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| - We went from University City to Fort Mill on St. Patrick's day, to pick up a license plate for a car my wife bought in February. The kids were hungry, and we weren't into the whole St. Patrick's Day mood.
We hadn't had Italian food in a while, so I navigated to this place via Yelp on the iPhone. It's in a professional building, underneath a dentist's office, adjacent to a bunch of strip malls on Gold Hill Road.
We found it odd that it was cold in the restaurant, on what was otherwise a very warm March 17. The waitress offered to let us sit outside, and so we did. Never mind the bird poop on the wrought iron table... Or the fact that the patio hadn't been swept in a while.
We were promptly served the highlight of the meal, a basket of probably the best garlic knots I've ever tasted, complete with herbed butter. My boys demanded we get a second basket with our meal.
I'm always suspicious of Italian restaurants that don't have some decent coffee available. When asked, the waitress didn't even know if they did. "That's okay, I'll drink water..."
Oddly, some folks behind us were served great-smelling coffee about 20 minutes later. I wasn't offered, so I resisted ordering it.
My universal complaint about most mom and pop Italian restaurants from NY to FLA to CA is that they don't seem to do salads much justice, and they charge too much for them when they're ordered a' la carte. This place was no exception.
We found it interesting that the salad Twin B received as an accompaniment to his meal had a nice array of romaine and other lettuces on it, along with croutons, while my wife and I had to endure the non-nutritional value of iceberg and a sparse sampling of veggies. Twin A had ordered a special salad to go with his pizza. It came with great olives and just a few more veggies.
I ordered a crab-stuffed sole, which came with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Twin A ordered a pizza. Twin B ordered a pasta dish with a heavy, herbed cream sauce and some tomatoes. My wife had grilled salmon and broccoli.
The first thing I noticed about my plate was that the fish and broccoli seemed to be drenched in butter. Now, I like a little butter now and then, but dammit, it's 2012, and most people now know that it's not a a healthy fat to coat a whole meal in. A big draw of Mediterranean food is its heart-healthy reliance on lean meats, fresh veggies, whole grains, and olive oil. So where did all that butter come from? I'm not used to Italian fish dishes or veggies being drenched in butter.
Anyway, the sole was okay. The crab stuffing was greasy and bland, The broccoli had no flavor beyond the butter, and the mashed, skin-on red potatoes were very, very good. Oddly, they were served with little or no added butter! I just dipped them in the ooze from the rest of the food.
Twin A loved his pizza, saying the cheese and olives were awesome, despite a limp, wet crust.
Twin B did not like the heavy, herbed cream sauce that came on his penne. I tried it and found it to have an odd, chemical taste, and to be so heavily laden with fat that I could see why he was disappointed He could probably feel his arteries seizing up after just a few bites.
My wife said the Salmon was just okay. There was nothing special about it. Her broccoli did look like it had less butter on it than mine.
The damage was $69 and change with tip, no alcohol. Entrees are generally in the $13 to $18 range, with pastas not far behind. Pizzas are a little less.
Overall, the experience was "Meh" for the salads and entrees, "Yay!" for the garlic knots, pizza, and mashed potatoes. We have definitely had better Italian food for less money in many other places. I'd probably take my son's advice and order the pizza if I were you.
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