notinastudio
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We frequently had dinner at Nunzio's before the change of ownership. I'm on record then of saying "If you don't think Nunzio's is one of the two best restaurants in Collingswood then you're on crack". It was one of the best places in the area to go out for a great dinner and one of our favs.
However, the change of ownership and the post-COVID era have not been kind. We've been there (three times I think) since then. The first within a month after the change in ownership I think. We weren't happy and gave it a bit of time. We tried them again but were no happier and the disappointing "new" Nunzio's was off our list for a couple of years.
We started talking about trying them again just in time for my mother's birthday. She also was a Nunzio's fan pre-change of ownership. So we figured a good amount of time has passed, maybe they've gotten it together and figured it out.
This may come off fragmented as I'm going to skip over a lot of the chaos of a family dinner and focus on the things that I found most impactful as it relates to having dinner at Nunzio's.
Here we go.
They had the regular menu, a Sunday Tasting Menu which included choices for app, entrée, and dessert, and a Wild Game Menu that was fixed 5 courses. Three went for the Sunday tasting. My mother and I went for the wild game.
Here we will focus on the wild game selections as it's what I had and hence what I can provide the most insight on.
First course was good with a balance of sweet salty and umami. It made me hopeful and perhaps a bit optimistic for the rest of the meal.
Second course, or was it third (they flip flopped the pasta course to keep it in sync with the rest of the table which was cool, but the order, rather than building the palate, becomes irrelevant) was put in front of me and the first thing I noticed was that the sauce was broken and oily. You can easily see this in the pics.
Boar ragu cavatelli is easily remembered because it tasted like beef, and the cavatelli had a weird overly firm consistency, almost as if it were not cooked but even firm for that still. If I blind tasted it I would have said it was some sort of beef.
Main course Venison stew: the venison was dry and chalky. I guess venison is just too lean for the long cooking time of a stew. I don't know what I can say here except to ask: "Does the restaurant not sample this stuff before they put it on the menu, or do they actually think it's appropriate for a nice restaurant to serve this mediocrity?"
About here for the main course came the wife's chicken Milanese. I don't know what she got, it wasn't bad, but It wasn't the Milanese we expected. That may be due to what is normally seen as Milanese, or it may be liberties as "Milanese" is rather broadly defined.
The game menu stuck me as someone who tries to get away with putting small portions into a decent plating, try to be a bit fancy and hoping for the "check this out it must be good". Well, it was mediocre at best.
Service was really good and deserves commendation for dealing with my family.
We've been there three times since new ownership. It's not going to be four.
