Sabio By The Sea is one of the many interesting eateries along the stretch of Quayside Isle, specializing in authentic Spanish sharing tapas and sangria. Since my husband and I were staying at W Hotel Sentosa Cove, we decided to venture out for dinner and this restaurant was well within walking distance. It caught our eye as it was right at the other end of the stretch and much less crowded than the others we walked past.
- Our order:
- The Sabio burger ($24++)
- Sea scallops with white wine sauce ($24++)
- Beef meatballs in spicy tomato sauce ($19++)
- Vanilla ice cream ($6++)
- Spent: SGD$85.92
The restaurant is completely open-air, albeit with some tables located indoors (with some air-conditioning) and some outdoors, but all are under shelter. I chose to sit indoors as I was absolutely fascinated by the table decor (couldn’t get enough of that perfectly taut symmetrical string design). The rest of the interior was pretty cool and peculiar too, with one wall sporting wooden horse and zebra heads, as well as antler chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. Quite unique, I must say. Service was decent too, where staff were pleasant to speak with, ready to assist and made the effort to check on us every now and then.
It was somewhat a pity that the food didn’t live up to expectations. Although the Sabio burger beef patty wasn’t too bad (medium rare, juicy, nicely seasoned), everything else on the plate was mediocre. The guacamole wasn’t very fresh while the buns had a stale and hardened texture. The six pieces of scallops were immersed in a white wine sauce that was one-dimensionally salty and underwhelming.
Also, given that the menu confidently declared that their meatballs were known to be the best in Singapore, I was pretty much set up for disappointment. The meatballs themselves didn’t have much texture and the tomato sauce was overly tart. This was compounded by the fact that it was spicy, even though the staff specifically said they could do a non-spicy version of it. Not the most enjoyable dinner we’ve had for sure 
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. I guess we should’ve taken cue from the fact that this was one of the few restaurants along that stretch that didn’t have much of a crowd at dinner time. The standard and quality of food was rather appalling, to say the least. I’m not sure if we caught them on an off-day but I’d hesitate to give it another shot as the menu prices aren’t exactly pocket-friendly. What they did have going for them though were the friendly staff and the very unique decor of the space, creating a laid-back yet eclectic atmosphere.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 