Matteo's Ristorante Italiano

Whenever I am in town for business, I must make time for dinner at Matteo's.  I love the bread and olive oil dip served before your meal.  The bread is always hot and fresh.  I can't say that I have tried anything but the ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta... So yummy.  My only complaint is that I wish the portion was larger, because I always find myself licking the plate clean!!!  There area always a number of daily specials to choose from to make your choice that much harder.  Always save room for dessert. You can't go wrong with anything you choose!!

I wasn't overly impressed with Matteo's food-wise.  Service was decent, the downtown Noblesville location is great, and the ambiance was very nice.  However, if I am going to pay a little more for a meal I want it to taste good.  I ordered the penne with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, and a red cream sauce.  The sauce was just not very good at all.  The taste was strange and even mooping it up with bread didn't help.  I was expecting freshly dried red tomatoes with whole asparagus placed upon a bed penne lightly covered with sauce.  Instead it was penne smothered in sauce with the smallest pieces of diced asparagus I have ever seen/eaten.  My sister was quite impressed with her dish that was a medley of seafood and linguine.  My mom swears by her old Matteo's standby of the tortellini and my dad had the special, the chicken lasagna (it apparently tasted "just like lasagna!")  The bread and oil you are served are excellent, which was a nice saving grace.  The bread was seriously awesome and you get a lot of it.  Daily specials are plentiful and the wine and cocktail menu isn't too shabby.  As it was my sister's birthday, she received a complimentary dessert.  Creme Brulee was better than expected.

Service was horrible.  Our server did the best he could but he had to mix the drinks, fill water, and remove dishes.  There was one busser but he appeared to do nothing.  My martini glass sat empty on the table throughout  the entire dinner.  A server only costs the restaurant $2.00 per hour.  No reason for not having enough servers.

The panzeratti tasted tasted like a poorly seasoned potato cake.  The tagliatelle was overcooked.  There was so much sauce it seemed like the dish should have been called sauce with a side of pasta.  We were told the rigatoni special had shrimp in it.  There was only one shrimp in the entire dish.