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| - This place deserves five stars. Heres why:
1. Service. Some of the most outstanding personalized service i've ever received at a restaurant. Our server was there with helpful suggestions every time we turned around. He asked the right questions, too, like when we ordered the chefs tasting, he asked if we were allergic to anything or had dietary restrictions ( hubby does. Lots of them). He was not snooty at all and explained everything we wanted info on without pretention. Not only that but chef marc came by and personally asked if we liked the meal. The food was outstanding (more on this in a minute) but the service was even better. Hubby tipped like 40%. Other restaurants could learn a lesson or four from these guys. Servers get tipped according to service. Give excellent, above-and-beyond service, you'll get tipped very well, at least by us.
2. The FOOD! I come from philly, where good italian restaurants are on virtually every street corner, and where i grew up eating at church dinners where little old italian ladies slaved over hot stoves to feed armies of hungry parishioners every sunday afternoon. I may not be italian, but i know (and love) good, authentic italian food. This was the real deal. The fresh-baked bread was simultaneously crunchy & chewy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside, AND sprinkled with fresh parmeasan. We ordered the chefs tasting meal, and it was catered just to us, and included a lovely capresi salad with fresh mozzarella, swordfish that was so tender i could hardly believe it on a bed of some sort of wild grains in a light lemon & capers sauce that was absolutely delectable, a pasta selection that was homemade with morrel mushrooms that were to die for, and the most light & fluffy tiramisu which was so good I coulve eaten another one, even though i was STUFFED.
Julia child said "freshness is essential. That makes all the difference .". This is true of Parma. Ill also add that loving ones job makes all the difference. Bravo, chef marc! We love your food AND your restaurant. Im a new, big, fan!
3. Price. For food this good you can't beat the price. We got the tasting, which was $50 each and the most expensive thing on the menu. There were several entrees under $20. You could conceivably order two lower-priced entrees and get away with a $50 meal. Well worth every penny.
4. Ambiance. It was homey, not pretentious, and much like the italian restaurants i grew up going to. There were kids there too, which i like, as i like a family restaurant where my kids are welcome. I liked the painting of sinatra i was seated near and kept looking at it. They could maybe use a nice mural though - i know some good people who do this if anyones reading this!
All in all a 5 star + experience. We will be back, and we'll bring people with us!
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