Utopia Wants to be Lagos' Next "IT" Restaurant
Utopia Restauarant
11b Goriola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
NOSA: Gist has it that the guys who ran Rhapsody split up for some reason and one of them went ahead to set up his own thing, Utopia.
FOLLY: Interesting name choice.
NOSA: Well, not really gist. That’s what the guy who supplies the meat told us. Same guy also owns La Boucherie where I didn’t like my steak. But that’s a story for another day.
FOLLY: He was a really pleasant man.
NOSA: The menu at Utopia is very much like a Chili’s or an Appleby’s. A little bit of everything is what I’m getting at. From pasta to ribs to quesadillas, Utopia is like a “generalist” restaurant.
FOLLY: Generalist restaurants aren't really that good but I felt Utopia would be different. I should add that they have an extensive (and EXPENSIVE) "From the butchers" section, and they get their meat from the man who supplies meat to everyone in Lagos.
NOSA: To start, we got the Chicken Lollipops and the Utopia Fries (aka chili cheese fries).
I liked the chicken pops, but I hated them also. Don’t really know how to explain it with words. I didn’t get an A in WAEC English so you might have to bear with me here.
FOLLY: I didn't like these but I think that's a personal preference and not because these were actually bad (they weren't).
NOSA: The chicken pops are basically chicken escalope balls with a whole bunch of “nacho” cheese drizzled on. The cheese didn’t really work for me. Drizzling anything with cheese is a fantastic idea on paper, but it didn’t quite work here
FOLLY: Another person would have loved the idea of spicy cheese. I also think I'm to blame for these I was expecting sticky chicken lollipops and I didn't read the menu description. Actually, it wasn't my fault because the restaurant is poorly lit and the menu text is faint beige on black and so is IMPOSSIBLE to read. Yup, Utopia's fault.
NOSA: The chili cheese fries were incredibly disappointing for me. They weren’t bad per se, but I expected they’d taste a lot better compared to how it looked. These were like cheesy stew with fries.
FOLLY: This were okay but didn't blow me away. I prefer what HSE Gourmet did.
NOSA: The real star of the show was my main, the Brazilian Pork Ribs. Now, I have no idea if those were actually Brazilian ribs, but I can tell you for a fact that the ribs were delicious. They aren’t the most tender, but they were tender enough.
FOLLY: I kept trying to ask Nosa JAMB questions and man was like "Can't you see I'm eating". I had the Pesto Shrimp Linguini.
NOSA: Folly’s pasta needed a lot of salt.
FOLLY: Entire plate was bland, even the shrimp.
NOSA: Her whole plate was like the chef has never seen seasoning in his life.
FOLLY: Also told me lies as the pasta should have been linguini and not spaghetti.
POSTSCRIPT
NOSA: On the whole, I’d come back. The food didn’t blow me away, but it’s good enough to warrant a revisit.
FOLLY: Even if just for their cocktails. They made a solid Caipirinha, on the first attempt too, unlike some people...
VERDICT
DAMAGE
Mojito - N2500
Caipirinha - N2500
Utopia Fries - N3000
Chicken Lollipops - N3900
Brazilian Ribs - N12500
Pesto Shrimps Linguini - N6500
PARKING
They need to sort that out.