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| - I was aching for a hot, comfy bolognese for dinner in Little Italy. Because, you know, it's Little Italy. The first warning sign should have been that it's a tavern. An Italian tavern? Hmm. The second warning sign should have been that it was empty around 6:30pm on a Friday night. But, hunger pangs overpowered all common sense and we went inside. The best part of the meal was the wine, a nice $32 bottle of Chianti. Around the table we ordered five different dishes, including the Sausage-stuffed Manicotti, the Chicken Puttanesca, Bolognese, Eggplant Parmesan, and Chicken Parmesan. The food was mediocre at best. My first inkling that this was going to be a sad, depressing night was that my food was lukewarm and the side of ciabatta bread was amiss. Too bad the waitress never made another round to see how things were going. The Bolognese comes with three pasta options. I went for the fettuccine. Upon its lukewarm arrival, more saddening was that the chef decided to chop the pasta into little pieces. My excellent noodle twirling skills could not be used. I had to use an inordinate amount of parmesan cheese to add enough salt to the dish. Next to me, the Puttanesca was shamed for having too much salt. Apparently, the dish was served with a bounty of unannounced Kalamata olives.
I can't comment on the other dishes. There is no way to screw up a Chicken Parmesan, but its portion size was most generous. The rest of us were still slightly hungry. Who wants to pay $6 extra for a side of pasta with eggplant parmesan?! I peeked at the menu and here was my final sign that this would be the last time we would come here - the only dessert on the menu in Little Italy (!!!) was an ice-cream sandwich. Sigh.
If you have some common sense and want good food, do not come here. $16 for a cold bowl of Bolognese with no pork, no bread, and cut-up fettuccine is a major disappointment. However, if you have no other options and want some good beer selections (we didn't try any), this may be the place for you.
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