The Weekly Eater

By Nadine Kam
Star-Bulletin

Thursday, October 24, 1996

---

Sergio’s friendlier
but expensive

MANAGEMENT may be new, but business is as usual at Sergio's. This means the menu is more or less intact, the prices still border on the stratosphere and food is still rich enough to merit a surgeon general warning.

While much of the culinary world has taken a lighter turn, this is the place for those who would like to hold on to the days when butter ruled kingdoms populated by dark, booth-lined rooms and servers in suits.

There's nothing wrong with that, but all the trappings add up to a rather costly experience when I've had better meals at half the price.

---

---

At least service is friendlier. Snootiness has been replaced by smiles, and I feel certain that greetings like the one I got when I visited the restaurant a few years ago, are a thing of the past. That was when, on a casual daytime exploratory search, I popped into the doorway to ask a few questions about the restaurant and was told, "You can't come in like THAT!"

Puh-leez. It was as if the guy had never seen shorts or slippers in Waikiki, and like I said, I had no intention of dining there at that particular moment. Now that there's a new regime in place and now that the weather has changed as well, view a visit to Sergio's as an opportunity to don that beautiful jacket hanging in the back of the closet.

DINNERS get off to a fairly good start. Lifeless dinner rolls get a C grade, but a choice of appetizers raises the curve substantially. I love mushrooms and here one can get a combination of fresh wild porcini, shiitake and chanterelles (market price) simply sauteed with butter, garlic and balsamic vinegar. Once one has had a luscious, silky fresh shiitake, there's little incentive to go back to the dried stuff that will survive in one's pantry for eons.

Crepes ai Frutti de Mare ($10.50) are Seafood Crepes stuffed with shrimp, clams and scallops and topped with Sherry Creme, accented with a small dice of tomatoes and pieces of spinach.

Less successful was Baby Artichokes ($7.25), lightly salted and fried to a brown crisp. This technique works with onions, but here, the artichokes simply ceased to be food in the way that dry, shoestring potatoes cannot possibly be called food.

For those looking for reasonable fare, there is spaghetti - Puttanesca, Marinara, Carbonara - for $14.50. Cannelloni di Carne is a house special at $16.50, comprised of a crepe stuffed with herbs, cheese, spinach, ground beef and veal and topped with light tomato sauce.

A selection of veal, steak and seafood entrees round out the menu. These include traditional Veal Picatta ($21) and Veal Parmagianna ($21), Chicken Cacciatori ($17.75) and a Rack of Spring Lamb ($29) with rosemary sauce.

Codine di Scampi alla Sergio's ($32) was hardly worth the price. Here were about six mini lobster tails, sweet but mushy. I've had better at Sizzler's. Veal Marsala ($22) fared much better with its rich, intense wine sauce.

Dessert encompasses a range of purchased cakes and confections. We opted for the house Tartufo e Fragole ($10), raspberry truffles interspersed with sliced strawberries on a bed of vanilla custard. They also offered complimentary bon bons served over dry ice, creating a lovely mist, just in time for Halloween.

---

Sergio’s

Where: Ilima Hotel, 445 Nohonani St. Free valet parking
Hours: Dinner 5:30 to 11 p.m. Monday to Saturday
Prices: About $55 to $80 per two for dinner without drinks
Call: 926-3388

- excellent;
- very good, exceeds expectations;
- average;
- below average.