Is Eating Out at Italian Restaurants Really Worth It?

This was supposed to be Pesto Risotto, and why put a spoon on my plate?

This is it. I'm at my wits end. Is eating out at so called "Italian" restaurants worth the high prices, poorly prepared, unauthentic and inconsistent menu choices?

This past Good Friday evening, my wife, son, his wonderful girlfriend and I went to a "Italian" restaurant called Taste of _____ in a nearby town. (Fill in the blank. It's one of the most overused names for Italian restaurants and pizzerias in the U.S.) The place has been getting mostly great reviews on social media from locals (Italian-Americans are a minority around here), so my wife made reservations and then...

At first, we were confronted with a strong fishy smell as we entered the place (i.e, not fresh). The menu: a very typical Italian-American, overpriced (for what we received) menu with pizza place graphics. There were dishes named after Sinatra and Dean Martin and oddly one named Da Vinci. There was a volcano pile of stuff called Vesuvio and a "meatball salad"--meatballs "alongside" a salad.(Most reviews claimed the meatballs were terrible, so we didn't dare). The antipasti mix had tightly rolled, cheap capicola and a tasteless prosciutto with green and black olives straight out of a plastic 5 gallon restaurant jug. We also ordered a "fried mozzarella" that turned out to be a grilled cheese with mozzarella. The menu was missing any Neapolitan pizza, fresh pasta dishes, bistecca, boar stew or even fried/stuffed olives, chickpea fritters or arancini. Some pasta dishes were not finished in the pan, with sauces placed on top. Many were heavily finished with olive oil. The bread in the basket was not great and there was a large slice of butter swimming in a bitter, low grade olive oil mix for dipping (I suppose). There were no Primi or Secondi dishes. Proteins were mixed in with pasta on the same plate--Italian-American style. As for presentation, the portions were HUGE with so many  things thrown on top, creating visual chaos. (Looking like a regurgitated meal). The finisher in the kitchen surely had a heavy hand with many dishes swimming in olive oil. (Many photos on their Google page was evidence of this). 

There were dry pasta dishes with Bolognese sauce (what, no fresh egg pasta?) and other misidentified pasta shapes. There was an extreme overuse of garlic in some dishes, as my son's girlfriend had in her mushroom risotto. Native Italians use garlic only to flavor the oil at the beginning, then remove the cloves. My wife said she had to "saw" through her overcooked chicken cutlet and her gnocchi were definitely made from frozen and were gluey.

This is how I expect a pesto risotto to be

At the top of this post is a photo that I took of my "pesto risotto" at the end of our meal... about 45-55 minutes after arriving at the table. You can clearly see the pools of oily fat (olive oil and broken sauce). Responding to my local review, the "owner/chef" claimed I finished 60% of the dish--I actually left 80% or more of this HUGE portion (enough to feed 3-4 people).

Also, I want you to note the huge spoon they placed on the plate, the same many American restaurants use, expecting diners to twirl spaghetti with.

Five minutes into the meal my stomach was feeling queasy. There was a broken, heavy sauce (cream added?) and it looked like they poured olive oil over the risotto, pooling below. Perhaps they added too much butter and cream to finish over heat and the sauce broke. The risotto was not made with carnaroli or arborio rice. When making risotto, this type of rice itself produces its own starchy "cream" and causes l'onda (a wave). This was a gloppy mess. I still felt nauseous 2 hours after.

None of us were satisfied with our meals. My son's pesto pasta had very little actual pesto with olive oil pooling underneath. Instead of a classic dollop of pesto on top, there was ricotta (not mentioned on the menu). He felt thee pesto was made using dried basil with only a blackened chiffonade of "fresh" basil sprinkled on top. I concurred.

My dish sat in from of me for about 45 minutes while I picked away at it during our diner chat. Uncharacteristically, I didn't want to complain on Good Friday and while we were getting to know Lucas' girlfriend. The waitress came over once to ask how everything was, and my wife answered "fine" while I bit my tongue. After asking for the check, someone asked if I was finished, reaching for my plate just as I was pointing my phone at my dish--something that many do nowadays. Seeing me take the photo, they walked away and went right up to the owner, as my wife witnessed.

During this evening, the owner stopped at nearly every table except ours... mostly filled with his "regulars". As we've noticed before in our area of Eastern Pennsylvania, most locals have no idea what a good Italian dish is. Our running family joke is about a German restaurant that is "famous" for its "incredible" pizza--flat, tasteless pizzas made and frozen before reheating! You know when the place that sells "pizza" also has Philly cheesesteak sandwiches on the menu, the pizza can't be good.

Responding to my local review, the owner said he "knew these people would be trouble" as soon as we sat down, and that we just wanted a free meal. He also claimed that I pulled the plate out of the waitresses hand to take the photo, with my "agenda" to give a bad review. Never happened. The waitress (passive aggressively) did come back and asked why I took a picture and why I didn't want a "doggie bag". I then told her how dissatisfied I was and how the sauce was broke and oily. I didn't want to take the rest of the dish home.

She offered to fix it, ridiculous as the bill was being paid and considering their lacking technique for preparing any classic risotto dish. She apologized and I said it was not her fault, and reminded her, "YOU aren't the chef". I never asked to comp my meal, but even after my complaint, the full charge was still on the bill when it arrived. Most places comp without even asking for it. I paid the full bill and a 20% tip and we left.

We only drank water, had no desire to have desserts after our poor meals, and were billed over $150 for the privilege of eating at this phony Italian "ristorante" with busboys wearing Godfather T-shirts and Vic Damone and SInatra music pumping out of their speakers.

Responding dozens of times to our local review, and literally dozens of locals defending this inauthentic place's food, the owner made himself look bad by his ridiculous and insulting accusations. There were also scores of people agreeing with my review and saying how the owner's nasty arrogance and lack of customer relations tact was hurting his own reputation. It was a typical social media flaming event. Shocking, really. All I did was post an honest review.

His belligerence toward a simple, truthful diner's own experience is utterly out of place for someone wanting to make clientele happy. This owner's attitude is going to repel clients... look at other restaurant owners who offer condolence and ways to make them come back until they are served a satisfying meal. There is a New Jersey pizzeria that we order take-out from occasionally that gave me a rubbery chicken dish once. No questions asked, they offered a gift certificate as compensation. This is after all a hospitality business.

Lisa is usually the one that wants to try the new places getting lots of social media buzz. I think after this, even she wants to call it quits. Our biggest complaint--even when we find a place with good food--is lack of consistency. The next time we return, we never are as satisfied as the first time. Bottom line: We've been saying this for years now... "Why waste big dollars on meals that we can cook better in our own kitchen?"

Besides, we are nearing the end of our new kitchen renovation... We can't wait to have an oven again and cook on our new 36" gas cooktop with grill!

Share your experiences from recent years at restaurants that others think are great. Are you disappointed too? Please leave a comment below.

Ciao for now,

--Jerry Finzi

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