20283 N Lake Pleasant Rd #110
** Update ** (03/03/23) Well, that sucks. Earlier in the week on a Tuesday about noon, I went to lunch with a friend and had a great experience. I talked it up to my friends about how good and how fresh everything was and really built it up. So the following Friday, after the movies, all 4 of us went for dinner. Huge mistake! About 10 minutes after we walked in at 6:30 (the four of us and another table were the only ones in there at that time), they got SLAMMED! 15 minutes after ordering, we got our salads. Another 20 minutes later, we were still waiting for our food and I hadn’t even gotten my beer yet. I went to the counter to get my beer and she thought I was asking for a refill. 5 minutes later, I got my beer and 10 minutes after that, we got our ravioli and lasagna order. 10 minutes after that, he brought 2 sandwiches to the table, which we hadn’t ordered. Finally…15 minutes after that, my friends got their baked ziti and their calzone, but it wasn’t the calzone they ordered. This one had onions and green peppers in it, which my friend can’t eat. Moral of the story? Go during lunch time or afternoon, when they aren’t busy. Overall, this visit rated 1 out of 5 stars.
Tuesday, 02/28/23 – Oh. My. Goodness! My whole mission with this web page/endeavor, was to find those places that looked like a hole in the wall, and find a delicious meal that would knock your socks off. Wow! This place delivered that, in spades! From the outside, it’s nothing special. It looks like every other strip mall restaurant. The interior is nothing to write home about either. It’ your quintessential Italian restaurant that you would expect to see in NYC, with the traditional red booth seats and black table tops, complete with a pizza oven on one side of the room. However, this is where the comparison to every other non-descript restaurant ends.
Lucky and his wife are very likable people. If you take the time to talk to them, they are more than willing to interact with you. His accent is still very heavy Italian, which just reinforces the authenticity of the owners and the food they make.
My friend Dick invited me to lunch here and his statement as I walked in was, “I’m going to order the most expensive thing on the menu!”, which in this case was the Chicken Alfredo, for the very reasonable price of $14.95. Your meal cost includes the entrée, a salad and a small loaf of bread. Myself, I opted for the meat ravioli in the marinara sauce. My theory is, why have just cheese, when you can have meat ravioli for the same price?
Shortly after sitting down, our salad arrived. They were nothing fancy, just good, solid salads. I had mine with the blue cheese and Dick had his with the Italian dressing. 4 out of 5 stars.
Within 10 minutes of getting our salads, the food of the gods was delivered to our table. Folks, THIS food is why I have this page!! Upon it’s arrival, you could smell the bread and you suspected it was home made. It was delivered, still hot from the oven and steaming, complete with a sharp knife to cut it, along with some butter. The moment you cut a slice off and take a bite, your suspicions of being home made are confirmed…phenomenal! Paired with this fluffy, crispy loaf of goodness, was the ravioli, covered in marinara sauce. As soon as it was placed upon the table, the wonderful aroma of tomato-ey goodness assaulted me, making my mouth immediately start watering. There were six large, round raviolis placed upon the plate, covered by a sea of sauce. Now…there are some of you out there that will say, “Oh that’s too much sauce. I don’t like that much sauce on my food because it overpowers the food.” To that I will say…Phooey! From the moment you place the first bite of this delectable nectar in your mouth, your brain will start saying, “Feed me, Seymour!”, as the flavors explode on your tongue. The flavor of the pasta itself, the filling inside, along with the sauce, together create such a perfect balance of Italian goodness that if you close your eyes, you’ll swear you’re sitting in Nona’s kitchen! Everything is so fresh, there is absolutely no doubt that everything you are putting in your mouth has been hand made from scratch. The only way I can describe it to you is like this; you know how the flavor in a homegrown tomato is just an order of magnitude better than a store bought tomato? This is the same thing. The flavor of this food is so fresh and so well balanced, that it just stands head and shoulders above other Italian restaurants for it’s simple goodness. 5 out of 5 stars.
So to wrap up, quite honestly, I’d go back just for the loaf of bread…it was that good. Combine that with the ravioli and the fresh sauce and they’ll have to go out of business, before I stop coming to this restaurant at least once a week! On a scale of 1 to 5, I’m giving this meal a 10! Make sure you take time out of your week to at least give it a try.