a wonderful work in progress. i truly love any eatery where the the owners are passionate about food & their customers. so when i first arrived to cafe 7 i was delighted to have jay (one of "the three") walk me through my first experience.
jay strongly recommended i try the baked ziti, his proudest dish... but coming from an all italian family i never order pasta out. i went with the italian sub instead, and my wife went with the pizza margherita (something we rarely pass up). jay had already become friendly with us in the first few minutes, and was challenged by my "no eat pasta out" rule. he said "i'm going to bring you some of the ziti, i would love for you to try it".
i just want to point out 2 things here, by doing this jay is showing me he cares about investing in his customers. he has a product he believes in, and is willing to put it out there at his own expense to ensure his customers have the best experience they can. in many cases like this, i'll go back to the restaurant just because i want to support an owner like this.
the hot italian sub was fantastic. i make my own classic italian hoagies at home, with great ingredients, and i'm proud to say this tasted like it came from my own kitchen. i give it a solid 8.5 out of 10 (only because i pour on the meat & toppings on my own sub... but my subs would cost far more than $7 at a restaurant).
my wife's pizza, was a different story. i'm very particular when it comes to pizza, and for me the crust will define much of my enjoyment. sadly, they do not serve pizza with a crust i like. it was soft & flat with no crisp. the toppings were all very good, but that can't help very much when i can't get past the crust. sadly, i give this a 2 out of 10.
finally there was the ziti. alot was at stake here, especially with the disappointment from the pizza. if one of the owners was going to put his reputation on the line for something i found to be mediocre, i would probably not feel this is a restaurant for me. i have to say, the presentation alone was impressive. it didn't look like my $7 sandwich, or even my pizza. it looked like dish that would fetch around $12.
the first bite was amazing. i don't usually get to excited about ziti, but the flavor & texture from the crispy cheese topping had some serious wow factor. it also had a very generous amount of home made sauce (where you could actually see the ingredients). i would also give the ziti a solid 8.5 (probably the best i've ever had, home made or otherwise).
after the meal i invited jay to sit with us, and we talked about the food & experience. he was very attentive to every compliment & criticism, eager to meet any new challenge. i honestly believe jay & the rest of the team is already doing a great job at delivering a great product at a great price (plus food in 7 min is pretty wonderful too). i also believe they are growing & learning alot in this first year, and desire to make the experience the best it can be for each customer. they really want open comments & criticism to help them learn & adapt for their client base. try it out, and share your experience with them!