Booking.com (Online Retailer)

 

I have used this site extensively for years and I only have good words and a great experience.

I tend to alternate my bookings between this site and Expedia, depending on which of them is selling cheaper, or better rooms for the same price, or better hotels for the same price.

The variety of accommodation is more than you will need, from backpacker places to high luxury, and everything in between. It is up to you what you pay for. They always have better pricing than other hotel online sites like Agoda or Asian Rooms, just to mention two examples, also a better review system and things are mentioned upfront to you.

Most of my bookings with Booking have been for overseas places, and I have always been happy with the pricing, booking system and how things went once in the hotel. I never found myself surprised by what I found, because, well, I knew where I was going and what I could expect.

The information page of each hotel is extensive, well organised, with a great amount of photos to see where you are heading to, plenty of reviews, plenty of room options and pricing to choose within a hotel, and specifications and pricing clearly shown.

One of the things I like most about Booking is the fact that they have more fully-refundable options than other sites, and also that changing and playing with your booking dates is not only easy, but you won't be charged for it, and your booking will maintain the pricing you first paid if the rooms are available for the new dates. This is something important to me, because I have changed dates of holidays or dates of stay quite a bit in the past with a great peace of mind.

The conditions of the booking and specifications of the rooms available for each hotel are clearly visible and stated, with colour markers for important stuff, so you won't miss anything because the font is too small or not visible enough.

I always trust their reviews, because the come from certified travellers like me that cannot post anything there without receiving the link after you finish your stay. Moreover, the amount of reviews that the place generates is higher than any other site, perhaps as bold as Tripadvisor (but here reviews are not verified, just monitored), way more than Expedia, Agoda or any other site. To me, the more reviewers the merrier, because I have an array of many different people telling me that Hotel X is bad, so-so or terrific, and which things are a miss.

The only downside I can think of, is the fact that some hotels, especially in the past, allowed you to book and pay at your hotel's reception desk. I never like that, because it opens the door to trouble in countries and with people who see Westerners as a rip-off object. So I tend to book rooms in which the payment is automatically deducted from my bank account, without me having to go to the reception desk to pay for anything but the extras.

My experience has been fantastic so far and I hope it continues the same. I have a trip coming in  a week or so, and I will be using Booking. 

They also have an app, who doesn't?!, and it is very clean to the eye and well organised and easy to browse and book. I use it just to browse, as I always prefer booking from my laptop. 

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Cover-More Travel Insurance (Online Retailer)

I travel quite often, and these days I pay for travel insurance. 

Cover More has been my travel insurance company since ever, meaning since I started paying for travel insurance. There were years in which my only insurance was praying the heavens to protect me because I did not have the money to do pay for anything but the ticket. I found the pricing of the polices really high, taking into account that I have rarely had any problem and that this might be the case of most travellers. Just guessing! They claim that spend many millions on claims per year, and I believe them; however, I think that the number of people not claiming is higher.

However, there is no detour. I have compared Cover-More with other travel insurance companies (even with my health insurance company, which offers discounts to members for Travel Insurance) and Cover-More is cheaper or the same price, depending on the policy, but it has more benefits. So I am stuck with them.

I would like their policies to be a bit more flexible and considerate with regular customers. But they do not have regular customers because their idiotic system does not record us as such, no matter how many times you book with them. They should implement a rewards point system for people who regularly buy their policies, and points added for travels done without claiming anything. Then, turn the points into discounts and voila. That would make me happy. And you.

The only time I had done a claim, everything was easy-peasy. The claim was for a last-minute flight change that forced me to move intercity immediately and the only thing I could find available was a room in a five star hotel. I produced the receipts, told them what had happened and I was fully reimbursed, no fuss.

In the past, I used to book on the phone because their website was just good for quotes but useless for booking. Currently, it is pretty good for bookings and I book directly online.

I am never happy paying so much money to a Travel Insurance company, but, really, if I got sick or something bad happened to me overseas, their policies give me a great peace of mind, and they are cheaper than other companies out there. So let it be. 

