For Review 200 I wanted to take something from my bookmark list. I was downtown for the Herberger Theater and passed by the Old Spaghetti Factory. I used to visit the OSF in Atlanta and when I lived in Ohio. I remember always enjoying the experience...
Nostalgia is better than reality.
My friend ordered the fettuccini alfredo and I went with the garlic mizithra...which is a twist on the standard mizithra cheese & spaghetti plate I typically order. This added garlic, mushrooms and bacon. The food was good, but fairly average. The portions were smaller than I remembered.
The sourdough bread was good - still warm. The restaurant opened in 1972 and I think they have been making salads the same way since Day 1. It was an iceberg lettuce classic and although I ordered blue cheese, it arrived with vinaigrette. Rather than send it back I kept the salad.
Perhaps I arrived close to a shift change, but there appeared to be 2 managers on duty, both stopping by the table multiple times to ask "is everything fantastic?" - the waiter stopped by several times as well and said "Is everything excellent?" I like to be checked on occasionally, but too much is annoying.
Another annoying aspect was the food had been on the table about 10 minutes and still was 3/4 full, the waiter came back and asked if we needed boxes or were we still working on it? Um...yes, still working. Maybe it was because it was 5:30 and the lobby was crowded with others waiting, but I hadn't been there that long - and three minutes later when he popped back over and asked again if we were finished, well you just earned yourself a small tip and a long guest because my show didn't start for another 90 minutes and I didn't have anything to do. Deal with it.
Finally I allowed him to take the plates away and we were brought complementary spumoni - I have to say that was the best part of the entire meal. Afterwards I swung by the restroom and that was a charming experience. Big open urinals - at least it wasn't like the old pee troughs some places used to have - but there it was - a full restroom of guys looking like a locker room. I didn't know my spaghetti came with sausage. Yuck.
Overall - $31 for a hopefully soon forgettable dining experience. The service from the waiter and the manager(s) was annoying and the meal average at best. Some memories are best kept as that. I don't think I need to revisit this restaurant any time soon.