painful review for such an iconic place. this place has been on our wishlist for sometime and more so due to being a locally family owned establishment with a history dating back to it's opening in 1913. upon visiting this place, it looks dated but has authentic character. my wife and i were excited to finally set aside the time to visit this place and sample some true italian fare. our expectations were heighten further due to the place being packed by what appeared to be true loyal patrons. since we weren't aware you could make reservations and there was an hour wait, we still opted to wait (rare for us). once seated our service was pretty decent considering how packed the place was. kudos to the wait staff. all that said, i'll get on with the food review in chronological order we received items. (pics included of all items discussed)
"fried ravioli" appetizer - very uneventful. basically the meat in a deep fried pocket was barely noted. the "chunky marinara" dipping sauce was bland. no interesting flavors separately or combined.
"bread basket" - had to request it ?!? wish we hadn't. i sampled one piece and was very dry and lacked any type of flavor. this was complicated by the rock hard butter that i attempted to spread on the slice.
"garden salad" - typical greens. they were fresh looking but didn't really taste as such. mushy texture with no snap and barely enough dressing. no croutons either.
"minestrone soup" - my wife opted for this and said it was decent tasting. i did sample it, but since i'm not a true fan of minestrone, it would be unfair for me to review and just take my wife's word for it. thumbs up on this one so far.
"spaghetti & meatballs" - the spaghetti in of itself was cooked properly. the meatballs were just like the aforementioned ravioli appetizer, uneventful. the sauce even less eventful. there was no notable garlic, oregano, etc. taste to the sauce at all... i really and truly hate to say this but have had better sauce out of a jar.
now down to the most disappointing dish of all - "baked lasagne" - upon arrival, it didn't even look very appetizing, but that doesn't always stop us. this thing was simply packed, no, a better operative word was "caked" with ricotta cheese. very dry texture and yet again, no hint of garlic, oregano, or any other traditional italian flavors. this was my wife's entree, and had to fight her from taking my "spaghetti & meatballs", which we've covered already.
in summary, obviously we didn't have a very good experience. we are the type to revisit due to a bad night, but there is no way this was a bad night with so many disappointing dishes and opportunities. this might of been agreatplace last month, last year, or 50 years ago. at this point, dare i say, olive garden has this place beat.
if you've read this far into my review, i would suggest a place like "vito provolone's" further south and is listed on urbanspoon.
really hated giving this review for such an iconic place with this type of history!