Night out planned with some friends to celebrate my birthday. I studied the menus well and looked at pictures on yelp. The two things that swayed me here was a cocktail on their website menu that sounded absolutely delicious, the Raspberry Bourbon Smash, and the pictures on Yelp of the Tiramisu. When you book online to make reservations you actually have to give your charge card as they could charge you $15 a person for a no-show or late cancellation. On the reservation it asked if we were celebrating anything so we indicated a birthday celebration. Normally the ambience is great here, but we were sat at the very last booth right by the door where the hotel guest come and leave from. Honestly didn't see much of the restaurant back there.
Our waiter introduced himself and asked us if we had been here before and if we were celebrating anything. My friend told him that we were celebrating my birthday. I was looking at the cocktail menu and to my disappointment I did not see the Raspberry Bourbon Smash. It was a different menu than the cocktails on their website. I asked if they had it. He checked and said they didn't have the ingredients anymore so we settled for sangria.
We ordered the sampler appetizer platter. When it arrived to the table, it had 1 cannelloni that we could split 4 ways, 4 stuffed mushrooms, 4 fried cheese sticks, 4 toasted raviolis, and only 3 broiled shrimp. Why would you only get 3 shrimp? It seems like it should've been 4 for $26. I forfeited my shrimp so the others could try it. My husband said the stuffed mushrooms was the best he ever had. So I traded him mine for his cheese stick so he could enjoy another. The others said the same thing about the mushrooms. The cheese sticks and cannelloni were really good. The shrimp they said was just OK so I guess I didn't miss out. The toasted raviolis were hit and miss. Two of them were stuffed full and two were pretty hollow.
Onto the main course. My husband ordered the Tortellini Con Piselli. It is always delicious (rich and creamy) and always a very large serving. The other two ordered the special of the day, a fish dish which they said was very tasty and the Salmon Carsiofi which they said was cooked perfect and a very large serving. I ordered the Chicken Spiedini. I had high hopes for it, but honestly it was just OK. We all thought it should've been cooked a little bit more. It was very pale and soggy. I actually only ate one of them and took the other one home so I could reheat it and make it crispy. For my side I was torn between a baked potato or pasta. The waiter said you're at an Italian restaurant so you should probably get the pasta so I went with that. I ordered the pasta with pink sauce. When my meal came, I took a couple bites of it and I knew it was incorrect. He came back to the table and I asked him if this was the pink sauce. He looked at it and said oh no that's the marinara sauce. He took it back to the kitchen and came out with the pink. This was way better, very delicious and creamy.
Now onto the desert, the one thing I was waiting for. I saw the pictures of their delicious tiramisu on Yelp so I knew that this is what I wanted to order. When they brought our desserts and she put it in front of me I said, oh no, I ordered the tiramisu. She said this is the tiramisu. I was like no that's not what it looked like on Yelp it's square and... She said oh we serve it like this sometimes. I was so disappointed it basically looked like pudding in a cup. No ladyfingers in it and half the size of the pictures on Yelp, but it still cost $13. Considering that this was the one factor why I chose this restaurant you can just imagine my disappointment. I honestly can't even tell you how it tasted because when I was eating it all I could think of was this is not a tiramisu from a fine Italian restaurant. It was something you would get off of a buffet. All I have to say is if you come here and you want tiramisu ask them before you order if it's the good homemade tiramisu that comes in a square slice with ladyfingers or if it's like pudding in a cup. We were so confused why they kept asking us if we were celebrating anything because they never did anything for my birthday. I'm not sure if they normally do and the waiter just forgot. My friends ordered the strawberry cheesecake which looked absolutely delicious and a dessert drink called the brown squirrel, which they said was very rich, creamy and wonderful.
All and all we had a good time and good conversation throughout the dinner. We were there for a couple of hours. Our bill, including tip for the four of us was $335. That was for four cocktails, one combination appetizer, four entrées, two desserts, and one dessert cocktail. I guess I wouldn't have minded paying that if I had been able to get what I really wanted. I think the tiramisu was just a big disappointment at the end. read more