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| - I've lived just a few blocks from this restaurant for 5 years. At first, being new to Arizona, I loved this restaurant because I hate cooking for one. The food was excellent and the service outstanding. I often bought food To Go or had dinner there with my family who lives nearby. We always took out-of-town family and friends to eat at Babbo because we were confident that everyone would be pleased with his or her meal. I would have given Babbo a 5-star rating at that time.
But in the past year or so, both the food and the service have slipped considerably. One of the biggest draws for me and my family was the bread that comes with each meal. Suddenly, it stopped tasting as good, as if another dough mixture was being used. The bread is included with Take Out orders but this concoction gets dry very quickly. Before, we could enjoy our meal while it was hot and snack later on the bread and dipping oil. Not any more!
A few months ago, I ordered a personal (10") pepperoni pizza To Go. When I got home, I discovered that there was NO PEPPERONI on the pizza! NONE! And this is a menu item listed as "Pepperoni Pizza". How does a line chef miss the critical ingredient?! I called in and was offered a replacement but I was undressed and comfortably at home so I arranged to come for the pizza another time. But that night I was forced to throw something together, tired and hungry.
A week later I picked up my free pizza but was still disappointed. The "marinara" sauce - what little was thrown on the icky crust - had no flavor at all. The pizza tasted like cardboard with cheap ketchup and poker chips in the guise of pepperoni slices. Remember, this is an ITALIAN restaurant! Other meal items like the Firecracker Rolls just don't taste as good any more, as if the ingredients or meat vendor has been changed. The $9 Bruschetta Trio is absolutely horrible! The ingredients had no flavor and the presentation was sloppy - making the "appetizer" totally unappetizing. And the one dessert that any Italian restaurant should be able to serve with satisfaction is tiramisu. Don't waste your time on the Babbo version!
Recently, I ordered a Pesto Primavera with chicken from the restaurant's "Chalkboard Menu". Again, it was a To Go order which I picked up. Once at home, I could not believe that I paid $14 for a flat chicken breast mixed/topped with several vegetables in a pesto sauce and a side of mixed vegetables. The side looked so unappetizing that I didn't even eat them. The rest of the meal, while tasty, was about $5.99 worth of food. I'm a small eater and a restaurant dinner usually lasts me two, sometimes three, meals. Especially a simple chicken dinner that cost $14.
I really like Babbo so I gave it another chance, ordering the same meal again today. This time, I asked that they keep that nasty veg side dish - just add more of the veg blend (Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Tomato, Mixed Peppers, Red Onion and Shaved Carrots) in with the pesto sauce. I also requested that the shaved parmesan be substituted for gorgonzola cheese. WELL! First, there was NO gorgonzola at all and rather than add more of the aforementioned vegetables, the "chef" threw in a boatload of red onions and green pepper slices - as if I'd be too stupid to notice. That tells me that the zucchini, squash, etc. is not freshly prepared but comes in pre-packaged portions, likely from an outside vendor, and shipped refrigerated or frozen. For the price, how hard is it for the restaurant to slice and dice a cup of fresh vegetables that would cost less than $5 wholesale?!? I stopped going to national chain restaurants like Chile's and Applebee's over a decade ago for the same reason - changing a good menu into a fast food mess.
I'm afraid to order my favorite meals - Spaghetti & Meatballs and Three Cheese Mac & Cheese. The recipe ingredients may have been changed or substituted. Hopefully not but I'm not willing to take that chance.
I hate to see familiar long time Babbo employees laden with a sinking ship. But the poor food ingredients and inconsistent kitchen has lost me and my family as customers. I had my last meal at Babbo today!
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