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| - Traditional 70's style Italian-American food in a strip mall mainly notable because you can bring your own wine with no corkage fee. Don't believe the hype - this place is nothing special.
Contrary to the many reviews here that comment on how cheap it is, I found it a bit expensive for what you're getting, which is not exactly nuova cucina. $15.95 for two small (non-homemade) cannelloni a la carte is not a bargain in my book. Their linguine with white clam sauce is some canned clams tossed with a copious amount of oil (1/2 a cup perhaps) and some boxed pasta for $12.95. The $9.95 "insalata Romana" is a plate of tired iceberg lettuce, a tomato wedge or two, and a few shreds of bland cheese swimming in a very tart vinaigrette.
This is the kind of food that used to represent Italian food in America before the food revolution of the 80's. The kind of place you'd find, not in New York or Chicago, but in Terre Haute or Tampa at a time when "eye-talian" food was still considered a bit exotic.
The many reviews stating that this is "real homemade Italian food" are a bit puzzling since it's neither homemade nor Italian. This is very old-fashioned pre-foodie Italian-American food and while it's OK for what it is, it certainly isn't "real Italian" food by any stretch of the imagination nor is it, for the most part, homemade.
N.B. No, a visit to this restaurant is not "just like going to Italy." For that matter, it's not just like going to Little Italy. I realize Phoenix is not exactly a mecca for italian food, but WTF people!
The mostly 60+ crowd seems to love it. I can only guess that they are overwhelmed by nostalgia for a simpler time, because while it may not be Kierland pretentious nor a crappy chain restaurant, the food just isn't very good. Seriously.
The servers have a strange attitude that I guess is supposed to be "east-coast" or something (rushed, cocky, borderline rude) but seems a bit out of place in what is basically a mom and pop strip mall joint serving canned food with plastic red checked tablecloths and thin paper napkins. In any case, they are very selective with their attention and you can wait quite a while to get something.
Also, as several other reviewers have pointed out, they give you a non-itemized bill with just the total due written on it which seems to include an extra 10% or so with no explanation offered. This seems quite bizarre to me but apparently no one objects. At this restaurant, $15.95 + $12.95 + $9.95 somehow add up to $45.65. The non-itemized bill is a weird affectation at best - why would you do that, especially in a cheap joint like this? But to do that and then mis-calculate? There's a word for that in Italian - it's imbrogliare.
$54 for two with tip for a simple shared salad and two pasta dishes with no meat and no drinks.
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