rev:text
| - This is a very nice addition to the downtown Mesa landscape. Great food, great room. It's hard to explain the nuances of the place, but the web site will give you a pretty good sense. The vibe, food, music are all good.
In the evenings, the owners are very visible. When you are there, you basically feel like you are at a house party at their house. The servers are all very upbeat as if they like being there also.
The night I was there, guitarist Carmine D'Amico was leading a jazz quartet that sounded great. Carmine is studio legend who retired to Arizona after living in New York for his entire life.
I'm not a wine expert, but friends who were there were very happy with their choices.
I had a rigatoni dinner with marinated tenderloin tips, artichokes and some other veggies mixed in. It was really, really good. Not your everyday pasta. Apparently, the dinner menu is created by the chef who came over from the Roaring Fork. I believe it.
I also went in for breakfast. The room seemed to have lost a little bit of the vibe and was much more of just a restaurant. I'm not sure if the new chef put together the menu as it seemed to be pretty standard fare. Nonetheless, my wife was very happy with her salad and I had a really nice breakfast wrap.
The other reviewer who said that the place seems like Denny's on the outside is spot on. In fact, the place used to be a diner. The new people have done wonders transforming the inside.
I wouldn't necessarily consider the breakfast a 5-star experience, but dinner is without a doubt.
If you like the finer things and want a place to become a regular where you can relax and feel comfortable, this is a good place to check out.
|