UPDATE 11/1/16
I have just bought a policy with Cover-more. I visited first their website, as I have been using it for years. They don't seem to get thing right. The booking of a policy is simpler and clearer than ever, and the look of the website has improved. However, something really important has worsened. In the former version of the website, you introduce your  personal info and dates of travel and you would get a quote in all policies they offer, side by side. At present, the police they offer for International, is just one, no the most comprehensive, . The latter (called Options) can bought through travel agents, which is always a pain because they inflate the prices and to get a discount you have to move your rear to find somebody who offers a better price and keep playing poker,and it only benefits the travel agents. It might be that you can book the Options comprehensive policy on the phone, but the website looks nicer and simpler but it is not better. 

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Expedia (Online retailer)

I have used Expedia so much in the last 7-8 years and with so much satisfaction and saving me so much money that I am surprised at the low ratings out there on the net.

I travel overseas almost every year, sometimes twice a year, and I have booked flights alone, hotels alone and combos, always with great satisfaction and Expedia working as a machine for me.

I started using Expedia because I was fed up with the poor customer service (even lies) I got from my usual travel agencies (those constantly advertising on TV ). Also their prices seemed always more expensive than those I then saw online, and last episode was that the departure of my return flight from an overseas trip was changed in the Christmas period, and nobody bothered to tell me in the agency. I found out by chance and I found myself in a dreadful situation with a lot of out of pocket expenses and difficulty to find transport and hotel.

I truly hesitated to organise my first holiday with Expedia. Travelling is something sacred to me. If somebody or something messes up things, I am going to be furious and devastated. However, everything went great. I have been using Expedia services ever since.

The offer of places and companies is huge, from the humble backpacker place to the super-luxurious hotel, from the low cost airline to the the posher one, from national to International flights. The booking system allows you to clearly see waiting times between flights, something I find important because bygone are those days in which I considered reasonable waiting 10+ hours in an airport no matter how super-duper the airport. If there is any change to your flight, no matter it is of 5 minutes, you will receive an email telling you that your flight details have changed.

Pricing is great, usually the cheapest prices in the market, that is why I book with them. My love is not blind, ever. Sometimes the hotels are better priced at Booking.com, so I book those there.

The booking system is fuss-free, clear, easy to follow, with all the important things mentioned and visible upfront.

Depending on the destination, you can also book and pay for your transfer at cheaper prices than you would if you paid it at the regular prices you find them in your country of origin. I have used the service a couple of times and worked smoothly for me. Expedia also offers day tours and activities for some places, but I have never booked any of those. Travel insurance is also on offer, and I have also used it for short trips; for long ones or combo holidays I use other companies.

My last interstate ticket was purchased with them, the arrival and departure separated eight months, at fantastic prices and with Qantas. Last year I had a multi-country trip, so I did book the flight through a normal travel agent; however, the agent offered me a limited number of hotels at ridiculous prices. I checked those on Expedia and they were cheaper and offered better rooms. I ended buying all my hotels in five different countries via Expedia. Got there, presented the voucher, tadahhhh no fuss.

I have reviewed many of the hotels and companies I booked through Expedia, following the link they provide once you have finished your flight/stay, and they have always been published. Therefore, I trust other reviewers' reviews. A good deal of the reviews in Expedia come from Trip advisor, a place I trust because I am a contributor.

Expedia has a 24/7 Customer Service. I have used just once and the guys on the phone were very helpful. Unfortunately, the conditions of my tickets were set and there was nothing I could do. Since then, I make sure I find out whether the flight dates can be changed or not, and how much would cost me. That it is easy, because that sort of information is mentioned upfront while you are booking.

EXTRA KUDOS
> They have a decent app, so you can carry your trip details on your device without the need of printing. I personally prefer using my laptop for bookings (security reasons, size reasons, sight reasons), but it is great having the choice of browsing hotels and flights from your device. 
> They have launched a reward program, which is always great to be part of if you are a regular frequent traveller.

