| rev:text
| - Okay, as frequently happens this is really a 3.5 star review, but that's not an option. That being said, this was easier to round down to three than up to 4. I had very high hopes for Nostrano and unfortunately they were not realized on my first visit.
Some terms I would use to describe my experience and the food at Nostrano:
Good, fresh, sweet, light, straightforward, fine, pleasant
Some terms I would NOT use:
Excellent, surprising, complex, rich, deep, luscious, robust
The 'yes' terms are all fine and in some settings are even desireable but for a pretty expensive meal I'm looking for at least a few of those fun guys from the 'no' list to make an appearance and they just didn't. Pretty much every dish (including drinks) was prepared competently but lacked any sort of pizzazz.
Started with a daiquiri which was fine, but a little sweeter than it should have been and a Sauvignon Blanc from Loire which was not at all to my liking but enjoyed by my wife. The charcuterie board was fine but was lacking anything with spice and would have benefitted from a bit more crunch in one or more of the accoutrements. Also, call me crazy but I don't think a summer sausage makes the cut for this sort of dish; give me a nice salty ham or something instead. The rillette was fine but neither of us really enjoyed the salumi or the pate-foam. We also tried the bruschetta, which was fine although the anchoiade was a bit overpowering.
For mains I tried the semolina cavatelli and my wife had the rigatoncini. The cavatelli was fine and the carrots and lamb sausage REALLY complimented one another. The carrots eaten without the sausage were a little too sweet which lent a somewhat unbalanced sweetness to the dish as a whole. The Rigatoncini was fine (do you see a trend???) and there seemed to be a fair bit of nutmeg and/or clove that highlighted the sweet character of the dish. The ricotta in particular in the rigatoncini would have benefited VASTLY from some fresh cracked black pepper.
Finally we shared the affogato for dessert. This was not fine, it was GREAT! Far and away the best thing we had at Nostrano was the affogato! From what I've seen dessert is a strong suit for this restaurant, and it would probably be the thing I'd be most likely to return for.
Overall the service was fine, but not at all exceptional very much like the food. Almost every dish would have benefitted from a bit more spice, or salt, or crunch, or citrus, or SOMETHING! I'd hesitate to say what we had was bland, it really wasn't, but neither was it exciting nor memorable. I can't say it's likely I'll return to Nostrano since I know there are better restaurants in Madison but I wouldn't rule it out as an impossibility either. The only things I can say for certain is if I did return I would DEFINITELY get the affogato...
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