerned with setting up for the next day than attending to the remaining patrons. After dessert came and went (my "variety of icecream" consisted of 3 scoops of vanilla and one chocolate, all of which tasted like they'd been melted and refrozen at some point) we got tired of waiting and got up to pay the bill at the register. This is where I got really annoyed. The supervisor (I think?) apologised a few times for the slow service across the night. If you knew the service was slow why didn't tell your staff to get their finger out? Apologising to us now is not really any use. Then she asked me several times was it ok, glancing at my darkening face with a pleading look as if asking me for forgiveness and to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. With every question I got more and more quiet and more and more angry until she eventually figured out it was time to shut up. This is the second time I've had a horrible experience in a restaurant owned by the Heritage Hotel, as the biggest hotel in the town you'd think they would realise that they play a key role in enticing tourists to visit and revisit the town? Clearly not. They asked me to give you another chance when they messed up the last time and I came back to experience the exact same thing again, nice job.

    Photos
    Spago Italian Bistro - Sirloin steak on potato mash with pepper sauce

    Sirloin steak on potato mash with pepper sauce

    Spago Italian Bistro - Panini with olive oil, tomato and cheese

    Panini with olive oil, tomato and cheese

    Spago Italian Bistro - Steak, duck, chips, veg (green beans, turnip & carrot) and cosmopolitan cocktails

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    Steak, duck, chips, veg (green beans, turnip & carrot) and cosmopolitan cocktails

    Italian Connection - Tiramisu & Apple Tart

    Italian Connection

    4.2(20 reviews)
    67.0 km
    €€€

    Yum! I went in here…read morethis evening for dinner with my Mum & Dad. It was quite busy when we went inside as there were some first communions today, alot of people were out so the place was buzzing. We said to the lady that greeted us that we didn't have a reservation but she said that was ok and showed us to our table. The layout is very nice, lovely funky bar as you walk in the door, then long dining area, and at the end there is an open kitchen so you can see the food being prepared which is always nice. Dim lighting with little blue fairly lights on the trees give nice vibe to the place. On the menu there is a selection of starters,salads, all about 5 euro, then you can get pizza or pasta, these are all in 10 euro bracket, steak and fish dishes are around 20 euro, chicken dishes around 15 euro. There is a wide variety of food to choose from. I opted for the penne con pollo, which was a lovely pasta strips dish served in a creamy sauce with mushrooms and diced chicken through the dish. Please see attached photo. We were given bread and water while we were waiting, we didn't have to wait that long, maybe 10-15 minutes, then the meal arrived, the waitier apologised for the delay, which I didn't even notice, just seemed right about of time to wait for a meal! I was given a good portion of pasta and the waitress asked did I want any parmesan, and sprinkled a delicious helping over the pasta. I was full from the dish, didn't have a desert afterwards. I had a cappuccino which was delicious and plentiful size! Very friendly staff, very efficient, great service, delicious food! Highly Recommended!

    Italian Connection was a great place for us to go to while staying in Kilkenny. We walked about a…read moremile from our hotel, which was light and easy to navigate to. The restaurant itself has a fancy feel right what you walk in, but the menu doesn't feel too fancy in terms of options, and I don't mean that a bad way! Dim lighting, and an elegant feel to the place. They have a bar, but it's quite small. They did ask us if we had a reservation when we walked in, so maybe plan to make one if you intend on going! We got two salads and a pizza. The pizza reminded us of Punch Pizza, a restaurant back in the states. They were great, and honestly like a sense of comfort food. It all came out so fast, I want to say 10 minutes or less. After dinner, we got the Apple Tart and Tiramisu. I'd order the Tiramisu in a heartbeat! So summer and delicious - definitely get that if you have room! Service was great too. When you're done, you stand up and pay by the bar. That's something we've had to adjust to while over here - to not wait for the bill at the table. Overall, 4 out of 5 stars!

    Photos
    Italian Connection
    Italian Connection - Storefront for Italian Connection

    Storefront for Italian Connection

    Italian Connection - Seating Area at Italian Connection

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    Seating Area at Italian Connection

    La taverna Armento - italian - Updated July 2026

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