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| - We're new to Champaign-Urbana and decided to try The Great Impasta after reading that it serves fresh/homemade pasta. My husband and I went with our families who were helping us move in.
When we arrived, we were promptly seated at our reserved table. I should have realized than an almost empty restaurant on a Saturday night is never a good thing. I picked up my bread plate to move it and saw a squashed tomato underneath. We then proceeded to wait at least 20 minutes to even be served water or asked for our drink order. When we finally got around to order, we had to listen to a pretentious and inattentive server. When my mother-in-law (not a foodie) asked for her tuna medium well, the server told her that it's only good if served rare and it was a crime to serve medium-well, which was very rude. I agree a tuna steak should be seared and gets dried out and flavorless past medium-rare- but- there are better ways to approach the situation. Perhaps suggest that the chef likes to prepare it medium rare, but we have a nice salmon that you may enjoy more. The menu indicated that the Fettuccine Alfredo sauce had egg in it (which is not authentic Alfredo) and I asked if the chef could leave out the egg because I was pregnant and unable to have eggs that were not fully cooked (Hollandaise and Bernaise sauce, Caesar dressing, and homemade ice cream are also on the forbidden list for the same reason). A halfway decent chef should be able to do this with their eyes closed- especially since Alfredo is traditionally only butter and Parmegiano-Reggiano or Parm-Butter-Heavy Cream. The waiter would not even go back and ask the chef about this- he simply refused (and this was for health purposes- not taste preference- I am visibly 7 months pregnant), again, rudely. We then inquired about the ravioli, which it turns out, is not made fresh, and the pasta with clam sauce- which is made with canned clams- not fresh ones.
How was the food we actually ordered? Bad. I ordered a fettuccine with chicken and what was supposed to be a bacon/cream/white wine sauce. It was so bland, no amount of salt or grated cheese could salvage the dish. No hint of bacon or wine or any aromatics like garlic or shallot. The "fresh fettuccine", which should be thin and light, was so thick and dense- I would rather eat dried Barilla fettuccine or the refrigerated Buitoini stuff from the supermarket. My husband ordered pasta with a red sauce that resembled Prego- it was so sweet and pasty. My mother ordered the salmon, which came rare. She prefers her salmon medium/medium-well and asked the server to please bring it back to the kitchen and cook further. He told her "it's supposed to be that way." A good server would have said, I'm sorry, I will take care of this right away- and done it- NOT argued with the customer.
You couldn't pay me to go back. I've had better meals at the Olive Garden- and that isn't saying much.
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