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| - This used to be a solid four star "go to" for quality Italian and I had been there 5-6 times. However, this was my first trip back since they closed and reopened and it was an entirely different experience. Same name, similar menus, not nearly as good in any facet.
They used to make dishes that were unique, creative and told you there was a chef in the back who was putting in effort. Today's meal tasted straight from the freezer...bland, dry, unimaginative, and the best thing I can say is I am 6 hours out from the meal and neither my wife or I have food poisoning so it was prepared to the right temperature and we were less hungry than when we walked in. The bread they brought out seemed like rolls bought from a Costco, but were warm and nicely coated in a garlic butter/herb mix. Not bad, not bad. We ordered three dishes with a variety of pastas and one with chicken. The chicken definitely came from a frozen Sysco pack and the sauce straight from a jar. If you are charging what they are charging for pasta, meatballs, and sauce there has to be some effort put in and you could taste there was zero. The marinara tasted like the $2 jar I used in college while trying to stretch my money. Meatballs were commercial and previously frozen. If I can sum up the food in one sentence: we left there and went back to our place to grab some ramen.
Service was courteous, but the kitchen was slow. The menus need to be reprinted or wiped down as the one had sauce smears on it. The ambiance that once would have you bringing a date here was now not so good background music, vinyl table clothes, overly bright lighting, and tables too close for consistently private conversation. It is overpriced and I would go to Olive Garden before returning here which is unfortunate.
The owner should make changes or it will die a slow, agonizing death and I would love to see it revert to its previous form.
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