9 Gongti Xilu,Gongti
工体西路9号,工体
Open 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-10pm
Price Y200-Y299
Accepts International Credit Cards
One of Beijing's oldest Italian restaurants, this restaurant serves up a wide selection of pasta classics in an intimate, candlelit environment. For fussy eaters, there are 16 choices of pasta topped with any one of 40 sauces. This eatery's casual elegance and fine international wine selection pull in a regular crowd of both expats and eager locals.
I have been holding a strong desire to have a taste of the pasta here for a long time. After nearly an hour's ride, I finally made it. The environment was really nice. The stylish furniture and some outdoor tables reminded me of the lazy afternoon. The waitress' service was helpful, but the way she told with me made me really furious. It seemed that something troublesome had nagged at her for a long time. Going to the point---- the pasts---- the great new wonderful! Cheese sauce is always my favourate, so undoubtedly I chose the rich cheese cream sauce. And then, a wonderful name came into my sight---- Rich gorgonzola cheese sauce with button mushroom. Perfect! The next big event, which kind of pasta matched it best? I'd love home made pasta, so I chose the spinach tagliatelle. I had to say that it was definitely a ferfect match. The tagliatelle was chewy and the cheese sauce' taste was strong. What's more, the complimentary bread was tasty, too!
Standard Spaghatti, predictable taste. It was my 3rd time here and nothing went wrong,but not exotic or spectacular.
Absolutely mediocore was what I could sum up my experience. Having been told one could find great Italian food here,landed up. The decor is too simple and nothing exotic. Few tables and chairs . Small place. We were made seated just next to the kitchen window which was very annoying. The breads arrived absolutely cold . When we had lunch in Almeda recently ,breads were warm , fresh , and one can feel it .Why not here when it is supposed to one of the good joints .Cold breads a dampener.Then came the soup. We were vegans and our soup came with a huge dose of fish in the soup. On asking why so ? the waiter had no answer , and came back and told that it is always like this . The pasta arrived which was okay but guess should have been cooked slightly more than what we were served. The saving grace was a good wine we ordered. The place just didnt have any vibe . We were just 3 tables at peak time dinner. I could have choosen to dine at Almeda or any other popular western joint than this run. This place after enquiring found out is run by chinese owners and all the chefs are chinese. How the hell can they pull up a authentic italian if they just dont have italian chefs.?
went back to metro last friday after a few months, and i must say the management has done some improvement to the set lunch menu. for 2 course, it was below rmb70 and we can then order a separate coffee or dessert if we like. husband recommended the cheese cake strongly and so we did. but was a bit disappointed at rmb50 a piece, the cake was a bit stale too. i can see and taste the compactness of cheese used (unlike the light japanese type of cheesecake which i dislike). but will go back and glad metro withstood the test of time. :)
I was worried reading about this cleaning product smell people have mentioned, but at dinner on Friday night here, everything smelled absolutely fine. Service was excellent as always. Portions are huge -- we had bruschetta, a soup and a pasta to share between two girls and were both full. They also gave us little bowls of broccoli soup for free. They're very generous about grating fresh parmesan onto everything, which I really appreciate. Dinner plus a glass of wine each came to just RMB220! Metro remains at the top of my list.
the place has a special artifical lemon cleanser smell. which they explained later it was a special agent to neutralize the smoke from the smoking area. i didn't enjoy it with my stuffy nose in the cold weather.. the food is good. i figure for a girl, soup+spagetti+ dessert would be too much. choose two courses instead of three. just wish the dishes would be serve hotter, as last time my spagetti sort of chill out on me.
This visit of mine had a pecular stink as in of the place wasnt cleaned well .My previous visits were pleasant here. The complimentary bread ok. The sphagetti I ordered was okay. The normally seen old manager wasnt there and neither the young waitstaff. Had some issues in ordering but since there were were just 1 more table it was fine,the waiter could took long time to understand my sauces requirement and the wine I needed, and even longer to get it.Normally they are quick .Hopefully one of the dull moments in a day for the waiter.
Very intimate little restaurant, quiet enough to talk during dinner, but very cozy atmosphere with well-selected background music. The food really is excellent, at least the pasta and salad (and free starter and bread basket) that we had, was. Decent wine list too. Very professional and friendly staff. It isn't cheap but definetely reasonable considering the food and the atmosphere. Will be back!
Went there for lunch today with a friend. The setting was amazing!! Just loved it. Quiet, clean, well decorated, and great background music. The staff overall was pretty good. Though this one waiter had some BO. There were so many pasta and sauce options. The penne with the napoli sauce was really good!! They even made a sauce not listed: garlic, cream and parsley for my gnocchi. The wine selection was also pretty good. The only thing that was disappointing was the lasagna. It was kinda dry. Oh yeah, the bruschetta was really good as well. Definitely going back again when I'm craving Italian!!!
