SEPA Bacaro Veneziano

My companion and I had a very nice meal here. Service was not very attentive, but the food was delicious.
Drinks: My Negroni was great. It didn’t seem to be made with Campari, but rather a different sweet bitter mixer. Still, very good.
Apps: Burrata was excellent, as was our sausage and mustard bomba (kind of like a hot dog in flavor and texture, but in a good way). I think they should have served these together, but they seemed to not do so very consciously. Still, bread for mopping up the whey from the burrata would have made sense, in my opinion.
Mains:
* Spaghetti carbonara — very solidly done, with a 63 degree egg and extremely rich lardons, along with a buttery sauce with plenty of black pepper. It’s a simple dish, but the execution was perfect here.
* Mussels with white wine sauce — also well done, with delicious broth, although the pita-​type bread they served alongside wasn’t that amazing.
They took too long getting back around to our table (the restaurant seems pretty new, so I guess they’re still working out kinks with the wait staff?) so we skipped dessert. But the offerings looked good, so I look forward to exploring them, since I suspect I will be back again.

Sepa is found at the corner of Caine Road just to the right of the escalator as you’re going up.
My wife and I joined our friends for dinner. We were seated upstairs and had an interesting view of the activity on the escalators through frosted glass.
The interior reminded me more of a Bavarian beer hall than an Italian restaurant, but it was comfortable none the less.
The star of the night was the appetizers. We got meatballs, focaccia bread and the most delightful arrancini you could ever wish for.
The main pasta dish was nothing to crow about, and the service was a bit slow. I’m not sure I’d make any huge effort to go back for dinner, but the bar was nice and the appetizers were great, so maybe a drink and a snack will be worth another visit.

Be careful. I’ve seen Sepa’s food deliveries just sitting on the street because no one was at the restaurant to receive them. Caine Road is full of people in the afternoon and cars zipping by. I’d be very worried about the freshness and cleanliness of the products. Also, Sepa employees smoke on the escalator, which is clearly designated as non-​smoking. If their staff doesn’t follow these civil rules, what are they doing in the kitchen? Yes, I’ve eaten there twice. The service was consistent with Hong Kong-​expat standards, which means acceptable but not like the Four Seasons or Mandarin. The food seemed OK, but I’m always thinking about those vegetables just sitting on the side of the road. Management should be ashamed.

OMG this restaurant is by far the best value for any restaurant week price. For a four course meal, we couldn’t even make it to dessert before feeling super stuffed. We ordered three sets of the menu and shared every course.
Highlights:
— Beef Carpaccio: RAW beef on top of a tortilla chip so thin it could almost be paper. It has great flavor and is not disgusting despite it being raw. Texture was closer to a piece of ham.
— Mixed Bomba (not the Summer Bomba and I forgot the full name.): Absolutely heavenly. The Bomba is a bun that is cut into four and then they stuff ham and cream cheese in there (some fancy ham and cheese). It’s freshly baked and is super chewy.
— Mango Chocolate Cale: Very smooth chocolate and mango flavor blended together in the best way possible.
We got three pastas to share: the carbonara, duck, and wagyu. My favorite was the carbonara because the two tagliatelles were a bit salty. But the ones I listed above were the best. We also had a very sweet waiter who always came to our table to get to know us! He was very personable and made us laugh all the time. When we couldn’t finish our desserts, he urged us to keep going but we really couldn’t. He made our coffee (lattes have coffee art!) personally too. All in all we had an amazing time with great quality food and a great price. Definitely recommend!

All I can say is excellent food and great service. Money well spent! Very happy! Sepa is a nice small restaurant in the heart of Soho.

I have been in Hong Kong for 3 weeks now and keep returning here to Sepa. I find the food to be so very delicious that it’s difficult at times, especially since my apartment is across the road, to force myself to try other places. Their lunch and happy hour specials are scrumptious… I have just had the best Eggplant Parmesiana that I’ve ever had in my life! OMG! Now on to dessert… The tiramisu is creamy, and filled with all the heavenly taste you are looking for when you savour this dessert.
A couple of notes… the restaurant is open for lunch even though the his may show otherwise.
You may not be immediately shown the lunch or happy hour menu… be sure to ask for it if you aren’t.

