Rose E.
Yelp
For one reason or another, I wasn't able to check out this restaurant 'til now...and glad I finally did.
We made reservations thru Resy, so able to slide right in during a Saturday night rush hour. However, I noticed that there were only a few tables that had optimal placement. Meaning, many tables were adjacent to doors, wait staff station, bathroom hallway, bar, pizza station, etc. etc. We ended up in one of these half-booths (not a fan of these seatings) right next to the wait staff station...but luckily, it wasn't too annoying. Nevertheless, I didn't like the busy layout. The restaurant itself was nicely appointed (casual, but chic), but the overall ambiance felt a bit chaotic...and for me anyway, not too cozy.
One other thing I didn't love was their acoustics. There were a lot of clinking noises...of utencils, people yapping, etc.etc. Plus, there was no overhead music! Italian or some romantic genre music overhead would have been a nice touch.
Now, the foods! We ordered Brussels Sprouts, Eggplant Parmigiana with Spaghetti and Rigatoni Alla Vodka with Shrimp. Also, asked for some bread.
The Vodka Pasta sauce was delish, but just a tad heavy. I really appreciated the plumpness of both the penne pasta and the shrimp! My husband LOVED his Eggplant Parmigiana...even remarked how it was possibly the best he had?!? Their complimentary bread was Foccacia...and it was also really good. The only thing I didn't care for was their version of Brussels Sprouts...which had a bitter taste (too much lemon?) that didn't appeal to me. Still, I thought their foods were really good...solid! I liked their menu...and am thinking I should try one of their pizzas next time.
The service was good...and surprisingly fast! All of our foods were delivered rather quickly.
The restaurant was much more casual than I had anticipated...and the pricing was friendlier as well.
Aside from the "busy" restaurant layout/ambiance, we both really liked the foods here...definitely enough to return.
PS***Should have used a flash with the pictures...all kinda blurry! :\