Now this place is good! The quality of the food in this place is extremely high. The service level is excellent. The place has a classic ambiance, with a excellent sound system that is gently but beautifully playing in the background. This kind of eye for detail is exactly what makes this place stand out. Yes, it can be pricy but you can make budget decisions, you can have a high high class meal for cheap. You select a pasta which varies between 20 and 30, and you select a sauce which varies between 20 and 80 Rmb. If I were you I would try the Carbonara (30) which is amazing! and it is difficult to make a high class Carbonara. They also have a lunch menu (75) and the Carbonara is also a option there!! If you are looking for a good ambiance, with excellent food for you and your girlfriend or wife, this is the place to try.
Went here as part of the Haiti Rise campaign. Not much to say that hasn't been said already in the numerous complimentary comments below. Just one of those places that quietly goes about doing an excellent job, year after year. Highly recommend the chocolate lava cake as a dessert. I think it just might be the best dessert I've had in Beijing!
Great Spaghetti and sauces are real good. The breads were fresh.The manager was attentive. Good view of the road, if catch one of those window seats.I was impressed by their wine selection and prices were fine. Good choices ,we keep changing the combinations of sauces. Genuine people and genuine food.
Went there after reading superdiggs' review in City Weekend. You're right. By far the best Italian joint in town! No pretences but downright heartwarming quality pastas! My husband had the seabass and he thought it was good. So we'll go back when we want Italian anytime! Now I have to go look for a good bowl of quality udon noodles ...
Metro Café: Pasta and Sauce to Rival Italy It has been almost fifteen years and Metro Café is still making mouth watering pasta and sauce. After spending weeks in Naples, Rome, and Sicily, this food critic would even dare to say that Metro’s pasta and sauce is better than anything she ate in Italy. Blasphemy yes, but don’t dispute it until you have tried the Aosta sauce of goose liver and black truffle with the Spinach tagliatelle pasta. Stepping into Metro Café, one feels as if they have finally found a nice elegant up-market restaurant. The dim lighting and mahogany tables and chairs with jazz music playing in the background, is perfect for an impressive business lunch or a romantic date for two. This is the place you take someone to impress. Unfortunately, that evening some of the other patrons were, I believe, under dressed. Why go somewhere with such great mood lighting if you aren’t going to act the part? My lovely dinner dates and I began with an excellent bottle of dry rich Penfolds Rawson’s Retrect Merlot. It was surprising to see that they only had two Italian wines on the entire list, but don’t allow that to deter you. The wines they had they selected well, including Australian Wolfbass. Metro is guaranteed to leave you sighing in ecstasy when you try one of their wines. They range from 200 to 2090 rmb per bottle and 48 to 72 rmb per glass. We were soon served an Aperitif of bruschetta topped with marinated vegetable and tuna. The bread was perfect, soft but not too moist or soaked in olive oil, and very well garlic. It was a very satisfying appetizer that does it job of warming you up for the meal. However, they were much too small, barley a thumb size and with only six pieces, not necessarily worth the 30 rmb. The bruschetta was followed with Carpaccio, 70 rmb, thin slices of raw beef filled with capers and garlic and topped with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan cheese. I thought the Carpaccio was lovely, with a good Italian flavor of basil and oil, but my Australian meat-connoisseur husband say that the meat was too heavily juiced with blocked the taste of the meat. The mozzarella de pomodoro, 75 rmb of fresh buffalo mozzarella and wine ripe tomatoes infused with olive oil and basil, also divided us on opinion. My husband believed it was served too cold, where as I thought the chilled approach was a refreshing change. We both agreed it was nicely herbed. Our last appetizer was the Grilled asparagus with pine nuts salsa, 50 rmb, mixed with garlic bits and shaved parmesan cheese, and of course topped with herbs and olive oil. It was quite fresh and nice, but nothing overly satiating. We also received brown and white bread with spinach pesto. The bread was excellent even by Beijing standards, and the pesto was unique but mild. The pasta and sauces to choose from was almost too much! Traditional Italian pasta and sauce tends to focus on the tomato and less heavy sauces. Metro has the traditional simple Italian pasta and sauces, but their Selection B and C on the menu, is filled with almost too-many choices of unique and daring Italian and Mediterranean combinations! With anticipation my pasta finally arrived. What can I say but that it was excellent by all gourmet standards. Thick and creamy the combination blended itself perfectly. No single ingredient stood out for my taste buds, but just made my tongue moan in pleasure. The quality of ingredients was made to perfection making it almost unnoticeably perfect. The only description that comes to mind is smooth, so smooth. Now a word of profound advice: Do not order anything but the pasta! My husband ordered the Salerno, which was prawns in tomato and a cream sauce and olive oil with tortellini, which as he said was simply OK. Quite tomato infused it was like any tortellini you would find in any Italian restaurant outside of Italy. The prawns were also too mushy. It filled him up but wasn’t anything special, especially for 63 rmb. My Chinese consultant, Catherine, ordered the Shrimp and Crabmeat Risotto, Arborio rice tossed with shrimp and crabmeat with asparagus. The risotto rice is made softer than the traditional Italian way, in order to cater to the Chinese customers who oddly are prone to order this dish. Unfortunately for Catherine and for us expats, we found it to be very bland and not worth 85 rmb. Fortunately, the meal was saved for my two dinner dates with the arrival of the Tiramisu and Molten Lava Chocolate Cake, two dishes we could not find on the menu. The Molten Lava cake was a great volcanic blast of melted smooth hot chocolate sauce encased by a soft cake crust. The tiramisu was also good, though for those who like their Tiramisu to have a good taste of brandy, they will be disappointed. The tiramisu was very light and fluffy, and like a pudding. A good finish to the meal. Metro Café is the place to go for the pasta, to order anything else would be ridiculous. The Face has done well to blend Mediterranean and Italian dishes together to make some, I would venture, award winning dishes. This trip to Metro Café has made me wonder why eat noodles when you can get “wow” factor pasta in Beijing!
