Tomaso's is classic (northern) Italian in an old country setting, straight up. I was concerned after hanging around Little Italy for a month that Arizona's fare would not measure up. I was wrong.
Granted, we did not have the standard experience as we came on Christmas Eve, but the staff was friendly and warm. As we watched food being served, it seemed the same dishes kept coming up over and over again, which is good since our rookie order overlapped:
- Tuscan Legume Soup ($8): Enjoyable but otherwise unremarkable.
- Mozzarella Caprese ($13): Sized for two and executed excellently.
- Fish Roulade ($29): Special of the evening was fish rolled with crab and lobster meat over spinach with lobster ravioli. How can one go wrong? One can't.
- Scampi Caprese & Lobster Ravioli ($28): I'd call this a miss but I'm in the minority as my parents both enjoyed it and most of the restaurant seemed to agree.
- The Best Lasagna Ever ($24): A bold claim, but this really was the best lasagna I've had in a very long time - balanced flavors and not too heavy.
For dessert, an adequate tiramisu was heavily overshadowed in both size and preference by a monster cannoli.
Tomaso's is a little on the expensive side but one is clearly paying for quality of atmosphere, service and food. It meets the difficult bar of somewhere on which both my meat and potatoes parents and I can agree. For a special occasion (or on an expense account) I'd definitely drop in again.