Dean C.
Yelp
PRE-CHECK UPDATE: Alright, I was about to give them 3 stars per below, but I just noticed I ate here below and gave them 2 stars... so yeah I think that's what they really deserve given it was a repeat of not-great food.
Thanks Yelp for your newish lamer sorting, not showing me my own review score before I blew $100+...
10/12/22
I rarely do this... honestly, the food was expensive and isn't going to make your mouth happier than Olive Garden. And that's not even considering this meal with tax and tip was more than $100 for me and my 3yr old kid. So, food-wise, I'd say it's 1.5 / 5 stars?
BUT.......... alright, I did like eating here. It was a good place to take my kid. The servers were nice to us (though the food took forever to come out), and my kid was happy, or at least as happy as he could be sitting here for like 1.5hrs. It felt homey, yet still had that classy a bit-higher-end feeling. So......... alright, food ain't gonna impress, your wallet will hurt, but it's all edible... so, 3 / 5 stars overall?...
1. Neer Battered Delicata Squash Rings $16 "crescenza, sage": Alright, this was probably the worst dish of the night. The squash was clearly under cooked, and SEVERELY under seasoned. They tried to fancy it up by stacking them like a house of cards, with dabs of cheese sauce here and there... but god, they need like TEN TIMES as much sauce. Also, beer battered???--it honestly tasted more like corn-starch based Japanese/Chinese batter than crisp, crunchy, beer batter. 1/10
2. Butternut Squash Soup $12 "spiced pepitas": Really, a canned soup could not be more boring. BUT, well, my kid's 3 and so... he's into boring, ha ha. There are nuts in there which kept it from being the most boring squash soup I've ever had, but it was close. Again, under seasoned, and I'm guessing poor squash quality as it just didn't have good vegetable flavor. 2/10
3. Amatriciana Pizze (as spelled on the menu) $21 "pancetta, tomato, red onion, pecorino, garlic, chili flake, arugula puree": Mmmm... well, I'd give their crust a decent score. No it's not an epic wood-fired crisp bubbly exterior and chewy interior-kind-of-crust... but maybe 6/10ths of the way there? But, I did NOT like the toppings. No clue what I ate, but it just tasted like a mess. Also, my 2yr old couldn't eat it well--as soon as he picked it up, all the cheese and toppings fell right off. You can only eat this NY fold-style. 5/10
4. Wood Fire Baked Rigatoni $22 "napoletano pork and ground beef ragu, stracciatella, pecorino": I have no clue why they bothered to "wood fire" this. And, they did not lie!--I can tell it was indeed wood fired cause it did crisp and char a few pieces, in a good way. But they really did not take advantage of how well a good fire oven can toast and crisp cheese, or bread, or anything like that, which would benefit from the technique. This was just very standard rigatoni in sauce which would have done just as well without the fire oven.
It should be noted, I ordered this for my kid's main dish and it came like 20min AFTER the pizza, which came like 20min after the rest! So my kid just kinda sat there without his food. Anyway,... 6/10
5. Chili Spiced Chocolate Pot de Creme $10: I did LOVE this. The mousse was really smooth and was totally deep dark bitter chocolate. And the heat REALLY came through. I'd fire the food chef, but keep the pastry chef! 9/10
Originally: 3/5 (really doesn't deserve it though)
PRE-CHECK updated to: 2/5
#italianfood #italiancuisine #italianpizza #bakedrigatoni #squashsoup #friedsquash