I liked the Pasta. The breads were fresh. The decor now seems has got a bit old. The manager on duty makes sure service levels are fine . The place is bit expensive ,but for the quality pasta still dont mind paying . There is something not so good feeling missing. They have some problem to understand english but after I remembered I am in Beijing so its fine, we make do everyday by actions and writing the words and spelling them word by word.. Not my no 1 choice for Italian ,but wouldnt mind to go there for a Pasta if I am that side of the town.
This is a really fantastic place, and has been a family favourite for years. It breaks my heart whenever I walk or bike past and see it mostly, if not completely, empty. Service is great, prices are reasonable, and there's a wonderful variety of tasty dishes. Admittedly I haven't patronized it too recently since I rarely find myself in the mood for Italian, but if I did get a craving for quality pasta, Metro is where I would go. I think more people ought to try the place out! It would be a real tragedy if this long-time Gong Ti Xi Lu resident went out of business. Highly recommended.
Just went for lunch and have returned very happy. Set lunch is 70 RMB for two courses, or 80 RMB including coffee or tea. For starters we had a great, not-too-greasy calamari, along with a fantastic florentine crepe - ricotta spinach rolled up in a crepe, topped with parmesan in marinara sauce. Amazing. Cheese ravioli in an italian sausage and onion marinara was good, if a bit al dente for my taste. Spinach gnocchi with mushrooms and chicken had the right dash of garlic, with a bit of fresh grated parmesan it was excellent. Also one of the best espressos I've had in Beijing. My only problem at Metro is trying to pick the right pasta and sauce combination. I wish they would let you mix and match at will, but also recommend a few good pairings. One of my favorites.
We ordered some wine , pasta,and salad. Everything went well. Service is good ,there is chinese manager kind of a guy, quite attentive to customers. They could understand english well. Pasta was fine,albeit the tomato sauces could have been more.Each restaurant has its one decision on the content of tomato sauces anyway. Nothing to complain . Would return for Pasta ,though the food is bit expensive.
great great great pastas, and very cosy atmosphere. Maybe the wines are a bit expensive but still very nice
My biggest complaint about restaurants and bars in Beijing is the service (yeah, a very original one, I know), so whenever I come across a venue where I don't have to dance naked on the table to get somebody's attention and almost apologizing for wanting to place an order, I tend to go back even if it means a few extra bucks. In this case, not only I get great food, comfortable and cozy ambiance, attentive service, but there is no need to shell out the extra bucks, since the prices are more than reasonable. love it, one of my favorite places.
I went there last week and unfortunately we were the only guests - on a Saturday night, what I really don't understand because the food and the service are great. You can choose your favourite kind of pasta and than the sauce, which are divided into different price categories. In addition some dishes from the grill are available too. Overall an authentic Italian place with cosy atmosphere and perfect for an evening with your special someone!
Cozy and romantic ambiance, very well-prepared pasta of generous portion and great service. A little surprised why Metro didn't get more attention from the Beijing diners.
Great pasta dishes. Fantastic service.
Really nice atmosphere that's both romantic and comfortable. The pasta's excellent and the portions are huge. Last time I tried the RMB90 lobster sauce on cappellini pasta and was in heaven eating the big pieces of lobster with fresh pasta and cream sauce. It's the most expensive thing on the menu, but it's a fantastic deal compared with lobster dishes at other western restaurants, where the starting price is usually at LEAST 200.
Really good warm-chocolate-explosion dessert. Not sure what it's actually called, but you have to wait for it.
Oh--and I give it 5 stars!
Amazing fresh pastas you can combine to your liking with over 20 kinds of sauces. From the simple--fettucini and carbonara--to the complex--veal-mushroom ravioli with sun-dried tomatoes, chilies, garlic--match & match to your taste. Great service means waiters leave you alone unless they're needed; great ambiance means classy, comfortable surroundings in which to cozy up to your loved one.
Perennial favourite for a pasta fix. Small and cosy with extremely friendly wait staff, this place is always a pleasure to visit. The selection of pastas and sauces is extensive, making a final choice difficult. Having said that every combination I have tried so far has been pretty good.
One of my favorite restaurant. Their pasta are the best in town!
"Experience Review" Wow..... very nice cosy interior although a rather small place. Very creative menu & not following too much on the traidional. Had the Foie Gras Scallop Risotto & it was almost mind blowing. The Risotto was done very well & good attentive staff too. RMB 88 for the Risotto, may seem steep but it indeed justify. One can see why they manage to be around for so long.