Alle Corone has been the restaurant in the Ai Reali Hotel for 6 years and is set up over several small rooms. Our room had about 6 tables and one side was windows looking over the adjacent canal with the boats and gondolas riding by. The hotel was fairly elegant as were the dining rooms, set with white tablecloths and napkins, yet they chose a whimsical gnome to be the purse stool. Tables each had individual small lights and the room was further lit by wall sconces, and overall the lighting was nicely lowered. Decorations of masks and feathers were in honor of carnival season. Music was in the background and ours had a beautiful terrazzo floor with an amazing border pattern. The service was professional, efficient and friendly. Most spoke great English but some of the student interns struggled with questions. They offered a 6 course tasting, with wine pairing offered, as well as an a la carte menu. We chose the tasting and ordered our own beverages.
We started with a sparkler and the glasses they had were specially made to enhance the bubble pattern coming from the bottom of the glass. It was fun. Bread service was a basket of various choices including celery bread, focaccia, sticks, corn and rosemary. The focaccia was lightly salted on top and nicely fresh.
The menu started right in, no amuse bouche, with raw shrimp tartare, Sicilian red prawn tartare, finger lime, sour cream and guacamole mousse. The lime was a thin slice that was tartly edible. The raw shrimp was the whiter pile on the left and the red prawns were on the right and both were extremely fresh and good. They mixed quite well with the avocado and cream as well as the super sweet mango pieces. Lime bits were hidden throughout and made a bit of pop when you ate one. It was a really nice dish.
Grilled scallops in Caesar salad with black wafers was another nice combination. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the bits of lettuce and other Caesar components did not overwhelm them. There were some tiny croutons also in the mix and they added a nice crunch as did the black wafers. It was not a strong Caesar salad taste but it was fun and tasty.
Fried sardines were plated with red onions, soncino (green, common corn salad), wasabi sauce, soy and black salt. The sardines were great and wonderful with the bits of wasabi sauce but it was almost too strong and could easily overpower the taste of the small, mild fish. The red onion on the plate was way too hot and thus not very good. It was an interesting combination with some parts being much better than others. Give this one an okay.
Ravioli of burrata cheese, broccoli cream and Cantabrian anchovies was 3 stuffed pastas each draped with the anchovy and surrounded by broccoli cream. Tomatoes were used as a garnish but they were on the mealy side and had little taste just some mild color. The pasta was nicely cooked and the anchovy added just enough taste to enhance the mild, creamy burrata filling. They were great together. A nice one.
Sea bass fillets were plated with Creazzo kale fiolaro (in the brassica family) and parsnip chips and purée. The kale was in leaf form as well as a purée and combined with the parsnip, it might have been a bit too much purée on the plate. Something lighter might have better enhanced the fish instead of overpowering the taste. The fish was also slightly overcooked, but it was still pretty good and a pretty plate of food.
Dessert was an eclair with creamy pistachio and red fruit caramel. It was not well stuffed and I detected very little caramel flavor. It had a typical unexciting cream puff exterior, was decorated with out of season berries and would only rate an okay.
Final treats were a lemon cake which was creamy and nice with a wonderful thick crisp bottom section; a chocolate with coconut log which was chewy and mild and a chocolate filled macaroon that was nicely filled and chewy.
After the meal the manager was nice enough to show us some of the other rooms, including the wine room.
