Tipo Pasta Bar — Waterloo

Visited Tipo @ Waterloo for the first time and honestly did not expect such poor service throughout the entire dinner experience. We visited around 7pm and the restaurant was barely occupied. Cutlery was placed in a container on the table, but when our food arrived, we realised there weren’t enough utensils. We asked the staff for 3 additional sets of cutlery, but only received 3 spoons. We eventually had to reach over to other tables to take forks ourselves, and even then, none of the staff approached us to offer assistance. We also ordered 2 bottles of tap water, which we were told cost $6 per bottle. Before ordering, my friend asked how big each bottle was so we could estimate how many to purchase for our large group, but the staff seemed unsure and did not bother responding properly. Some of my friends ordered cold brew tea, which was still available on the menu. Halfway through the meal, we had to check with the staff again because the drinks never arrived. Only then were we told that the drink bar was closed. If pizzas can be marked as sold out on the menu, why couldn’t the drinks be updated as unavailable too? Worse still, no one informed us when the order was taken, and the staff were not apologetic when asked about it. When the pasta dishes were served, the staff appeared confused and unsure of what they were serving. I ordered Mafalde pasta but was served something completely different, more similar to spaghetti. For takeaway orders, once the food was ready, it was simply left at the counter without any notification. A simple “Your takeaway is ready, just let us know when you’d like to collect it” would have been basic service, but that didn’t happen either. The billing experience was the final straw. We were charged for the 3 cold brew teas that were never served, and also charged $96 for 4 bottles of water despite being told they were $6 each. Thankfully, one of my friends checked the receipt before payment. Even after we pointed out the mistakes and shared our disappointment with the service, the staff showed no apology. One staff member even rolled her eyes and walked away while my friend was speaking. Overall, the poor service attitude completely ruined the dining experience for all of us.

Pasta was really good! The texture was perfectly chewy and the sauce was really rich and flavourful. Build your own pasta is very value for money! The combo I got was mafalde + pink sauce + arugula + prawns. Only negatives are that they don’t serve water at all (not even paid water….) and the server was a little unfriendly (not rude though)!

Great pasta in a nice atmosphere restaurant. Starters were delicious and unique. The only regret is limited number of deserts. Also unavailable were pizzas selection but we were told before we book. Overall, very nice restaurant.

Total disappointment - unacceptable for a restaurant which has multiple outlets. 1. Received a text in the afternoon stating there won’t be pizza as dough had proofing issues - fair enough, respect the teams decision is removing pizza off the menu to ensure food quality and consistency. 2. Food quality - ordered 8 pastas, there were a mix of undercooked and overcooked ones. As stated on the ordering platform, if not stated, pasta will be cooked Al dente. None of us stated for our pastas to be underdone or overdone. Yet 3 were overdone and 2 were underdone. Underdone till the center was still opaque and the noodles we clumped together, hence its obvious that that will not cook evenly. 3. Service standard - When highlighting the over and undercooked pasta to the staff, she didn’t apologize or said anything. Took it straight back to the kitchen. I believe this could be handled better by coming back to us and informing us the chef will redo the dish and it’ll take X minutes. It was dinner time and we were served with low quality food. No additional service recovery was offered as well. 4. Repeat mistake - The refire dish came back still slightly opaque in the center, clumped together. At that point, I believe there’s no need to redo it again as we were all hungry and some even finished their food and was waiting. I believe this isn’t the standard by Tipo, I had a great experience at Aliwal outlet, hence visiting waterloos hoping for consistency, but was disappointed. No images of the undercooked pasta, but feel free to reach out if additional info is required. Thank you.

ig: @lifetogether97 ——————————————— the pastas here never fail to impress me!! at this price point and quality, I have no complaints. i love how you get to choose the kind of pasta you want and it is cooked al dente. the aglio olio with prawns was so good, the prawns were juicy and fresh AND HUGE. there is also a build ur own pasta option which is great for the eaters who know what they want heh. will defo be back 👌🏻 ——————————————— aglio alright (mafalde) $19.90 build ur own pasta (mafalde, pink sauce, sous vide egg, grated grana padano, smoked duck) $19.90