Valerie R.
Yelp
I read some of the other reviews, and I'm left thinking, is it just me? Why do a lot of people seem to love this place? I sort of want to chalk my experience up to an "off night", but how can you overlook the dated interior. The 80's banquet room carpet and curtains, the dirty walls, the ugly framed art that looks like it was $1 at a tag sale with a layer of dirt on the glass and chipped frame, and the chipped dinnerware?
I had never been to Tre Scalini, so we made the trek down for restaurant week on a cold and rainy Friday evening. Parking is hard to come by. They say they have valet, but there was no attendant when we drove by. Luckily we found some on street parking.
We were seated immediately, even though we were 15 minutes early for our reservation. The host was muttering something about his bony ass and hips as he seated us. The bar was very dated and loud. We were seated next to a party with a small child eating French fries. This was definitely not the fine dining experience I had envisioned.
Ok, deep breath, pick up the wine list...which differs from the wine list on their website. Which I tell our server as the reason I need a few minutes to peruse it. She doesn't believe me and challenges me on what wine I'm looking for as she grabs it out of my hands and looks for herself. I'm right, of course, why would I lie about that? Sigh...I choose another eventually, but she's annoyed with me and I'm definitely annoyed with her.
Water and bread came quickly. Appetizers came out faster than I'd probably want. I ordered eggplant tower with tomatoes and "burrata" with balsamic drizzle. Eggplant was good, crispy, hot, but the tomatoes weren't ripe, so it was a thick crunchy layer, and the "burrata" was actually just mozzarella balls like you'd get at the grocery store, cut in half. Tough and chewy, not creamy like burrata would be. My husband had the wedge salad which was fine, but a bit sparse on the bacon. The blue cheese was good and the balsamic drizzle a nice complement.
It really took a wrong turn at the entrees. My husband got the stuffed chicken Marsala, which off the bat, looked entirely like a plate of nursing home food. A couple small rolled up pieces of chicken, with an ice cream scoop's amount of mashed potatoes and some boiled mixed squash that isn't in season. Very few mushrooms - considering this is Marsala - and he said the chicken was very dry. It was fine, he ate it, but definitely not a high class dish.
I ordered the clam and prawn fra diavlo...I've ordered versions of this dish near and far over the years. I definitely did not expect to receive head on, shell on shrimp in this dish. We've been married for 12 years, so I got down and dirty with it and just manhandled my shrimp to remove the head and shell. No way you can do it daintily covered in sauce and on a bed of spaghetti. Two of my three clams were undercooked and did not seem safe to eat and I had numerous shell fragments in my dish that were a tooth and choking hazard. The flavor of the sauce was good and the spaghetti itself was good. I added Parmesan from the chipped dish that was brought to the table, and it really just solidified the whole experience. Our server never checked on us until we were done. And when she did come back and I showed her the small clam shell fragments, she didn't care in the slightest. "I'll tell someone" she said with a flat and uncaring tone that told me she had no intention of doing so. If the next person chokes, hopefully this review can help them out legally.
Dessert was uninspiring. Tiramisu was fine. White chocolate mousse napoleon described as "topped with fresh spring berries" evoked a vision of a lovely dessert full of berries. Instead, it was a dry pastry creation with some cream and 2 strawberry slices and one blueberry. Considering I had the same 2 strawberry slices on my tiramisu plate (which was not described as being topped with berries), I think they could have omitted that from the napoleon description. It's simply got an 80's style berry garnish rather than being topped with a bounty of spring berries.
Start to finish, service and food quality were as bland as the decor. I am glad it was restaurant week pricing. We spent more on wine than the food, and I will definitely never return to this place.