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| - The short: Fine for a neighborhood drop-in, offering moderately priced pizza, pasta, subs, and a few Sicilian sandwiches (calzones), as well as some Greek options like gyros and baklava, but food isn't terribly exciting--and neither are the décor or staff.
The long: Located on the northwest corner of 52nd St. and Thomas, this little hole in the wall has been serving pizza, Italian, and Greek food since 1973. The restaurant interior is straightforward and frugal--you walk in and up to the counter that fronts the kitchen, peer into the cold case to the right holding Greek treats like baklava, or head to the little dining room to the left, filled with a handful of nondescript tables and chairs.
DiVito's is open Monday through Friday, from 10:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and closed Sunday.
The offer weekday daily lunch specials for under $5. Pasta dishes for $8, including side salad and garlic bread. Pizza starting at $7.50 for a 12" cheese.
House salad was crisp. The wings hit the spot, without covering it. They were flabby skinned--cooked through, but not fried to give it a crust. I wasn't expecting it to be battered or anything, but I like a quick fry to hold the skin to the meat. The wing sauce was good enough--a bit of heat, a bit of tang, and down it went. We ordered Mama's Special: Pepperoni, sausage, green pepper, olives, mushrooms & onions. No love for the pizza crust. It was baked just right, with some nice spotty oven char on the bottom, and the crust looked like it would be great, laced with big air bubbles, but there was no chew. I wasn't expecting a big bubble gum bite, but I like a bit of chew, and with that chew, some of the flavor that tells me the dough was allowed to rest for awhile to develop. This dough yielded instantly with a bite, then quickly disintegrated in my mouth as if it were Wonder Bread. In a backwards way, it was left to be carried by the toppings, but alas, those were subpar--the lightly spread sauce (just right in quantity, bland in quality), mozzarella, sausage, black olives, mushrooms--it was all off the supermarket shelves. The Sicilian meatball sandwich had the same crust, and it was more obvious here, in plain sight, but still a wallflower. Again, more rise time, and a sprinkle of salt in the dough, and maybe we could've been friends. I liked the innards, even though it wasn't the big globes of meatballs sweating into marinara that I was expecting. The meatball meat--just nicely seasoned lean ground beef--was scooped in, filling every inch of the sandwich's cavern (no annoying air bubble cubby holes of emptiness), and sprinkled with mozzarella. Again, not great, but adequate, and everything I wish a Hot Pocket could be, if not the calzone I'd expected. The lasagna I especially wanted to love, especially with its menu tag: "the best you've ever tasted." Here, I loved the composition--not too much noodle, not too much cheese, not too much sauce inside, though the thing was really swimming in sauce when I received it. I easily sopped that up with the very tasty and perfectly crisp garlic bread, though. I liked whatever herbs they seasoned their ricotta with, and that they seasoned the ricotta at all, since it's too often neglected in lasagna dishes. I just felt like the sauce was missing something, and it fell just flat. Maybe a few glugs of wine or some minced garlic would've given it the light bite I was looking for. The desserts were also fine. The cannoli in its fried shell wasn't traditional, filled with a slightly starchy vanilla pastry cream instead of sweetened ricotta, but it was crispy and creamy and sweet. The tiramisu was tasty, but I couldn't taste any Marsala in the zabaglione, so I declared it decidedly kid-friendly.
One of the best things about DiVito's food is that it kinda tasted better the next day, reheated. *shrugs* Maybe it's one of those things that needs a night to allow the flavors to meld? With decent prices and decent food, especially when a craving hits, I won't mind going back to further test this theory. I wish I could give them 2.25 stars: "Meh, it's ok."
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