I think the reviewer below went to a different restaurant - I have eaten at this place 4 times, and the food is top notch Italian pasta. As a New Yorker in BJ - I have a reasonable idea of pasta! So here is my view: The Ravioli Factory has the best pasta I have had in Beijing (living here 3 years). The seafood putanesca is terrific, as is the Gorgonzola and pear pasta. Essentially, there are 8 or so different sauces and a dozen or so different pastas from skinny capellini to fat "priest strangler". So you can experiment with any combination you like. Several wine choices, but the house red is very good and available by the glass. i love that it is open til 1am - so you don't have to go to Gui Jie and eat late night sichuan - Italian is here! And of course the well-respected CD Blues music club is on the ground floor.
Pasta Plant: Ravioli Factory Near Ritan Park
Factories in China can get a bad rap sometimes, but Ravioli Factory, the new restaurant attached to Cafe CD Blues, is cranking out some terrific pasta.
We tried the standard stracciatella ravioli (RMB 98) with tomatoes, basil and parsley. The texture was marvelous, as the ravioli managed to be almost airy in their lightness and pleasingly smooth. The flavors were well-balanced, pulling off classic Italian with a gentle touch.
Gorgonzola, pear and walnut pasta (RMB 68 medium, RMB 88 large, RMB 198 extra large) was excellent. I'm used to seeing those three ingredients in a salad, but they fit quite well together in a creamy sauce. Ravioli Factory lets you have your choice of either long or short pasta to go with their sauces. You can also get gluten-free pasta, if that's your thing.
We went with the awkwardly-named "priest strangler" – fingers of pasta curling in on itself that arrived al dente and gave the dish the texture it needed. Bites with slices of pear, hooks of the pasta and daubs of gorgonzola combined into delightful, operatic bursts of flavor.
Chicken cannelloni au gratin (RMB 118) came with a chicken quarter (breast plus crispy wing) on top of tubes of pasta filled with cream, mushroom and more chicken, plus two bright stalks of broccolini. The chicken had a light crunch to it that was heartened by the cheese and cream.
Dessert was a Nutella ravioli (RMB 78) with a hazelnut liqueur and vanilla cream sauce. I was skeptical about sweet ravioli, but that all went away when the pasta pillows came out fried. The taste was reminiscent of a funnel cake, if you traded up country fair roots for Italian flair.
Ravioli Factory 2/F (above Cafe CD Blues), Ritan Highlife, 39 Shenlu Jie (opposite north gate of Ritan Park), Chaoyang District (8561 0560) 朝阳区神路街39号院2号楼1-28/29
Photos: Josh Ong
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This place has been, so far, my biggest disappointment in 2013.
I still cannot decide if the main problem is the quality of the food, the service or the after sales!
Regarding food, my advise would be to prepare the tomato sauce in house or, at least, use a good quality canned tomato sauce. I felt I was eating this sauce straight from the can. Dear chef, if you decide to use canned sauce, at least add basil, dried tomatoes or something else to make it tasty and let your customers feel you made an effort for their palates.
The taste of the pesto is a bit better (still far from good), and salads seem to be the most acceptable dish if you are not expecting any special dressing.
Regarding service, I was really surprised. Our dishes came maybe one hour after we ordered them. I still wonder why...cannot find any suitable explanation.
I have to say that we found the prices really expensive for what we got.
The most interesting part of my visit to this place came days later when I received a phone call almost at midnight demanding that I go back since they made a mistake in the check and forgot to charge for some of the dishes. Really? At midnight? And after what we paid? I did not keep a copy of the check or anything but I am pretty sure they made a second mistake calling the wrong person.
Making an effort to see a good side, I could say the chef managed to cook the pasta al dente, the facilities of this restaurant are adequate, comfortable and clean, the staff is kind even when they really need a lot more training.