Italiana Ristorante

After paying my rent, I saw a new restaurant in downtown Clinton where I live.  Italiana Ristorante.  A beacon of light since I am a pasta lover.   Just perfect.  I am hungry and I haven't been cooking in a while.

In a small town, you cannot avoid the fact that people know each other.  I was welcomed in the restaurant but, I think I was the only one who did not have a small chat with the maitre d’.  Who am I kidding?  He’s just the headwaiter. LOL.  It was also a first for me to eat in a restaurant by myself.

For starters, I asked for the list of reds for drinks.  To my surprise, no alcoholic beverages were sold at the restaurant so, I settled for the ever reliable old fashioned sweet tea of the south.  One of my favorites, Italian wedding soup and lobster ravioli were ordered.  At that time, the headwaiter discussed with me the art of mixing parmesan cheese with ground pepper to olive oil as dip to my bread.  Well, that’s alright.  He may be used to people coming in who do not know what to do.  Though, I still prefer basil and roasted garlic as dip than cheese.

The soup was a little disappointing because it has a lot basil that it already was lump of greens in my soup.  Meatballs were also missed.  Well, anyway, I still have my main course.  So I have let that pass.  Here comes my lobster ravioli.  Disappointingly again, the ravioli was meager with filling.  I barely tasted the lobster.  The sauce was too thin, and the pasta is doughy because it was a tad undercooked.  I was looking around and people who ordered the same stuff as I did were very delighted with what they got.  I bit my tongue for complaints.  I did not want to ruin the happy ambiance of the two month old restaurant.  Maybe I will just give them a heads up when I come back.  Truly, I would like to come back and try their veal. I may be surprised, you know.  In addition to that, I would also like to help my community in little ways I can.

My friends were telling me that I am not Chef Gordon Ramsay to critique the restaurant that is not seeking any Michelin stars.  I guess I was just carried away from watching Hell’s Kitchen.