Alfredo’s Gallery is an Italian restaurant that has been around since 1907. In Kuwait they opened up back in June and according to the message they have plastered everywhere, they’re “The birthplace of the original fettuccine Alfredo”. I decided to pass by with a friend last week for lunch and I left with mixed feelings.
Alfredo’s is located in The Avenues but in a secluded area away from all the hustle and bustle. I personally love the location but for those who are looking for a place to sit and be seen while watching people walk by, this isn’t for you. Alfredo’s is located in a quiet and nicely sun lit courtyard behind H&M in Grand Avenues. There is plenty of outdoor seating but even if you choose to sit inside you won’t be disappointed since the interior is cozy and nice looking.
The menu is pretty big with a large selection of dishes. We ended up ordering:
Calamari Al Guazzetto KD3.750
Pizza Sofia Loren KD4.950
Extra Mushrooms KD1.000 (for the pizza)
Risotto Al Funghi KD4.750
Tagliatelle alla Bolognese KD4.250
Water KD0.000
Yeah you read that right, the water is free. When tiny hole in the wall restaurants are selling water for upwards of KD1 it’s refreshing to see a proper restaurant serve complimentary water. The water is served in their own bottles like they would serve tap water in Europe so my guess is in Kuwait they’re filling the bottles from a water cooler which is perfectly fine by me. Let me move on and talk about the food. I found the calamari and pizza both bland. The pizza fared better than the calamari but I wouldn’t go back specifically for their pizza since there are a bunch of places that make better pizza. The bolognese was too salty for my liking and by the time I got down to the bottom of the dish where the sauce was located I stopped eating because I couldn’t bare the salt. The risotto on the other hand, how can I put this nicely… I saw my friend eating only the mushrooms in the risotto so I asked them about it and they told me to try the risotto. It was by far the worst risotto I’ve ever tried, it tasted so gritty and bland that it was inedible.
Back to the positives, the staff are all Italian and pretty well informed on the menu. They were friendly and attentive although when I was there only two or three other tables were occupied so things might be different on the weekends when they get packed. I was pretty surprised though that the waiter didn’t ask if anything was wrong with the risotto when he came to clean up since the plate was basically untouched. I figured it’s probably a regular occurrence so they just stopped asking about it anymore. Price wise I didn’t find them expensive. My only issue with the place actually was with the food but that’s also the most important thing in a restaurant. In hindsight we should have ordered the fettuccine Alfredo since it’s probably the thing they do best but I didn’t feel like having it that day.
Would I go back? Not really sure. We don’t have that many Italian restaurants in Kuwait and I actually like their location even though it’s in Avenues. But, my guess is that even if I go back and try other dishes, I’d imagine everything would probably end up tasting bland. If you’re interested to find out more about Alfredo’s or if you’d like to check out their menu, here is the link to their [Website]
27 replies on “Review: Alfredo’s Gallery Restaurant”
Kuwait has actually seen a huge influx of Spanish & Italian citizens in recent years due to the astonishingly high (40%) unemployment rate in both countries. Thank you Mr. I-sleep-with-16 year olds Berlusconi and embezzler Mariano Rajoy!
This explains why I keep picking up Italian and Spanish being spoken in various supermarkets and restaurants.
Actually, Spanish has been spoken in various markets and restaurants for years here in Kuwait due to the fact that Kuwait has always had a large Hispanic population. Mostly Venezuelans, Puerto Rican, Mexicans, Argentinians and Columbians, in order by population. The fact that Arabs can blend into south american and caribbean countries is also the reason that we Hispanics can blend in so well here in Kuwait.
I had their Alfredo fettuccine once; found it quite light, digestible (knowing i’m not into creamy foods) and most of all tasty.
And yes the location serves me pretty well, given I’m not a fan of gazing at pass-byers or vice versa.
I say give it another go, I got a food tagliatelle bolognaise and their alfredo was legendary
Damn, that’s a bummer.
I’ve been on the lookout for a good Italian joint, that serves pasta made from scratch and a good lobster/mushroom risotto. Perhaps there aren’t any in K-town. Dishes look well presented, shame that the taste doesn’t cut it.
that blur/DOP on the pizza photograph is jut horrible. just blur the entire thing while you at it.
i like it
I can safely say that Italian food in Kuwait is always bad, they just don’t know how to make it. Anywhere I order pasta it’s always fatty and floating in oil, and the pizza gets a passing grade I guess. Other than that, ive always been disappointed in Italian cuisine here.
I’ve wanted to try that restaurant since sometime now because I am a fan of Alfredo sauces, but didn’t have the chance to try it. I will give it a try.
Its bad that there are no much good italian restaurants here so I am not loyal to any so far !
I visited the restaurant and I wasn’t satisfied at all, i think you should try the Italian restaurant Casereccio in Jordan, Amman / Abdoun
I think you should try the Italian restaurant Luigi in Peru…
Luigi in Peru was da bomb! Loved the place except for all the stray Llamas hanging around.
And whatever you do, don’t feed the llamas any lima beans…
I tried the fettucini Alfredo and it was pretty good and much better than other places around Kuwait.