DOWNSIDES
> Although you can re-schedule the dates of your flights and hotel bookings, there is not a straight way to do so like in other online sites. Basically, you have to cancel your existing booking and rebook again. That is not convenient most of the time, because if you do that, the pricing you will be charged is the one valid at the moment of booking, not the one you initially booked. This might result in a change of hotels or airlines and higher prices.
> There are many reviewers online unhappy with Expedia. To be honest, if I was booking for the first time, I would be scared. Yet, I don't think this is the majority of users of the site.

TIPS
Before booking you should:
> Check and recheck that the dates you have typed and shown are those that you really want.  
> Check and recheck that your name is correctly spelled.
> Be sure that your ticket or bookings are refundable or you can change them paying little.
> Buy travel insurance. Life is unpredictable.

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WTF Foodie Moment 8: The Gift

I received this email from one of the community managers of a review site in my city. It sounds good. But is it good? Is it innocent? Below the real, but edited, emails. 

(...) I’m So-and-So, one of the community managers from X site. I just wanted to get in touch to say hey and congrats on being one of our top reviewers in city X!

We would love to send you a little so-and-so gift to thanks for your awesome posting. If you could reply with your full name and postal address that would be fantastic. (...)

My reply:

Hi So-and-So

Thanks a million for the detail.

Unfortunately, I don't give my personal details online, especially to people I don't know and are managing network online sites. I am very conscious about data collection online and no "gift" is going to change that, especially when X site could easily give a voucher for the fortunate to collect the goodies in person or just a gift voucher. I always love those.

Having said that. I appreciate the good will. 

(...)

The question is, how many of the fortunate people who have received this email have said no?

THE FOLLOW UP

After my email the same manager wrote to me saying that she totally understand :O and offering me to go to their office to collect the gift in person, and that the gift is some vouchers from some business they work with. So I am not hurrying to collect anything. A block of French pate would make me happy :D. 

GIFTS THAT ARE NOT GIFTS BUT A WAY OF MANIPULATING

If you want to give me a gift. Great. Send me an email voucher that does not require of me giving my personal details to an stranger and, even worse, to a website partly financed by local businesses, which would be thrilled to get a positive review or just a review. Because you carry the voucher, they would treat you like a queen/king, very differently from the rest of mortals, so that you leave feeling that they have the best customer service ever. 

This sort of free gift policy is very similar to the polices implemented in Yelp. Although Yelp is way more generous and many of the freebies do not come with a suggestion to make a review afterwards (but they would end with one), many of the exclusive invitations to restaurants and the Elite Events are given with an explicit request to write a review, and you letting yourself being photographed no matter you don't want because it is in the Terms & Conditions and by being there "for free" you are selling your image to them for a plate of food.

Nobody forces you to review those places, of course. nobody tells you, I give you this free ticket in exchange for a review, the request is implicit, though, in many of the gifts received. However, most people being invited to an Elite event are explicitly requested to write a review about the business. High ratings are the result. There is no problem with that when the business and the product deserve it, as this benefits both parts. I can count the many times I really enjoyed the event and I was more than happy to give high ratings to a business. The problem arises when you do not like the business/product/service, or you think it is just mediocre, but you feel psychologically obliged to be grateful by rating higher than you would if you were paying for the same. This psychological bias affects us all, even if you aren't aware of, and marketers know how to exploit it. 

In the last two free activities I attended in Yelp most people I talked to thought that the food was OK and the business giving the tickets not really good. In the first one several people told me just that, explicitly, but added: "I feel bad after all the special treatment and food we have received, giving them a low rating and saying what I really think". However, most people wrote four and five-star reviews full of babble. Almost nobody said that the food was amazing or deserving of five stars, just that the evening was great and thanks to the business for organising it. I myself did so with a 4-star review (when I thought 3 would had been fair), and I felt that I was betraying myself. I did not like the feeling. The second time, I was on an outing organised by a new foodie business that gave free tickets to yelpers; as soon as the event started yelpers were explicitly required to write a review. None of the people who attended did so because, talking among ourselves, we thought that the rating would be low and that would be a bit ungrateful. However, this request was enough for me not to write anything and quit Yelp and erase my whole account. There were other important reasons why I quit the site, but the "gift for a review" weighed in my final decision. My quitting did not happen without the resistance of Yelp itself, something that convinced even more that I was doing the right thing.  In fact, Yelp does not have a cancel-your-account button you can press when you want, and you have to request it by email, and the USA and local Yelp managers contact you on this trying to convince you not to quit, as the site is really good for you (BS) and question you about why. Why do I need to give an explanation at all? Isn't my wish reason enough? Am I not a free person? Am I not an adult? Their closing-account policy is similar to that of the data-sucker flock-manipulator Facebook, and I don't like it a bit.

