Piccirilli Ristorante

I don't like writing these overly negative reviews, but I feel the need to warn people away from this place when there are two other decent Italian restaurants within a few miles that are so much better. Money should not be spent here.

We got here at 4:45 p.m. and the place was almost empty, but for some reason the greeter (who turned out to be the busboy and who knows what else) asked us if we had a reservation.

This is not a place to go if you're in any kind of hurry. It took 10 minutes to get water, 10 minutes to get bread, etc. The whole meal took an eternity. There was only one server and she vanished for long periods of time in between. Maybe she was cooking the food?

Now the food is along the same mediocre at best theme. The minestrone soup had no flavor and everyone else looked at me when I put salt in it twice, but they ended up salting things before the end of the meal. The pasta course had almost no sauce on it, and what was there had no taste. Was there Parmesan to be had (in an Italian place)? No. I had chicken that was supposed to have a wine and lemon sauce on it. It ended up having what appeared to be a sheen of grease or butter on top and almost no flavor. Everyone else's food was similarly tasteless. My wife got ravioli and they looked more like Chinese dumplings and were incredibly dry and had little sauce on them. She would have asked for more sauce, but it would have probably taken 20 minutes to get it. Did I mention that this wasn't cheap? $15 per each lousy entree.

Another 10 minutes to get the bill, 10 minutes to get our cards picked up. There are very few things that bug me as much as paying good money for bad food, so I was irritated when we left here. We had joked about hoping that we didn't see Gordon Ramsey or Robert Irivine when we walked in here, now I think that would be best for Piccirilli's.

From the minute you walk in you feel the warmth and spirit of the restaurant. they have a great menu with a good sense of balance of freshness and imagination. the wine list could be expanded just a bit .

great food, great experience. I loved sitting on the outside patio the first time, the second time it was night and we sat inside. both times had the peppers & sausage appetizer to start and you can tell it's home made sausage, which most nobody does anymore. the pasta was cooked perfect, not mushy, the chicken was tender. I loved the chicken cacciatore and my wife's shrimp pasta was excellent. the second time we went we sat inside the bar and enjoyed most of the appetizers on the menu, with a little (a lot) of wine. I will definitely go back here. Since there are not many authentic Italian restaurants left in the area, I  will keep going here.