I guess for a proper restaurant review you should have tried their specialty at least!
Johnny Carino’s is the place to go for Italian food!
That was a joke, right?
If you want a good Fettucini Alfredo I highly recommend Casa Havana at al Kout. I found it ironic that the only place that I was able to get a good Fettucini Alfredo was a Egyptian Shisha place masquerading as a Cuban restaurant with an Italian Menu.
Ok let me start by saying that Italian is my favorite food and I go to well reviewed places by tripadvisor to have it whenever I travel… I can honestly say this is one of the worst experiences of italian food I had as far as I remember. The fettuccini pasta was horribly cooked, it was wet and oily, the alfredo sauce was as advertised butter and cheese, with no kind of seasoning but salt, which was overdone since the cheese was salty too. Though the dish was prepared and mixed at our table, it was cold and tasted cheesy. We ordered also the gnocchi which came looking bland and distasteful and tasted as it looked.
I had a better Fettuccini Alfredo at Al Forno in Kuwait that was served with mushroom and it came well seasoned… It wasn’t the best but compared to this place it is was way more tasty and the experience was much better.
The pizza *fared better
thanks
Oh, and *bear the salt
Honestly to see people who have no clue of what is Italian food commenting on Italian food I find quite ridiculous. Alfredo is a very good Italian restaurant and ate also in the original one in Italy numerous times and honestly its very much the same. People of Kuwait, most so called Italian restaurants in Kuwait are not Italian, they are American restaurants that just hike up the price cause they serve Italian or supposedly Italian food. This is the only restaurant in Kuwait that you have the original Fettuccine Alfredo. FYI they dot have chicken or mushrooms cause they don’t come with these ingredients!!! No cooking cream for that matter either cause in Italy cooking cream is barely used in Pasta unlike in the American cuisine : Ie Johnny Carino etc…. So before commenting take a deep culinary tour of Italy and then talk
You don’t need to take a culinary tour anywhere to understand that food is bland or overly seasoned or undercooked.
*pushes you off your high horse*
Did you ever hear Pasta al Dente? I would never comment on a Lebanese restaurant cause I I would probably not know what i am talking about so, my suggestion is for people to comment and talk about what they really know about. FYI I ride a donkey , and this is why i stick to commenting to what I know.
I too really loved the location, tucked away in a “side street” of the Avenues. We had the fettucine alfredo with the beef & rocca on the side and the pesto tagliatelle. I thought both were excellent. As they recommend, you have to eat the fettucine alfredo while it is hot, or it gets congealed. If you are used to the American version of fettucine alfredo, this is definitely different, in a good way as far as I am concerned. We also had the pumpkin risotto, and it was undercooked, this made it difficult to eat, but the flavors were good.
HISTORY OF ALFREDO DI LELIO CREATOR IN 1908 OF “FETTUCCINE ALL’ALFREDO” (“FETTUCCINE ALFREDO”), NOW SERVED BY HIS NEPHEW INES DI LELIO, AT THE RESTAURANT “IL VERO ALFREDO” – “ALFREDO DI ROMA” IN ROME, PIAZZA AUGUSTO IMPERATORE 30
With reference of your article (for which I thank you), I have the pleasure to tell you the history of my grandfather Alfredo Di Lelio, who is the creator of “Fettuccine all’Alfredo” (“Fettuccine Alfredo”) in 1908 in the “trattoria” run by his mother Angelina in Rome, Piazza Rosa (Piazza disappeared in 1910 following the construction of the Galleria Colonna / Sordi). This “trattoria” of Piazza Rosa has become the “birthplace of fettuccine all’Alfredo”.
More specifically, as is well known to many people who love the “fettuccine all’Alfredo”, this famous dish in the world was invented by Alfredo Di Lelio concerned about the lack of appetite of his wife Ines, who was pregnant with my father Armando (born February 26, 1908).
Alfredo di Lelio opened his restaurant “Alfredo” in 1914 in Rome and in 1943, during the war, he sold the restaurant to others outside his family.
In 1950 Alfredo Di Lelio decided to reopen with his son Armando his restaurant in Piazza Augusto Imperatore n.30 “Il Vero Alfredo” (“Alfredo di Roma”), whose fame in the world has been strengthened by his nephew Alfredo and that now managed by me, with the famous “gold cutlery” (fork and spoon gold) donated in 1927 by two well-known American actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (in gratitude for the hospitality).
See also the website of “Il Vero Alfredo”.(with news also about franchising).
I must clarify that other restaurants “Alfredo” in Rome (as alfredo’s gallery or alfredo alla scrofa) do not belong to the family tradition of “Il Vero Alfredo – Alfredo di Roma”.
I inform you that the restaurant “Il Vero Alfredo –Alfredo di Roma” is in the registry of “Historic Shops of Excellence” of the City of Rome Capitale.
Best regards Ines Di Lelio
Your mistake was not getting the fettuccine alfredo. If you had eaten this dish you would be soaring over the moon. I have scarcely felt true love in my life, and eating fettucine alfredo in this restaurant brought me back into the longing arms of love. It is a true shame that they have closed down, at the behest of such ridiculous and ungrateful reviews.