A gift is a gift, give it freely, not as a subtle way of manipulating people to get what you want. 

I don't want to be in that position ever again. Well, ever again is perhaps a too-bold assertion. If I was on the dole or had a low salary, I would be happy to grab restaurant invitations. If I was offered a voucher to visit the best restaurant in town, I would grab it closed eyes, too, but this rarely happens as top restaurants do not need of those tactics to get high ratings. Until then, I am independent in my reviews without the pressure of going against my gut to be grateful. I feel that doing the contrary is betraying myself and I don't like how that tastes after the meal.

NB: A friend told me just today that somebody (i.e. yelpers) could be upset because of my words. Really? I find it puzzling. I am not responsible for other people's feelings, especially when this is a personal blog and what I say is my personal view of how I see things, and how things affect me.  I hate preaching or being preached, in the same way I hate being bllxited and manipulated. This is just my opinion. There are things that annoy me and I don't like. That might not be the case of other people, who really don't mind anything and are happy with the system. Well, I respect that. I really liked my Yelp "friends" and at a personal level I have nothing but praise for them. Yet, if somebody feels upset because of what I've written here, well, don't read me back :). 

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Grand Aston Yogyakarta Hotel & Convention Center (Yogyakarta, Indonesia)

Grand Aston Yogyakarta
Jalan Urip Sumoharjo, 37
Yogyakarta 55222
Indonesia
Phone: 13 38 10
Website
(First photo courtesy of the hotel's website)

The Grand Aston is a modern classy and comfortable hotel located in the heart of Yogyakarta. Although not in the city centre, the Grand Aston is located at walking distance from supermarkets, shopping malls, shopping streets and some of the city sights. 

Although the Grand Aston is a five-star hotel, you won't experience that unless you stay in one of the super-expensive super-duper suites. The hotel is classy but feels a bit run down and old-fashioned, and not luxurious enough. Yet, this is a great hotel, and you have everything you need there: lovely spacious rooms, huge restaurant, café, spa, gym, travel agent, beauty salon, conference facilities, free wi-fi and what is not. This is a business hotel for locals and other Asians, so there are not many Western visitors in general, especially from Australia. Most of them were Europeans visiting the amazing ruins for which Yogya is renowned in the world. You might have to stand with stoicism the stares of some people. 

THE ROOM
The Superior Room is very spacious and uber-clean, with a very classy timeless decoration, plenty of power points to plug your gadgets (even an desk's in-built international power socket), flat screen with a good selection of International TV Channels, air-conditioning, writing desk, a wonderful firm king bed, plenty of light points, safety box, a large classy bathroom with large shower, and a good selection of good quality toiletries, robe and sleepers included! 

THE RESTAURANT
The Grand Aston has a huge cafe-restaurant (with business and conference facilities in the mezzanine). Breakfast was included in the price of the room, so that was lovely. Their breakfasts cater for eastern and western palates, with so many sweet and savoury options that is impossible not to overeat. They prepare your eggs the way you like it, the quantity you like it, on the spot. I have never seen so many different things in a buffet! Quality of the food varied, but in general was good, although I found some supposedly Western stuff a bit weird. The sweets were very arty and colourful.

Coffee is included in the breakfast voucher, but if you want a proper machine coffee you have to pay it extra. I thought their percolated free coffee was good.

Their themed dinners are buffet style, a bit pricey, but very varied regarding dishes on offer and quantity. It is self-service, so you eat and die happily. The Indonesian buffet was really lovely, especially the lamb on the spit, which was terrific! 

