HOTEL COMMODORE 5 COURSE DINNER: salad, pasta, main course, dessert, cheese plate

When guests choose their hotel in Abano-Montegrotto, the deciding factor is the food. They know they’ll satisfy their mind and body with a nice room and a good soak in the thermal pools, but what about their stomachs??

Okay, when I refer to “guests” I’m pretty much talking about myself, but surely there’s someone else out there like me??

These towns are pretty small and a walk to the center of town doesn’t lead to very much. Therefore, it’s up to the hotel to provide the guest (like myself) with the “full experience”. Room. Pools. Food.

Most hotels offer full board (breakfast, lunch & dinner) or half-board (breakfast and dinner). In my case, I redeemed my GROUPON Coupon which included 2 nights stay, breakfast, one aperitivo and one dinner… so it’s a little less than the standard half board ;)

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Hotel Commodore Dining Room

Eager to taste the hotels cuisine, my friend and I opted to have dinner at the hotel the first night we arrived. Escorted to the table by the maitre’d, I jetted to the buffet to make a salad. The make-your-own-salad-bar was no where close to Ruby Tuesday’s standards (even though they’re a chain restaurant, I will admit that they make a mean buffet bar with good croutons). Hotel Commodore’s salad bar was limited to shredded carrots, canned beans,  fresh tomatoes (yum) and four varieties of lettuce. However, seeing a version of my favorite dressing, Thousand Island (yay) gave them some bonus points.

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Limited Make Your Own Salad

When I returned back to my seat, I saw a vegetable quiche on my plate. Excited for something warm in my stomach, I pushed the salad aside. However, after one bite of the quiche, I apologized to the salad and took it back. Why? The vegetables in the quiche weren’t fresh and it was totally underseasoned. Pity.

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Moving onto the first course, a silver cart arrived infront of my table and offered pappardelle alla campagnola (tomatoes, mushroom & cheese), onion soup or penne arrabiata (pasta with spices). At first I chose the penne arrabiata, but then my waiter decided to give me both to try (as you can imagine, I was not complaining about this brilliant idea). Although both were good, the penne was better. Why? The mushrooms in the pappardelle weren’t fresh.

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Silver Cart with First Courses

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Pasta Plate

Second silver cart, means second course. On the menu they have four options- a plate of salami, beef, halibut or schnitzel, however the cart only featured fish or pork. My friend took the halibut, but I inquired about the beef, and received it 5 minutes later from the kitchen (see, there’s no harm in asking!). Although quite thin, the beef was definitely the better option since the halibut was a little too greasy.

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Main Course Cart

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Halibut & Potatoes

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Steak & Potatoes

Once I finished my main course, I read the menu to see what was next and realized that I completely missed the cheese plate at the buffet! Ran up to get a little sample of each cheese offered and returned to my seat to find a cup of gelato waiting for me.

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Cheese Plate

Two options: gelato and chesse, the question is… which one did I go for first?

Dessert of course! One cup of gelato had cherry sauce and the other cup of gelato was soaked in brandy. Verdict? The gelato with brandy was phenomenal (this may be the alcohol speaking).

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Gelato with Cherry Sauce

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Gelato with Brandy

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Wednesday Night Menu at Hotel Commodore

VERDICT: Considering the fact that this is a 3 Star Hotel, I think the meal was appropriate. Some highs, some lows… but overall, satisfactory (good service and good company helps)… however, I’m not sure if I could dine there three days in a row.