We've begun eating at Saizeriya pretty often since the start of this year.
For some reason it has become, shall we say, the go-to place whenever meal time pops up and we have no idea what we want to eat.
It has also become the place to have a quick, and fulfilling meal, before heading out to, say, meetings, or appointments, or Zoom calls.
When we first began coming here I had no idea whether we would grow to like this place, or head the opposite direction and grow tired of it.
After all this while- four months half now- I've got my answer.
I like it.
Saizeriya is a dining place that many praise for its ambience, affordability, and quality of food.
I call it an experience.
What that means is that you don't come to Saizeriya expecting to have pizza and pasta and mains of Michelin-star gastronomical quality.
Neither do you come to Saizeriya expecting to have the same kind of warm pizzeria, Mediterranean ambience you'd desire from a top notch Italian restaurant.
You won't get any of that.
Instead, simply immerse yourself in a brightly-lit, cheerful, fun, family-friendly environment where next to you will be fellow diners of all ages happily relishing in the wallet-friendly meals they have ordered.
The charm of this place has to be the presence of the drinks bar.
For $2.90 you get to have a selection of soft drinks, coffee, tea and Milo. It's not just one type of coffee, nor one type of tea even. Their Nescafe machine brings out the espresso, the cappuccino, the latte and the black coffee. Their tea usually has the green and the earl grey. And the soft drinks include the rare ones like Mountain Dew and Root Beer.
I like their desserts actually.
They've recently changed the dessert menu, although the staple ones like Tiramisu, Oreo Cheesecake, Chocolate Lava Cake and Strawberry Mousse are still there.
But since it is more of a tummy thing whenever I'm here, I tend to go for the pasta here.
For some reason I have never quite considered other dishes, even though there be meals that appeal to me, like the Grilled Salmon, the Cheese Chicken & Sausage, and the Sirloin Steak.
More often than not, I find myself going for the Spinach Chicken Gratin, or the Bacon & Mushroom Risotto. I like penne, I like the bits of spinach vegetable that I pick out and share with my friend, and I don't mind the presence of cream.
Same way too for the Risotto I pick out bits of bacon and leave it at the side of my plate whilst I mix all the mushrooms to have them with the rice.
Other pasta dishes I have had include the Pesto Genovese.
Not so much for the spaghetti, more for the pesto.
My friend, on the other hand, prefers the pizza.
At one time he took the Pineapple & Bacon, but in recent times, the cheese pizza with prosciutto ham has intrigued him and that's what he usually has now.
They've since added arugula leaves to the top of the pizza, so I grab a couple of them and decorate my plate a little bit, like how I've done with my plate of Risotto.
Saizeriya is known for its appetizers too.
They seem really popular, in particular the Oven Grilled Escargots, the Calamari and the Chicken Wings.
One day if I do kick in an appetite, I might just go ballistic and order all three of them, plus a mushroom soup and a main, but for the moment it is the chicken wings that we have had, and may I say that, yes, they of the original recipe are really good.
In recent times we have had a couple of lunches at the nearest Saizeriya, and since the lunch deal comes with a bowl of salad, I've since figured out how to zhng up my meal with the vegetables.
I've tried most of the lunchtime offerings, whether it be the Creamy Garlic Chicken, the Cheese Milano Gratin, or the Teriyaki Chicken & Mushroom Doria but I have since settled for the Creamy Garlic Crispy Chicken Baked Rice.
It is the one dish that appealed the most to me, not just because it had turmeric flavored rice, but also because they had three battered chicken tenders that made the meal enjoyable to eat and easy to share.
So that's the one I always order now.
We were at Saizeriya a couple of days ago.
It being a weekend, we didn't get to take the lunch set, so I had the Spinach Chicken Gratin, and because on my friend's pizza there were some of them arugula leaves he didn't wish to eat, onto my bowl they went, making a pretty addition to the meal.