I must say - I was not expecting to leave this type of review, but I cannot see any other way around it.
A friend and I decided to try out Caterina's before a concert at Dickies. We both love Italian food and thought it looked like a fun concept.
We arrived early, and they were willing to accommodate us and seat us early after very quickly locking our phones in sealed pouches. I get the reasoning behind it, but honestly, I believe there may be other reasons behind this concept, but I digress.
Upon being seated, our waitress greeted us with a complimentary glass of champagne. Nice way to begin the evening. She proceeds to also bring us a small tray of two small pieces of parmigiano reggiano (most likely from the big wheel at the front door) and two slices of prosciutto. It, too, was a nice touch. We are off to a good start!
Not even having a chance to look at a dinner menu or even enjoy the glass of sparkling given when we were handed a small cocktail menu with quite a few options. I'm a bourbon gal, and ordered a Paper Plane that was not on the special menu. My friend ordered a Hugo that was. A few minutes later, the waitress pushes a cocktail cart up to the table and makes a show of creating my friend's cocktail, including "clapping" the mint/herbs that go into her cocktail between her hands in a theatrical fashion. Now I like a good show, but this was a bit on the over-the-top and unnecessary side. Now I'm beginning to understand why they're not allowing phones.....
Both cocktails were very good. (Highly recommend the Paper Plane.) And we were then immediately handed dinner menus and were walked though the "chef's recommendations" to eat.
Nothing on the antipasto portion stood out as a must have. So, we decided to start our meal out by sharing a Caprese salad. For the pasta course, she ordered the spaghetti alle vongole (clams), while I ordered the Cacio e Pepe. For the main course, we decided to split the 2lb lobster that comes with sweet corn ravioli. The waitress again states that the "chef recommends an antipasto as well" as if that means we HAVE to order one because he says so. That was slightly off putting.
Once we finish ordering, our waitress asks us what wines we would like to have with each course. Now we haven't drank our cocktails or even finished the sparkling wine yet. So the idea to ask for wine orders, seemed a little premature. We told her that we will wait and see how the dinner progresses.
The Caprese salad arrived at the table. A lovely mixture of cherry and heirloom tomatoes, kissed with an evoo and balsamic mixture. However, it also arrived with the equivalent of 2 tbsp of crumbled fresh mozzarella. Not exactly what we were expecting, but we enjoyed it.
The pasta dishes arrived. My friend's pasta alle vongole looked good, and she enjoyed hers. However, while the texture of the bucatini in my Cacio e Pepe was nice, the flavor was just off. It had a hint of what tasted like white truffle oil, which not only doesn't belong in a Cacio e Pepe but is one of the flavors I just do not like. So, I ate very little.
Once again we were asked about purchasing wine. We figured this wouldn't stop until we actually ordered wine. So we each ordered a glass.
Main course arrived: 2lb Lobster with Sweet Corn Ravioli. Presentation was beautiful (if I was allowed to take a photo, I'd surely post one). However once we each got a half of a tail on our plates, we found the lobster to be extremely extremely rubbery and over cooked. I also found the sauce to be overwhelming for the dish, but we didn't get a chance to try the ravioli. We couldn't get past the texture of the lobster.
Once we notified the waitress, she promptly took the plate away and came back with the menu. She suggested the shrimp scampi but warned us that they're very large and "barely cooked." At this point, we just went with that to be done with dinner.
A gentleman, who I think may have been a manager, arrived with our scampi and said that he wanted us to cut into them and taste them with him present. Extremely odd but we acquiesced. The shrimp was indeed large, but the flavor was just okay. I think at that point, we were just done with dinner and asked for our check without eating my more of the scampi outside of the tasting.
The bill arrives and I notice that there are charges for at least 2-3 items that were not ours. Somehow our table and a neighboring table had our bills combined. They sorted it out, and we promptly paid and left.
The food is just not worth the hype or the pretentiousness. While our waitress was nice, the constant pushing of ordering more and more wine/cocktails became tiresome. I understand that is a big money maker for restaurants, but it's a little off putting.
I would honestly find your Italian elsewhere. read more