Friday night at The Standard - not bad actually. I like dining at places that are full of people eating, drinking and having a good time. Full house = good food, right?
Not exactly.
I don't think its the food that draws people into The Standard - I've had way better Italian elsewhere. It's likely the low price - you get a lot of food for less than you'd pay in other places, but you sacrifice on the quality. I was very disappointed with the polenta calamari - while the appetizer portion was very generous and more than enough for 3 of us to share, it was bland, dry and chewy. No amount of lemon or tomato sauce on the side could hide that fact.
We also had the raddicchio-pear-walnut-goat cheese salad, which I'll admit was fresh and flavourful. The pizzas ("The Standard" and that night's special of mozzarella and mushrooms on whole wheat crust) were a touch oily, but they got a passing grade from me.
My friends and I left happy, probably more due to the amount of wine we consumed than anything else.