You鈥檒l be hearing more from Tim Mitchell in the next little while, he‘s one of our newest food tasters and he doesn鈥檛 mess around! He‘s a foody, he‘s opinionated and he certainly doesn鈥檛 pull his punches. We like his style. He goes so far as to drop his utensils on purpose to test out the service, all for you! Here‘s his first review of JStone, an Italian restaurant near the H Hotel in Luijiazui. He鈥檒l be reviewing restaurants that are not with Sherpa‘s but if he has good things to say, you can bet we鈥檒l be trying to get that restaurant on board. For your reading pleasure鈥?

Were we actually in search of authentic Italian food in Shanghai? We were indeed. We arrived on a rainy evening with hustling couples sprinting through a drizzling downpour. Outside the boutique styled 鈥淗鈥?Hotel, we spied the rather inconspicuous sign for 鈥淛Stone- Italian Cuisine鈥? Our destination this evening was actually located within the lobby of the H Hotel and sectioned off by a large curtain. If the horrific d茅cor of the H hotel was any indication, we were in for a rough night.

We were met at the door by smiling wait staff speaking surprisingly good English. After being directed to a table near the door, I scanned the restaurant floor. JStone is an approximately 100 seat restaurant with an actual brick oven for pizza located in the main seating area. On the night we arrived, it was mostly empty except for expats arriving in small groups. Those we encountered were greeted as regulars who spoke very fondly of the restaurant and service staff. As our menus were opened, we laughed a little to ourselves. 鈥淎uthentic Italian food, huh.鈥?I remarked with a little sneer. We鈥檙e both so used to restaurants claiming that distinction and as Mendy has travelled extensively in Italy..always find it lacking. We fully expected a horrible experience.

We were wrong.

JStone shocked us. Their fare is actually delicious, hearty and rustic Italian food that Mendy actually compares to the food she was served IN Italy. The portions are outstanding and actually well worth the price. The staff is warm, helpful, friendly and instantly resolved the smallest issues with our meal. At one point, we dropped a fork just to see how long they鈥檇 take to replace it. 10 seconds. You are lucky to get service like that at the Shangri La. As an additional note, the restaurant is not busy as they鈥檝e only been open 5 months and are depending completely on word of mouth advertising. 聽The manager remarked that most of their business is pizza delivery which they handle in-house.

Tim and Mendy‘s Summary-

Shockingly good rustic Italian cuisine. We had our best meal in months. Excellent service, established pizza delivery and a large capable kitchen.

Breakdown-

The Food- Extremely high quality. Good portions. Easily delivered. Authentic extra thin crust pizza done right. Limited menu with just the essentials but perfectly sized for variety. Great value for money. Would go there again and bring guests. All requested items available and advertised in excellent English. Da Bao in Sherpas quality containers with zero issue.

The Environment- Kitchen 70 percent sized to floor plan (100 seats). Very clean kitchen. Service area very clean. Easy to find location but little parking (limited car parking, couriers should have zero issue)..ground floor of strip mall. Bathrooms were the hotel bathrooms..very clean.

Service- Exceptional service. Extremely English literate. Staff suggested menu items and were able to name all the ingredients when quizzed. Apps were out in fifteen. Mains out 20 minutes behind apps. All Chinese staff. Zero issues getting a fa piao. I complained (fake) that my soup was cold and a fresh bowl was brought five minutes later. Not reheated, but a fresh bowl.

Areas For Improvement- No cheese on the table or offered by wait staff. ANY Italian restaurant ANYWHERE should offer cheese tableside or packaged for takeout with pasta or soups. Likewise, there is no black pepper on the table or offered via staff. These are easily fixed. The ice cream served for dessert needs to be changed or rotated more frequently as it suffers from large ice crystals.

Closing- Fantastic restaurant that seems to be an excellent candidate for Sherpa’s. Compares favourably to Pasta Fresca and is cheaper.

Items Ordered-

APPS- Beef Carpaccio, Buffalo Mozzarella, Seafood Soup.

MAINS- Seafood Fra Diavolo, Mushroom Sausage Pizza

DESSERT- Chocolate Ice Cream (see notes under areas for improvement)

By Tim Mitchell