There is a lady offering natural Indonesian digestives to customers, for free, dressed in a traditional dress. She seats at her spot in the dining area around 9am, if my memory does not fail. I tried some of them, and they tasted, well, "herby".

THE SPA, THE GYM AND THE POOL
I loved my visits to the Spa, which is very small but well equipped and the staff have magic hands and do wonderful facial and body treatments. Their Balinese massage is just awesome and perfect after a long flight, and a must if you have never experienced one. I was impressed with the care and friendliness of the staff, the long opening hours, the style of the facilities, and the treatments and products used on me. I am lady spa, so I was quite "spased" and I cannot speak more highly of these magic ladies.

The pool is very small but lovely, with a classy and elegant layout and decoration, for both sexes, and a few chairs to seat and relax; there is a café/bar attached, quite "expensive", and the guy attending to him is also in charge of providing you with towels and keeping an eye on the pool. 

The gym is also very small but with basic great quality machinery, and the guy attending to customers was just lovely.  

TRAVEL AGENT
The Travel Agent was a bit of disappointment as they just offer private drivers, car hiring and flight sales. They do not offer organised group tours. Private driving is the best thing, and affordable for foreigners, but extremely expensive for Indonesian standards. At least you know that they have fixed prices and you won't have to bargain. They will tell you that their drivers speak English, but most of them have a very limited very basic English, and communication can become a struggle.  

THE STAFF
All the Staff in the hotel were lovely, very helpful, smiley and willing to help: from cleaners, café attendants and waitresses, receptionists, masseuses, concierge, everybody. However, I found a tendency not to give customers correct information about pricing of transportation, and hesitation in the reply when you ask them for travel agents other than the one in the hotel, even if the others offer different services. Although information online about pricing is usually correct, they do not accept that as real because, well, you are a foreigner, hello hello. Basically, some people were very reliable on pricing information, and others totally untrustworthy.

NEARBY
The Galleria Mall, is a medium size lovely shopping mall, at barely five minutes walking distance from the hotel and with not many Westerners around. It has a great selection of shops and very friendly staff and floor personnel. The Galleria comes handy for some International fast food outlets (KFC, Mackos ice-cream booth and a Wendie's) and there is a food hall in the basement with a wide selection of Indonesian and Asian restaurants and stands, plus several posh cafes spread around the mall. There is a considerable variety of clothing, sports, shoes, and beauty shops, as well as a bargain area in the central courtyard.   

I you just want to buy a few things to take to your room, there is a Super Indo supermarket just across the street, if you are brave enough to cross the street at pick hours. This is a supermarket for locals, and full of locals, something I always love, nothing compares to mingling with locals, whatever that minds :), and you can buy those extra bottles of water, snacks, take-away food and other only Indonesian thingies that you want. 

The nearest sight is about 20 minutes walking distance, but if you are not used to the humidity of the place or do not live in a tropical area, you will avoid doing that at any cost. On the other hand, a ride on a becak (pronounced bechak) is a must. 

IF THIS WERE MY HOTEL...
* I would try to revamp superior rooms and provide customers with a bit more.
* I would change the mini-bar in the rooms, because it is minuscule and outdated.
* I would provide customers with a bigger wardrobe, which is a bit small for two people if you stay for a few days. Perhaps a better organised one, with more drawers might do the trick.  
* I would include a jar or tube of hair-conditioning among the toiletries. Shampoo with hair-conditioning is not good enough for people with long hair.
* The room's windows cannot be open, so the room was a bit smelly when the air-con was off.  That happens every time you go out, as the key works as power switch as well. If this were my hotel, I would give customers two cards, to keep the power on when going out. 
* I would change more often, or perhaps replace more often, the sheets covering the treatment stretchers at the Spa, as they were a bit smelly at the end of the day.
* I would change the lighting in the ground floor common areas. It does not help to create ambience and makes the hotel look older than it is.
* I would make sure that retrograde men are not given a room beside the pool. I had to suffer the dirty stares of a group of taliban-looking guys despite me wearing a very conservative swimsuit. Perhaps allocating those rooms to families or women would be more suitable. This is a five-star hotel, so I expect certain things not to happen.