I was meeting two friends on Saturday evening for happy hour drinks, and we ended up at Sepa due to its great location near SoHo and the mid-​levels escalator. I walked in initially because of the adorable exterior, and it was early enough to just grab seats at the bar. The interior was just as impressive from gold masks hanging from the ceiling to the matching uniforms of the staff. Our wait staff were excellent too! They got us drinks right away, we didn’t know what to eat so they let us just order some of the fresh sliced ham, and then we got some AMAZING small plates. If you go here you must try some of the risotto. We had some great red wines! My only advice with this place is to go on payday because for three people our bill was a grand total of HK$ 3000! A little much for some drinks and small plates in my mind, but all things considered it was a fantastic night otherwise!

Located right next to the Mid-​Levels escalator on Caine Road, SEPA has a great location for attracting the regular Soho crowd and those who live in the Mid-​Levels. Unfortunately, this is perhaps the last restaurant I would recommend anyone based on my experience at SEPA one month after its opening.
First off, we received some poor attitude when we called to see if there was a wait. It was almost 9pm and we were 5 mins away from the restaurant but just wanted to call and make sure there was no wait, yet the person kept saying they didn’t take reservations. We eventually got there and half the restaurant was empty.
I must say this is perhaps the worst service I received at any restaurant in the Soho area. Not only did the staff have poor attitude, they got my wine mixed up when there was not even many choices on the wine menu. None of the dishes were introduced when they were brought out to the table. I’m not quite sure if any of the staff was trained at all before its opening.
The two of us ordered four tapas-​portion dishes and two drinks. First came the beetroot tartare with tuna. When the dish arrived, we had no idea that it was the dish (no introduction by staff) as it didn’t look like some tartare at all. At the first glance, the little red balls looked quite interesting but when you take another look at it, there was something wrong with the plating. The five little tartare balls looked like they were slid off to one side of the plate while they were being delivered to the table from the kitchen. (see photo) I would say that’s my favorite dish of the night except that it was a bit too salty.
The second one was the olive croquette. I simply didn’t like this dish. The croquettes were too dry and the olives tasted like it was overcooked. I was never a big fan of olives until I learnt to appreciate fresh ones in the last two years. I did not expect olives deep-​fried in a croquette could taste so rough and it just lost the original flavor in fresh olives.
The third dish was the cod fish on grilled polenta. The way the cod fish was cooked in a mash form just covered up any freshness that it could possibly have (unless they don’t have fresh ingredients, then that’s a good way to present it). The beauty of Italian cuisine is, you can use very simple ingredients to make a great dish as long as they are fresh. Being a restaurant that serves Venetian food, I believe they should source fresh ingredients rather than allowing simple ingredients like olives and codfish lose its original flavor by making them too fancy with a modern twist.
After the third dish, I was already quite disappointed and I was not even half full. We waited and waited… eventually we had to ask the staff to check on our veal cheek ravioli and it took them another 10 minutes to bring it out. I imagined this would be one of their signature dishes… but all I can say is it was not bad but nothing impressive.
By this time, I still felt like I could eat more but given we were quite disappointed, I suggested to my partner that perhaps we should just go for the dessert. We went for the crème brûlée with cherry sorbet. Sadly, this was THE worst dessert I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t even say it’s the worst dessert I’ve tried because I did not even put one bite in my mouth. The moment I put the spoon into the small ramekin, it did not have any texture of a crème brûlée. When I took the spoonful of «stuff» out, it was all watery and simply looked unappealing. I had never seen any crème brûlée that had such a consistency. We were both quite frustrated at this point as we could not understand how a restaurant could serve a «failed attempt» to the customer at the table.
If I remember correctly, the bill came out to be almost $ 800. This is quite a standard amount for a two-​person meal in the area but I can think of many other options nearby that could make you feel that your money was well-​spent on better service and food.
I would have given this restaurant one star if it wasn’t still in its first month of business when I tried it. I hope the staff are better trained after a few months and they do not serve «stuff» that shouldn’t even be on any dining table.