Charli H.
3/5
First, the good:
I am high risk for covid and my family wanted to eat here for a graduation celebration. They don't have outdoor dining so I called ahead and asked how busy they thought they'd be that night. They said not too busy (it was around 5:30 or 6 pm on a week night). I told them about my covid concerns and they said they'd place us at a table far away from everyone else. Which they did and I felt safe. It was awesome!
The service was good and everyone was very friendly. They had fountain soda and they refilled our soda and water several times.
The appetizers we had were good. We had the meat and cheese board and the fried zucchini. The fried zucchini was divine. It was thin and had a delicious dipping sauce. The sauce was a mystery to us, but we loved it. It had a hint of some kind of Indian spice, but none of us could figure it out.
And now the not so good:
First, the bread - they brought out a little basket of hot bread. The bread was fine and it was nice that's hot. But for an expensive Italian restaurant, I expected a little bottle of olive oil, salt, pepper, and maybe even parmesan cheese to be served with the bread so we could mix up a little dipping sauce. It's what I've experienced at similar restaurants. We did ask for a bottle of olive oil and they brought one out, but we didn't have the tasty extras.
Second - the burrata caprese - I'm a vegetarian. I looked at the menu and figured out what to order before we even got to the restaurant. I ordered the burrata caprese. I didn't know what that was so I googled it and it looks great on Google. Here's what Google taught me: the tomatoes are sliced, about 1/4" thick, and placed around the burrata cheese. Then basil leaves are individually placed on top of the tomatoes. The whole thing is drizzled in extra virgin olive oil and either balsamic vinegar or balsamic glaze. Finally, kosher or flaky salt and freshly cracked pepper are sprinkled on top. Sounds good, right? Go ahead and look it up on Google. The pictures delicious.
I was expecting this expensive, Italian restaurant to pull off this simple dish with ease. Alas, they did not. The tomatoes were cut into wedges - they were basically the tomatoes you got in your school lunch salad. Sliced just like the school lunch. Depressing. The basil was a little branch, plopped on top of the cheese. The dish was garnished with four olives and a random pepper. And then - nothing else. No ground black pepper, no hint of salt, no olive oil, no balsamic. It was sad. I didn't eat it. I left the sad tomatoes and brought the ball of cheese home as a treat for the dog. The cheese is a mild, soft cheese and it really needed that extra flavor from the pepper, olive oil, and balsamic.
Third - other people in my group liked their food enough to eat it, but said it was just ok. They had the chicken parmesan and the cheese tortellachi. Each dish was $23 and the problem here is that the quality and tastes of the food did not match the price. They tasted like they were $16, not $23 if you know what I mean.
Fouth - the desert - it was fine. Not great. Which, again, we expected great from this restaurant. My tiramisu had so much powdered cocoa on top and around it - it made my throat dry. Someone else in my party had vanilla ice cream and the tiramisu ended up going well with that because it added needed moisture. So if you're craving tiramisu, I suggest you ask for ice cream as well. The raspberry lemon drop cake was lovely and presented nicely on the plate, but it was mediocre.
All in all, I will not return to this restaurant. The food is the quality of a restaurant whose prices are about 1/3 lower. It would be worth going if they dropped their prices by 1/3, but even then - the food is solidly mediocre at best.
This would be two stars for me, when combining the food and the prices. But they get an extra star for friendly service, taking covid considerations seriously, and a lovely, well-decorated interior.