TIPS
> Most Indonesian people do not speak English, so be smiley, learn a few words in Bahasa Indonesia, and you will find that things become easier all of the sudden. It shows your respect for their culture and expands your brain.

> The level of English of the staff varied tremendously. At reception was perfect, no problem, but in other areas the staff had limited English, reduced to basic greettings and vocabulary related to their trade. Confusion might arise because of this, so I recommend for you to use writing notes to make clear what you want at times if you notice that the staff are not getting what you are saying. Then smile broadly.

> I found a "rip off the Westerner as much as you can while smiling at their face" mentality in Yogya. The tourist infrastructure is very limited outside Bali, and prices exorbitant for Indonesian standards. Be careful with taxi and becak drivers, too many of them tend to get your money and do not give you the return, no matter the quantity due. Or drive slow as a cow to get more money, or arrange a price and then say that it was double of what they say.  If you are on a budget, use your legs a bit and be firm in your haggling. Again, if you speak a bit of Bahasa, things smooth out immensely. They are just grateful for your effort.

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"World of Goo" by 2D BOY

Addictive, simple, not that easy video game, that will make you love balls :D.

Well, there is a story, yes, for sure, but that one did not glue me to my tablet's screen. The story is a bit pathetic, call it odd for the sake of fairness.

What glued me to the screen was the Goos, the myriad types of super-lovely super-annoying super-nasty super-sticky Goos you find along, and the different levels of difficulty of the frizzy crazy puzzly puzzles you find. This is a game thought to make you enjoy playing without getting you stuck. There is not a hierarchic order of the episodes within every chapter to be played beyond the first and second ones. You go back and forth at will. You don't need to finish all the episodes either, just most of them and the final one in each chapter to move on to the next chapter. All of this makes the game very enjoyable and dynamic and rarely frustrating.

Generally speaking, there is a progression in the difficulty of the puzzles from chapter to chapter, with new challenges and new types of Goos in each one, but there are different levels of difficulty within each episode as well.

You can and must always go back and forth because 1/ you want to finish the game properly out of pure pride and 2/ you want to get as many extra balls as possible to have them ready to build the tallest Goo tower ever. I found the building of the tower, despite its apparent simplicity, really thrilling and entertaining, and not that easy!

Graphics are quite simple, nothing to brag about to your video-games obsessed friends. Still, the windy contaminated planet of the Goos is populated by simple lines, bright colours and surreal funny characters. There is a visual harmony in the game. Mind, that harmony could not match your visual harmony, so I can only say, well, change lenses.

I love the cute sounds that the Goos make when go up, and also the overall frenetic pace of the background music.

I have finished the game, but some of the episodes are still there for me to finish. Some of them I have figured out what to do but I haven't been able to do it, those are the most frustrating ones. Others, I have tried different things and failed miserably, so they are challenging and I also like that. 

Confession - The notice board character got me pissed a bit. Yes, of course, it usually gives clues, but, it is annoying and somewhat out of place. Why not using a special Goo informer to do that?

Confession 2 - The flies with reverse powers are the most considerate thing done for video-gamers ever. Ever  meaning in the year or so I have been playing video-games. What-ever.

Plenty of challenges and fun, plenty of hours of entertainment are guaranteed in the Goo World both for children and adults. And the price is ridiculous!

And, by the way, this is a perfect game for a tablet.

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Il Circolo (North Perth, Perth WA) (Closed)

22 Angove St
North Perth Western Australia 6006
(08) 9328 7667
Hours:
Mo-Sun - 6.30am to 6pm


I love the layout and decoration of the place. Really woody and vintage, cozy and trendy, and the natural lighting that the place has most of the time. This looks like a real old style Italian cafe or coffee club. The ambience is familiar and quiet, without the hype you fine in the other cafes on Angove St, despite their food being way better and more original. You can seat and relax without having the pressure of a mob of  people trying to get in, even during weekends. Still, there is a reason, why this is not happening.

