When it comes to dining in Lagos, I find restaurant ideas from the weirdest places. It could be a random IG story, AD, or just me listening to people talk. For Appetino Lagos, I stumbled on an IG AD; they had run on my way back from work, and I remember telling my friend that I had to order food from there at some point.
The Appetino Lagos Instagram handle drew my attention with the beautiful images and videos of food they sell. What caught my attention, though, was the handmade pasta. After taking my time to look through the short menu, I knew that I had to try the handmade pasta first, especially because there was shrimp in it.
The only explanation for this is that Shrimps are my second favourite seafood after crabs, so there was obviously no competition. I’ll break down my Appetino Lagos experience into bits focusing on placing an order, delivery, packaging, the food itself, and my final judgment.
ORDERING
My only problem with Appetino Lagos was placing my order was because they definitely took their sweet time replying. This might be personal, but late responses tick me off, particularly when I am trying to make a purchase or get some information.
I have to point out that it was my first time patronising them, so I didn’t know they actually prefer customers to preorder, and that’s on me. But those late replies still had me reconsidering if I really wanted to buy the pasta. I just feel like this could be a huge turn off for new customers and could make them rethink deciding to spend all their money on Appetino Lagos.
While trying to order my meal, the first thing I did was try to send them a dm on Instagram, when Instagram could not “create a thread,” I went on to Twitter. I sent a message to their Twitter handle, hoping that I would get a response ASAP without calling. But after the first 1 hour and no text back, I had to make several calls which no one picked up as well.
Fast forward to after I got a text back, there were still spaced time replies, and as someone who loves quick responses, this ticked me off. This same late replies turned me off from completing my order the second time, I tried to patronise them, and for clarity’s sake, this time, I was preordering.
I have to point out though that they were extremely polite, which is why I am still going to give them all my dollars ;).
DELIVERY
Since I made my order the same day for lunch, I made sure to ask for an Estimated Time of Arrival, and they told me 1 PM. Now knowing we live in Nigeria, I added an extra 30 minutes so that I wouldn’t be disappointed and too hungry. You also have to transfer your payment, including your delivery fee to confirm your order, after which you send in your details.The delivery man arrived at my location by 2 PM; I’m still unsure whether I was disappointed or slightly impressed that it didn’t take longer.
I have to note that the delivery man was polite, he did a quick drop off and left immediately, so I had no problems there.
FOOD
I got the Shrimp Pasta which cost N3500.
My food came in a pretty brown bag, and I loved the handwritten love message, and post-it note they included in the packaging. For me, it added a nice one on one touch to my dining experience.
The meal itself was packed in a beautiful brown food box, and what I first noticed was I couldn’t see leaks of any kind. There was no oil seeping out, and the food stayed in place, which I have to confess impressed me the most.
Another detail that really had me impressed was the equal portions of food served, the shrimp and pasta both came in equal portions so I could eat the way I wanted without being afraid that I was going to run out of either.
Tastewise, I like the little bursts of flavour that came with each bite of pasta. I suck at ingredients, but I can outrightly tell you I was so grateful it didn’t taste like your average pasta would and while you might argue about why I said that, I said what I said. I’ve had food disappoint me too many times; I make sure to place my expectations and tastebuds low.
I want to assume the green stuff is either parsley or basil leaves; I stand to be corrected; it added a nice touch of colour and flavour to the entire meal.
