There are restaurants that serve generous portions... and then there's Annie's Pizza on Wiles Road,…read morewhere apparently the serving philosophy is "What if Thanksgiving dinner and an Italian wedding had a baby?"
Order one of their pasta meals. I dare you. No, scratch that... I double dog dare you to finish it without needing a nap, a forklift, or someone from the next table spotting you like you're bench pressing at the gym.
The portions here are absolutely absurd in the best possible way. Honestly, if you clean your plate at Annie's, they should hand you a commemorative T-shirt, ring a bell in the kitchen, and put your photo on the wall next to Joey Chestnut.
Now that we've addressed the edible mountain range they call dinner, let's talk about the taste because this isn't one of those places that hides mediocre food behind oversized portions.
I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, and those meatballs were phenomenal. You can absolutely taste the quality of the beef and Italian sausage blend. They had that homemade flavor where every bite tastes like somebody's grandmother would aggressively defend the recipe at a family gathering. And when I say meatballs, understand these things were roughly the size of bocce balls. I've seen softballs with less mass.
The spaghetti portion itself looked like they emptied the entire pasta pot onto my plate. I'm pretty sure there was a full pound of spaghetti sitting there daring me to make bad life decisions.
My wife ordered the eggplant parmesan with spaghetti, and that may have quietly stolen the show. The eggplant was flavorful, perfectly cooked, and most importantly not greasy, which is where a lot of eggplant parm places completely lose the plot. It was loaded with mozzarella and sauce without turning into a soggy mess. Really well done.
Now for the reasons this lands at four stars instead of five.
First, the spaghetti and meatballs could absolutely use more sauce. With portions this gigantic, the sauce starts tapping out before the pasta does. Pro tip: ask for extra sauce on the side and thank me later.
Second, the garlic rolls. They're not bad, but calling them garlic rolls feels a little optimistic. Plenty of grated cheese and Italian seasoning, but the garlic itself apparently called out sick that day. I wanted that punch of buttery garlic flavor and it just wasn't there. And, they were dry... could have used some of that extra sauce I mentioned earlier for dipping the dryness out of.
I really wanted to go 4 1/2 stars because the food itself was legitimately delicious and the portions are legendary, but Yelp makes us live in a world without fractions, so four stars it is.
It had been a long time since my last visit to Annie's, and after this meal, I can promise you the wait for my next visit won't be nearly as long. And let me mention this is primarily a take out spot... a few stools at the counter and two tables outside that you can choose to eat at.
Also, I'm still full.