Shells & Sauce

We came for brunch and man the place was packed! That took me by surprise because I didn't know Shells & Sauce was known for breakfast items! Our waiter was a very easy going dude and would wink at us every time we requested something, signaling we're being well taken care of, I liked that! Especially when he worked so hard to "look for" a lasagna for me. You see, I'd read at several places their lasagna is a must-try, but because this is brunch, they don't serve that. After seeing how disappointed I was, our waiter went away and came back with good news: they still had a piece left over from last night. I was desparate to try it so I agreed to have left over food, lol. Then I sort of regreted it and couldn't shake the thought of "what if". What if I'd had it fresh? Would it still have tasted as salty? Nonetheless, the lasagna was HUGE and they used a mixture of fine cheese that after being baked, smelled so good I thought I was having creme brulee! really! The spiked sauce was not my thing, but luckily, my boyfriend liked it. He had the Italian Grilled Cheese and we asked to upgrade the fries to Funnel Fries. What a fun idea! We absolutely loved it!

Our friends had that day's specials: Sausage and mushroom omlete with hashbrowns, and Spinach Florentine Benedict with hashbrowns, respectively. Both dishes looked very big and the fact that they finished them all tells me they must be pretty good!

Until I come back during dinner time and try the true Italian fare, I'm going to give Shells & Sauce 3.5 stars.

Yum yum yum.  Everything about this place was great. The balsamic dipping sauce served with the homemade fresh bread, instead of boring old butter, was to die for. I went with two friends and we ordered the steak special , the pasta special and a seafood pasta. I wish I could remember all of the names, but I can tell you that we all ate off each others plate because we couldn't decide which one was the best.

Service was great. We were able to talk and drink wine and catch up, but our waiter was still really attentive. This place has an intimate, comfortable neighborhood atmosphere and the food is great.

We went late at night after the Botanical Gardens and it had a fair amount of people for close to 9ish.

The food here is just wonderful The bread is simply divine. I had gnocchi, and the Gorgonzola sauce was cheesy and a perfect texture of creamy. I also had a Caesar salad that was perfect on the amount of dressing and a good size for a side.  My friend's food was great too; two had the special of stuffed ravioli with crab.  I did not have any beverages except water,but my friends all had mixed drinks and said they were great.

There are two drawbacks to this place: the size- the entry way does not leave any place to wait, so you are kind of in the middle of the room in an uncomfortable kind of way waiting...and the tables are very close. My chair kind of stuck out in the walkway and I felt like I was constantly in the way of the waitstaff.  The waitstaff were slow. Like, super slow. I understand we were there late, but there weren't that many tables and they hadn't closed yet... we waited a while for our check and my friends waited a good while for their drinks.  But the food... the food is soooooo good.

Oh, and... I really want to try their dessert menu. A lot.