Melissa B.
Yelp
I went here recently, and though I had never been before, it definitely seemed like it had been there forever and was coasting on its long-term reputation.
The parking situation is weirdly difficult, but the valet is free and the guy working there is super nice. Walking in, we had two young hostesses who were polite but didn't really know where to seat us for awhile, despite many tables being open. We sat down in a dimly lit, well appointed yet a bit dated dining room. The bathrooms are spacious but also quite dated, with lots of scuffed furniture. Of note here is that its booth seating (one seat is part of a booth, while the seat facing it is a regular chair) is super uncomfortable. The place where the edge of the booth cushion meets the back was worn out, to the point where the place where your tush goes basically rests on a worn down, hard part of the seemingly cushioned surface. I am guessing the cushion has migrated forward over time, but it is disappointing because it looks like comfy seating but is worn enough to be quite uncomfortable!
One major highlight was how friendly and helpful our waiter was! We noticed another waiter who seemed to be having similarly positive interactions with other tables. Also, our Terlato pinot grigio was delicious (I saw it referenced on Top Chef and "followed the leader" in that regard).
My husband started with the cheese plate. It looked ridiculous when we got it. A massive plate dwarfed tiny squares of cheese with a few other accompaniments. Somehow, this was $20. The plate was big enough to make anything seem minimal, but the cheese did not look like anything special. Aside from gorgonzola, everything else was in a small, sharp, uniform square, like a Lunchables tray. Hilariously, there was one green grape and one red grape, as well as some sort of spread. One green, one red, can't have more than that. You will have your ONE grape of each color and like it!
The cavatelli was absolutely fine, but nothing stood out to me. With the tomato sauce being served with oil, the sauce kind of separated, which was not appetizing. They didn't skimp on the garlic, so there was that one flavor! But there wasn't as much flavor throughout the dish, sorry to say. I have had similar dishes, ingredient wise, that have provided more flavor. It wasn't bland, per se, but it should have had more flavor than it did, if that makes any sense. It wasn't special at all.
I asked my husband after dinner if he'd go back; I was on the fence. He then told me that his Caesar salad was "slimy." I asked if that was true of the dressing or leaves themselves, and he wasn't sure, just knowing that when it was all mixed together, it was slimy, not something you want in a salad. We will look elsewhere for Italian food.
