Andy P.
Yelp
Overall a nice dining experience and I wasn't disappointed at the time but later conclude that they committed an unforgivable "sin" (more about that later). In town to visit our daughter and she was so excited to take us here. She and her sister had been here a few months before and completely bought into the romantic notion that this quaint little restaurant in a run down strip mall actually served "the best Italian in CBUS". It's a sentiment shared by many other, Columbusians (I don't know if the folks of Columbus refer to themselves as such).
We did get a warm welcome, though the waiter seemed somewhat arrogant and judgey. (I don't get that, with waiters or those in the service industry). I had looked up the restaurant on Yelp prior to our reservation and noticed there was quite an inflationary increase in their prices. You always have to wonder if it's in fact an increase in overhead or just plain greed. Anyway it was very noticeable.
There was complimentary bread and it was very good. They have some nice cocktails featuring bourbon. In fact our table was right next to a buffet with liquor on it, and they had a decent selection of spirits. We started with the escargot and the antipasto, which featured a delightful arrangement of cured meats and cheeses. It's really the first time I've had decent prosciutto in the states (apparently, so they say, the food is all imported). Like most things swimming in butter, the escargot was great. We all had the house salad with a vinaigrette, not the best dressing but I like it.
I ordered the bone-in veal, it was covered with some delicious glaze or something. I'd never had veal before but knew that it's known to be lean and tender, and it was. I had ordered it medium rare but it came medium well. I was gonna ding them on that but later read that chefs prefer to cook it medium well for some such reason I cannot explain. Even though it wasn't cooked to order it was very good. The waiter said something about "gnawing it to the bone", which I had every intention of doing. My daughter got the ravioli or tortellini (some stuffed pasta) with a creamy white sauce, no it wasn't Alfredo or at least they didn't call it that, and it was very good.
At this point you may be wondering why this is a 3 star rating, it seems like we've just had a wonderful meal. That's because I didn't tell you what my wife got. Spaghetti with meat sauce and some Italian sausage. Yup, plain ol' spaghetti with meat sauce! As I was devouring my veal chop, I noticed my wife had stopped eating. She was into it maybe a 1/5 of the way and the fork and spoon were already retired. I asked her how her meal was, her reply, "meh". That "meh" was a colossal overstatement. I mean spaghetti with meat sauce, isn't that Italian 101? You'd do better by boiling come noodles and pouring some Kroger Brand tomato and basil sauce right out of the jar. Really. The sauce may have been good but the noodles had the consistency of the spaghetti you get out of can from the great Italian chef, Boyardee. I'm not kidding. It was reminiscent of the "spaghetti" I got from the chow hall during basic training. Anyway that's why they're getting 3 stars. Honestly the spaghetti was so bad I'd not feel guilty giving them 2 stars. This transgression was unforgivable. Lol.
We ended with some cannoli which was divine and the waiter did give me a free shot of Weller Antique.
In all honesty besides the spaghetti Pasqualone's is a solid 4, maybe 4 1/2 stars for an Italian restaurant.