Il Circolo offers authentic Italian dishes, sweets and coffee. Their menu is not large, but original and different from what you find elsewhere in Perth.

Most of the egg breakfasts they offer and I have tried are OK, not bad, but not inspired either. Sometimes, they have special omelettes, which are very satisfying, but they are uninspired, overpriced, and on the small side. So I would go there for their toast breakfasts, which are definitely more Italian.

My Eggs Fiorentina with asparagus and sprinkled cheese felt abandoned in my plate without the company of any side, and they were not especially tasty; besides, the eggs were over-poached. The missing sides are unforgivable, taking into account the price of the dish. Jeez, use seasonal veggies, roast them and put them in the plate. If the cafés around are doing so without a problem, why is this an issue for Il Circolo? Their omelettes are way better, way bigger and use seasonal produce, and are very nice.

Their lunches are very good, with dishes that are very Italian and well cooked. The Parmesan Eggplant was delicious, moist, flavoursome, silky delicate and yummy. I could have eaten two of those on my own, so how can a man survive with one of those portions? The Involtini had a wonderful aroma, the dish was yummy and one of those that you expect an Italian nonna to prepare. 

The sausage and broccoli pasta I tried was not very pleasing to the eye, but it was al dente (Alellouya!), and extremely tasty.

I have been there for dinner, just once, and =======

Their sweets are, like most Mediterranean sweets, very rich and filling. They are too rich and thick for my taste, an example being the Baked Ricotta. However, their Blueberry and Custard Tartina was delicious, very soft, fresh, light, flavoursome and with the right amount of sugar.  

  

The coffee was very good, but perhaps not the linking of Perthites, who like their coffee very light and smooth and with little coffee in it. ll Circolo’s coffee uses Moka J-Enna beans, a brand that I've never heard of. It's strong flavoursome coffee, with a slightly bitter after-taste some days. Yet, it is very Italian.

Most of the staff are nice and friendly. However, despite their friendliness, the service is lacking sometimes as the guys behind the counter being more interested in conversing with their young cool colleagues than attending customers properly.

I like Il Circolo's decoration, quietness, lack of hype, and good food, but their food is a bit undersized and overpriced, and if you want to have a big yummy breakfast other places do a a better job.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

* They need to be more generous with their portion sizes, especially for breakfast. Most of the dishes I tried are made with cheap ingredients, so I don't see why the servings are so small. If the other cafés on Angove St are able to provide big multi-layered multi-product egg breakfasts at the same price, Il Circolo can do so too.  

* They should put in the bin the ton of expired magazines they have, which is most of what they have, and invest on at least two new magazines a month. It won't bankrupt the business and it makes a huge difference to solo and not-much-talking couples, which are a great part of their customers.

* They should improve their welcoming skills and being more serviceable, smiley and polite. If somebody approaches the counter and you are having a chat with your pal about personal stuff, interrupt it and attend to the customer first and then continue your chat. Is that so difficult?  If you don't do so, you are sending an implicit message that you do not give a damn about customers or that they are not your priority.

* The toilet needs to be revamped, refurbished, reorganised, and re-cleaned. The current toilet reminds me of those you find in road houses in the countryside. The fact that the space is small does not mean that you cannot maximise the space. Ikea + Bunnings have everything you need if you're on a budget. 

 

* Their cutlery is good quality, those that you find in fine-dining restaurant. Then, the napkin is of paper. Well, there is an awkwardness, but extremely heavy. No problem with that it wasn't because the napkins are vulgar paper. I mean, good cutlery goes with good napkins, and mediocre cutlery with paper napkins. Match them accordingly. 

 

***

Il Circolo is chilled classy restaurant that serves authentic Italian dishes, well prepared, on charming Angove St. You go there to avoid the hype and have a good eat, to have a chat with your pals or partners, because at Il Circolo you can actually communicate without having the music too loud, or hundred people yelling around.


Location: 8/10
Layout: 8/10
Ambience 8/10
Food: 8/10
Coffee: 7/10
Service: 6/10
Pricing: 6.5/10

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