My wife and I are always happy to try Italian restaurants that tout house-made noodles, and this definitely did not disappoint! We made a reservation for a Friday at noon, which turned out to be unnecessary as we were the first ones in. I think this may change over time, though, as this development where the restaurant is located is definitely growing and more people will be willing to head here for lunch.
Anyway, we were seated promptly and given sufficient time to look at the menu. They only offered the lunch menu, and we were happy enough with what was on it not to ask about the dinner menu (in case you've seen my previous question about this!). My wife and I agree that a restaurant's menu should never have more than 4 pages altogether, and this was nicely laid out on the front and back of one sheet of starters, soup/salads, pasta, and desserts, along with another sheet of drink options. We both had work after lunch, so we didn't have drinks, but it looked like an accessible menu of beers, cocktails, and wine.
We ordered the fig and goat cheese flatbread for an appetizer. The flat bread was more like a sheet of matza, and it was a bit chewier than we had expected, but it was good. My wife doesn't love figs, so she would have liked them to be sliced thinner, but I thought it was well balanced with the goat cheese, arugula salad, and caramelized onions.
My wife had the chicken marsala, which came with a great thick-cut linguine, broccoli rabe, onion, and a generous portion of chicken. She let me have a couple of composed bites, and it was phenomenal! I had the spicy risotto with shrimp, all of which was perfect. The risotto was creamy without being heavy, spicy without being painful, and the shrimp were perfectly cooked (they even bring out a bowl for the tails!).
For dessert, we both had coffee and one helping of the black cherry bread pudding. It was a good dessert, but too heavy on the chocolate for my wife. I enjoyed the whole thing, though, as I was the one who insisted I get dessert! It was my one meal for the day, so I wasn't going to go small.
The only complaint I have is that some of the kitchen staff was a bit too loud goofing off - when the place is empty and has an open kitchen, they need to be more aware that patrons can hear everything they're saying. I would never encourage people not to have fun at work, just to be mindful of the conditions and who can hear what.
We can't wait to go back on a date night as soon as possible to try the dinner menu and perhaps a drink or two. I'm really glad to see Canton developing its downtown area into usable space without tearing everything down! With family coming for the holidays, we'll likely go to the Mill on Etowah to walk around and maybe try some other places as well. It's like downtown Woodstock, but with ample parking and this Italian joint wasn't pretentious unlike a certain one in downtown Woodstock *cough*Vingenzo's*cough*. read more