My first impression was that the place was having an identity crisis, like a Pizza Hut meets Olive and Ivy. The restaurant is described as elegant casual, but I feel like they some how missed the mark....
Pros: good beer selection, good ambiance at the bar, servers were par (the pizza of at a different table looked good)
Cons: Food, price
For a started we ordered the Fire Chips. Not bad, but small portion for the price. Some of the chips were rather soggy, so they probably didn't have their fryer hot enough.
My husband ordered a calzone. The crust was the texture of a "wet paper towel", the meat was tasteless and greasy.
I ordered the Sweet Gorgonzola Pear Salad with Mixed Greens and added grilled chicken. The pears were canned!! (seriously folks, is the elementary school cafeteria?) The salad was soggy, the "mixed greens" were mostly romaine...and the chicken was also oily and lacking flavor.
The bill for 2 entrees, 2 drinks and an appetizer was about $55 after tip, which would have been okay if the quality had been better. With the well established (and frankly much better) Italian themed Babbo's, Betty's Nosh and Tagliani's all with in a 5 mile radius, Stella Rossa 59 will have to up their game to stay in business!