The Blue Caspian

Last week we ventured out of our traditional French cuisine and stepped into the realm of Italian/Medditeranean at the Blue Caspian. Here is Madeleine's account of our somewhat comical experience:

"One would generally assume that at a restaurant, knives and forks would be a pre-requisite. Something that inherently goes with the table and chairs, akin to how shoes go with socks or a nose goes with a face. However at The Blue Caspian the seemingly inherent correlation between the serving and consuming of food and the provision of eating utensils has not been drawn. Although the pizzas were tasty and the wait staff pleasant, albeit a little questionable in their English, the failure to provide cutlery until requested after all our food had been served and then the disgruntled dumping of it at one end of the table for us to distribute ourselves, was merely the tip of the iceberg of the hilarious comedy of errors of the night's dinner.

To be fair to The Blue Caspian, all their pizzas were very tasty and extremely well priced; between $10 and $16. They come in one size, about the diameter of a large dinner plate, and the menu covers all of the traditional combinations. The pizzas all had a robust tomato base, tasty fresh toppings and a well-portioned sprinkling of mozzarella cheese.

The main issue with the menu was the main dishes: their size comparative to their price, and the lack of cohesion between the menu's description of each meal and the actual meal itself. The squid pieces of the main size calamari dish were tasty, but that is about all that can be said positively about the meal. The meagre amount and the three lettuce leaves and slice of tomato that made up the accompanying 'salad' were not worth the $17.50 price tag. Not to mention that on initial service the salad was missing altogether, making the few pieces of squid seem swamped by a gigantic white plate.

The main chicken salad was subject to similar issues. The "bed of salad" consisted of lettuce leaves countable on one hand, a single wedge of tomato sliced in half and one olive. Two fingers of chicken were carefully place on the bed, drawing visual similarities to an extremely skinny and slightly awkward couple.

Although we were forced into refusing to pay the full amount for the main dishes the night was still very enjoyable. The quaintness of the restaurant and its relaxed atmosphere meant that the inadequacies of The Blue Caspian were not upsetting, but instead entertaining. With its amazing $1 per glass corkage fee, The Blue Caspian is perfect for a small, light hearted pizza BYO. However as a proper restaurant for a larger group wanting a more diverse menu and more than 1-star service it has a bit of work to do."