Despite decent, attractively-priced food, Vicolo Quattro’s problem isn’t just that it’s near impossible to find (it’s located on the second floor of Bar Bar in Silom Soi 4) but also really sloppy service. Our last visit (we were the only diners for the entire evening) saw our waiter, obviously chosen for his Soi 4 sexual orientation and emo haircut, struggle to take our order—even when we just went for the namesake Vicolo Quattro pizza. Finally, he asked that we communicate using the menu’s codes. Unsurprisingly, a main and an appetizer were brought together and then, fifteen minutes later, another round of dishes. If the place was Romanian or Tibetan, we’d cut them some slack, but Vicolo Quattro is part of a very, very big Italian family, made up of hundreds of restaurants throughout Bangkok, most serving the exact same menu: pasta, pizza, osso bucco and tiramisu. At least, Vicolo Quattro is fairly genuine, in a cheesy kind of way: friendly Italian owner, homemade pasta cooked al dente, thin-crust pizza (too bad it’s not crispy), red tablecloths and a gold-framed screen projecting Andrea Bocelli belting out a tune. The dishes have flavor, like the sharp gorgonzola in some of the pizzas or the fragrant red wine sauce and porcini cooked in a generous portion of risotto. But none of this feels very fresh. Dishes come with sides of tired iceberg lettuce barely fit for an American diner, let alone a ristorante Italiano. The Milanese cutlet (it’s beef, not milk-fed veal) will put your steak knife to good use. The texture is a bit like a leather flip-flop covered in sand, although the taste is close enough. And to finish things off, the pannacotta, doused in what we seriously doubt is homemade chocolate and caramel syrup, tastes like it’s been sitting in the fridge a few days too many. Vicolo Quattro’s prices are net, though, and that’s almost worth a star right there. It isn’t a bad place, it’s just rather forgettable in Bangkok’s Italian-obsessed culinary landscape. No Corkage.
