Restaurant #37: Primo Trattoria, Taipei

I have been struggling to find a good Italian restaurant in Taipei area. I mean, of course I can find a good one if I pay enough, but the reasonable trattoria would be difficult for me to find. My friend told me that this restaurant is pretty good, so I decided to go and see how their food is.

Trattoria di Primo is located in the back of Pacific SOGO department ZhongXiao, or I should say it is on the way to Breeze Center from Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. It was easy to find this restaurant, and I found many other interesting restaurants around them.


Once I got in to the restaurant, I told them “just one person”. For some reason, the manager (I guess) and a reception started laughing at me aloud, in front of me. I was very surprised their poor manner. Ah…. What? (^-^;) The reception was still giggling, and then guided me to the tiny table at the very corner. Between my table and the next table, there was a staff room, and the workers in and out of the room, which really annoyed me.

I could’ve leave right away, but it was raining outside and I was hungry anyways, so I decided to stay here. After 20 minutes later, finally the waitress came to my table to take my order. I was surprised that they don’t serve a glass of water for free, and they also had a minimum charge of TW$500 on weekends. Oops, I should’ve checked the menu carefully before I entered. Well, they charge 10% of service fee, but I couldn’t feel any service from them. Is that because I was alone?

Crema di Funghi

Crema di Funghi (TW$ 120) was a creamy mushroom soup. The soup was served. It looked good! I sipped one spoon carefully, but I didn’t taste anything… I tried one more, but still the same. OK... Then I ate some mushrooms! OK those have taste, and I believe it was fresh.

Calamari con Calamari Fritti all’Arrabbiata

The pasta, Calamari con Calamari Fritti all’Arrabbiata (TW$ 380), was delicious! Calamari was just served from the kitchen—warm and tender. Their tomato sauce was quite amazing with garlic and some slices of jalapeno. On the top of that, the pasta was al dente! Taiwanese people usually prefer to eat tender pasta, for me, it is overcooked. Yet their pasta was in perfect condition. I am not sure if rucola was their homemade, but it was also fresh. I really enjoyed their dish.

Overall, I satisfied with their food, but as I mentioned above, I really hope they do improve their service. Again, they charge the service fee, so I expect “service”. I may go back there again, but not too soon.

Primo trattoria
#14, Lane 107, Section 1, Fu-xing South Rd, Da-an Dist.,
Taipei, TAIWAN
02-2711-1726
http://www.mr-cheese.com.tw/Default.aspx