The title of this restaurant is self-descriptive. They do pizza, they do pasta. There is a decent selection of beer, wine and spirits. The atmosphere is sports bar meets family pizza joint -- a little loud if you are planning a romantic evening out. A dinner for two costs about $50 if you get drinks and dessert.
Sweetie: I ordered a glass of Mirassou Pinot Noir at $6 a glass. It was sweet without being overly sweet. It paired well with my pasta.
Spicy Girl: My drink was the Outlaw Red, Moab '06 for $6. It was described as "peppery." It had a little bite and a crisp fruity flavor. Before getting into the food, I thought the waitress was friendly, but the service was a bit slow. After delivering our tasty beverages, it seemed like a while before she came back to take our orders.
Sweetie: I disagree. I thought the service was just fine. I was annoyed by one of the families and their wild-ass kids running around the restaurant.
Spicy Girl: We both ordered side salads for $3.50 with the house dressing -- a creamy basil vinaigrette. The salad was HUGE for a side salad, and the dressing was good. However, you needed a knife to cut it, and it was a bit skimpy on the veggies -- nearly all lettuce, spinach, carrot slices, and onions. There was just one tomato and one cucumber. But it was redeemed by the cute and warm bread stick.
Sweetie: I thought the salad was good, but missing veggies, too. I also think the dressing, while delish, wasn't tossed well and had a tablespoon too much lobbed on top.
Spicy Girl: I agree. Next time I'll order the dressing on the side. For dinner, I had the 9" sun-dried tomato and roasted garlic pizza for $11. Normally I prefer a thick crust. But the pizzas here have a thin crust that is still soft inside, which is good too. I thought the roasted garlic was a nice touch. Still, it was a little thick on the cheese and I had to add red pepper flakes, twice (to their defense, they do have the flakes on the table and they have some pizzas with jalapenos -- I guess I was in one of those Mediterranean moods, so will try a spicy pizza next time).
Sweetie: I thought your pizza was good, Spicy Girl, and the cheese was just enough. I normally don't like feta but I guess when it melts it's less, um, goaty. The crust was also good. I picked off my roasted garlic pieces, of course. Also for $11, I ordered a special, spinach and ricotta ravioli. I was expecting something like cannelloni, but it wasn't anything like that mainly because of the creamy rose sauce that sort of overpowered the taste of the spinach and ricotta. I don't know how I feel about the sauce. I liked the creaminess but maybe it would have been better with a traditional marinara. It didn't need to be topped with Asiago cheese, either -- but I generally don't like cheese on top of cheesy pasta. The ravioli itself was huge and perfect, although as I've already explained I didn't taste much of the spinach. It tasted more cheesy than spinachy.
Spicy Girl: I agree, Sweetie, that there could have been a bit more spinach in the ravioli. The sauce was a little creamier than I was used to but did not taste too rich. I thought the parsley was a nice touch. Now, onto dessert.
Sweetie: Which is what I live for. We chose the tiramisu. It was a large rectangle. Creamy, custardy, lady fingery, and espressoy. Me likey.
Spicy Girl: I also liked the tiramisu -- always a favorite dessert of mine. I thought the presentation was beautiful and it tasted great too. My only critique is that it could have had a little more espresso flavoring.
Sweetie: Now that you bring it up, you’re right. There wasn’t enough of the “bite” that you expect from the coffee. It was still good. And when the bill came, we got to be altruistic!
Spicy Girl: Oh yeah. That is nice. This is a conscientious restaurant. They are taking donations for the Japan earthquake victims – with a raffle entry for a dollar donation. It’s good to know the management care about people. Overall, this was a fun place to get our Italian on. I give it a :)
Sweetie: Yeah, but I think it’s more Italian-American.
Here is a link to their site if you want to check them out:
They're at 1063 E. 2100 S. And are open every day, with brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
