Paul M.
Yelp
I felt like I should have been sportin' a 70's bro-stash.
We walked in at about 6:15 on a Saturday and got a table for 4 immediately. The dining room was at about 70% capacity. All the other reviewers pretty much nailed the decor and vibe. I'll only add that it was a bit brighter in the dining room than I imagined. Which allowed me to actually see how clean it is. And it's a clean place. We sat down into some of the most comfortably cushioned chairs I've ever seen in a restaurant. You'd think the chairs in this retro place would have odd-shaped springs poking you in the butt. Nope. Get ready for a comfortable meal! Not once did I fidget in my chair out of discomfort. Gas maybe. But not discomfort.
A nice lady swung by immediately with water glasses, followed by another very nice lady with our bread plates. As she was setting down a plate, she IMMEDIATELY noticed it wasn't clean. She took it back and said she would be right out with another. And she was.
I LOVE this kind of service!!!
It took less than 2 minutes to discover we would be tended to by 3 members of the service staff. My first thought was, "is this going to be a never-ending barrage of water glass refills and "how's your meal?" No fear, the water glasses were kept full very discreetly. I didn't even notice when they were refilled. It was like magic water. Somehow the staff knows exactly how to take care of a customer while flying under the radar. And that's how it was all night. Beautiful!
And the food? Sadly, this is where they fell short. Good, but not great overall.
Spiedini was on special, and I've always heard positive things about their steaks and BBQ. So I ordered the Spiedini and Ribs special. Get this, 15 minutes after I ordered mine, the server told the table across from us that they were out of the Spiedini. What? It's not even 7:00pm, you're not at capacity, and you're out of the SPECIAL?
The bread basket was OK. The Italian bread was nothing to rave about. It was fresh, but not warm out of the oven. It took me back to the run-of-the-mill Italian bread I grew up on. And that's nice. There were also some pieces of raisin bread. Again, not warm out of the oven, but it was a nice, dense bread. Above average.
I was happy with the wine list. Not extensive, but enough to fill most palettes and budgets. We got a decent bottle of cabernet for under $25.
Soup was crab fettucine. It was very reminiscent of a clam chowder with touch of sharp parmesan. Above average. But I *think* they used imitation crab meat.
Dinner came and I noticed a side of marinara on my plate. I'm confused. Why would you do this? I figured it must be for the Spiedini, but I don't recall ever being served a side of marinara with Spiedini before. Hmmm... OK. I'll just put that out my way. Then, I tasted the Spiedini..... Oh! THAT is why they served a side of marinara with it! Some sauce, bread crumbs, and bland cheeses rolled up in a fairly chewy flank steak. For Spiedini, I felt it lacked a lot of flavor. I guess they knew that already (hence the side of sauce). Although, the side of marinara tasted fresh and was heavy on the oregano. I dig that!
One of my dinner pals also ordered Spiedini, but their's had a slightly different flavor. Someone in our group thought it was unfresh meat. I happened to believe that it was very fresh meat. I thought so because it had that bit of "gamey" flavor that I get from ground sirloin at a butcher shop. Whatever the case, no one got sick.
Someone else in my group got a rib-eye and... (gulp) ordered it well done. Yeah... I know. It wasn't a very thick cut, and the flavor wasn't extremely memorable. But it was a solid steak that was very tender. Above average.
Onto the ribs. How do I eat these in this fairly nice place without paper towels and a wet nap? I actually contemplated asking the server for some paper napkins, but self-control got the better of me. I figured I would just rough it and do my best to eat them in a dignified manner. The verdict:
1) They weren't over-soaked with BBQ sauce.
2) The meat literally fell off the bone. All of it. There was barely any scraping/gnawing of residual meat off the bones.
3) The BBQ sauce was nice. It was mild, a little less on the sweet side, and allowed the meaty flavor through.
4) No gristle at all. And any fat on there just fell right in with the meat.
Now these weren't ribs that were smoked in a Texas hot-box for 8 hours. But they were good. They had a real nice, balanced flavor; and I didn't need a roll of kitchen towels to stay clean.
So that's about it for Pitch's. Plenty of good points, some minor disappoints, none bad. I wouldn't rush back there, but there are some other things I would like to try.