"Arcobelano" means "rainbow" in Italian. The restaurant itself is set in an old house. There's plenty of parking out front. The internal decor is quite nice - certainly "a warm, comfortable and lovely atmosphere" (as described by their website) to have a meal. As we arrived, we were warmly greeted by two waiters who opened the doors for us - very nice!
This is what we had:
Ceasar Salad - This was a lovely and refreshing Ceasar Salad with roman lettuce, egg, crutons and interestingly, virgin olive oil dressing. The dressing was light, but tasted great.
Spaghetti Arcobaleno Special - Mushroom, smoked ham, parmesan cheese with tomato sauce (cream sauce also avaiable). Nice pasta, would have been even better if it was just a little less salty.
Spagetthi Pizzaiola - Olive oil, anchovies, garlic, fresh tomato, oregano, basil & red pepper. Tasted great. I liked this one better, but it was quite spicy!
Margherita with Anchovies Pizza - Yes, we do like our anchovies! Other ingredients were black olives and mozzarella cheese. It was very nice. The pizza base was very good - quite light and crispy (on the outside). Not oily.
And for dessert....
Tiramisu - it was very good - light, fluffy and creamy. Not too sweet. Nice way to finish the meal.
Other dishes we had:
Garlic Bread - It wasn't the best I've had - but passable.
Honey and Ginger Homemade Ice Cream - quite nice! There are lots of other interesting flavours (and traditional ones like chocolate and strawberry to try).
What I liked:
- The food - very good and authentic Italian food.
- Good value, reasonable prices for Western food
- Friendly and warm atmosphere.
- Quite efficient service, attentive staff & it was quite busy when we went (Valentine's Day).
- They gave us extra parmesan cheese & pepper grinder without being asked (not always the case in Italian Restaurants in Chiang Mai).
- Extensive menu with vegetarian meals
What could be improved:
- The external decor. The restaurant (according to the waiter) has only been in the present location for 3 years. Although the inside of the restaurant is quite nice, it wouldn't hurt to have a fresh coat of paint on the outside. Eventhough currently, there is no external dining, I think would be very nice to have a nice garden and fairy lights. Looks a bit messy outside at the moment.
- The bathrooms are very old and not that clean (or at least, didn't look clean). The tiles are very worn out and the toilet doors could use a fresh coat of paint - better yet, replaced. Good lighting would be nice too. OK, it wasn't THAT bad, but this was still quite a shame. We were actually enjoying the food quite a bit, and this spoilt the experience a little.
It came to 1005 baht for four people (no alcohol).
60 Nawatket Rd, Muang, Chiang Mai
053 306 254
