I stopped by for a pickup/ takeout order last Tuesday. When I arrived they appeared to be short staffed as there was no one at the front.
I noticed the inside was fairly warm, considering the temp outside was near 100°F, I guess that can be expected, but it would have been too warm for me to enjoy a meal inside, I felt.
I was provided a menu by a very helpful young lady who came from the back. I sat at one of the empty tables and considered my order.
My choices were the bread nuggets, spaghetti with meat sauce and the fettuccine Alfredo over linguine.
As I stated, they appeared short staffed, so I waited for someone to come back and take my order. They took my name and my phone number, which seemed odd for a walk-in, to-go order
After placing the order and being told it would be 20-25 minutes I walked outside and sat on the bench in front. The southern breeze was not too bad and I found Venus to be a very small cute town.
I walked back inside and inquired where the restroom was and used the facilities.
When my order was ready, I paid by card and left a nice tip.
When I arrived at home, about 25 miles away, I found the bag contained two of my three items. I did a cursory look in the bag before I left and saw three items, the two pasta dishes and a small white bag which contained two foil-wrapped bread pieces. Each piece about 3/4" by 1.5". I wondered to myself if that was their order of bread nuggets and argued with myself there was no way that was worth $8.50.
I called back and they acknowledged my bread nuggets were there, on top of the oven. I didn't relish the idea of an hour round trip to go pick them up, so I asked if I could get some fresh ones on my next order, which the young lady agreed to. I am disappointed that when they discovered my missing item they didn't ring my phone so I could return before I got home and had to call them, but the staffing issue I observed probably prevented that action.
The food was good, I don't know that it qualified as a top-tier offering and I certainly feel, for the price and presentation, it was overrated.
The spaghetti mostly filled the take out container and had a decent serving of meat sauce on top. My wife said it was good and couldn't finish it.
I had opted for the Alfredo and found it was a good portion but seemed to lack enough Alfredo sauce to know at a glance to know if it was just linguine alone.
Take out at other places I have ordered from usually have a good portion of sauce covering the pasta and there is certainly leftover sauce to clean up with a crunchy piece of bread afterwards. That was not my experience with this order.
Overall I found the food good, but lacking that extra touch to make it stand out above the crowd. A sprinkle of chives on the linguine would have been a nice touch to break up the plainness.
And, for the price, I found the food was sub-par, in my opinion. Would it have been better dining it? I have no doubt. If I had been dining in and the food arrived as it was when I got home, I would have asked about the lack of Alfredo sauce and I certainly would have gotten my bread nuggets.
I rarely do take out for that reason. I find it is always a better experience to dine in and after reading the positive reviews, I really wanted to give them a try.
I wish them well and will likely stop by again when it is cooler to give them a try inside. If you will read my other reviews I try to be as honest as possible without destroying a business. My guess is their short staff and influx of customers might have been a bit overwhelming. Hopefully my comments will help them with what I feel are their shortcomings. read more