A friend and I dined at Fiume on a recent Friday night. I've dined both at Fiume and Mercante before and enjoyed them.
We were greeted by the owner, Omar, who looked like he just rolled out of bed, in a crumpled t-shirt and shorts, an outfit in which I would be reluctant to receive waimai, never mind welcome customers. The venue was hot, with the air conditioning but the door wide open for true European ambiance. The caprese we ordered was very good, as were the steaks. Tiramisu and panna cotta topped it off. We split a bottle of chianti. The bill was over RMB 1,400.
No complaints about the food, but I'll never go there again. For more than US$100 per person at a casual dining restaurant, I would think the owner could at least wear trousers. It makes one wonder what's going on in the kitchen if the front of the house looks like that.
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Re: Delicious food. I'll never go there again.
I’ve dined at Fiume a few times – during normal operating hours, and at private events held there. I’ve found the food to be anywhere from very good to excellent. I’ve had steaks there that were as good as any I’ve had within recent memory. The desserts are also excellent, especially the Tiramisu and Panna Cotta (both positively mentioned in the above review). For food of this quality the prices are quite reasonable. Fiume is also notable in offering cuisine from the Emilia Romagna region of Italy, which distinguishes it from many other Italian restaurants in Beijing.
The restaurant bills itself as ‘cozy’ and ‘relaxed’, and offers views of the small river outside its windows. While not spectacular, the scenery certainly is charming and potentially even a bit romantic, especially at night, and especially after having had some wine from the restaurant’s fairly sizeable and noteworthy list of Italian wines.
Regarding the above review: the writer acknowledges that the food was “delicious”, “very good”, and he has “no complaints”. He also offers some interesting clues that may explain away his main complaint, but he isn’t self-aware (or empathetic?) enough to put them together: 1) “I dined at Fiume on a recent Friday night” (review written on May 24); 2) “The venue was hot, with the air conditioning (on) but the door wide open...”; 3) The owner, Omar, the ultimate target of the reviewer’s complaints, does often work in the kitchen; 4) it is “a casual dining restaurant”.
In other words: 1) it was the beginning of Summer (i.e., it was HOT); 2) the A/C wasn’t functioning well (i.e., it was HOT); 3) the Owner often works in the kitchen (i.e., a place that is very HOT), and 4) as the review describes it, it is after all a “casual” restaurant. So, the guy who may have just been slaving over a hot stove to cook your delicious steak (or at the least, in some way helped prepare your enjoyable meal) doesn’t want to be boiling hot, and wore temperature-appropriate clothes, and that’s so worthy of complaint? What ingratitude and snobbery!
There are plenty of fancy restaurants in Beijing; Fiume isn’t pretending to be one of them. It offers very good Italian food, at an appropriate price, in a very nice and CASUAL setting. Those whose self-esteem or self-confidence is tied to the level of formality when they dine, can easily have that need catered to at one of the many fancy dining establishments that are located all over Beijing.
Ultimately this IS a very revealing review - but not for what it indicates about the restaurant.
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