| rev:text
| - I always enjoyed Central Bistro and was excited to experience what new things Stella would offer. I stopped in for an early dinner on a Tuesday night. The menu looked promising, with lots of Italian-themed appetizers and entrees. We ordered spaghetti and meatballs, a margarita pizza, and goat cheese with wild mushroom bruschetta. The pizza was ok but nothing great - really just the standard wood-fired pizza available anywhere in town. The bruschetta looked beautiful, but the goat cheese was cold, thick, under-seasoned and goopy. Combined with the cold marinated wild mushrooms, the texture combination was less than enjoyable. But what really ruined the experience was the pasta. At an upscale Italian restaurant on Camelback road, I expect high quality marinara sauce, fresh pasta and deliciously seasoned and textured meatballs. Instead the sauce was thin/almost watery, very sweet, and tasted exactly like sauce in canned Chef-Boy-Ardee Spaghettios. The pasta was standard dry supermarket spaghetti. The meatballs were decent, but nothing to get excited about. We left most of the pasta on the plate as well as one of the bruschetta. Next time I'm looking for pasta or pizza I will head to North, Tomaso's, or Base.
|