This is a prime example of one of those restaurants that just has way too large a menu to handle.
I went to Pizza Palace (as this place used to be called before their revamp) a long time ago with family, and I do remember their pizza being delicious. Yesterday, we were invited to try their new place which is being billed as an italian ristorante called "Padova."
[Note: I originally posted this about a month ago under the old restaurant name which they closed the page for instead of name changing, so make that "about a month ago" instead of "yesterday."]
You'd expect their menu from a diner - like Penny's II across the street or Chips down the road. Gyros, Soups, Burgers, Pasta, Pizza, everything and the kitchen sink. I don't think we got through the entire menu by the time the waiter came back around, and there had to be at least over 100 entrees alone. At that point, especially given the size of the restaurant, you know most of their food has to be coming from a restaurant supplier.
I will say the Chicken Orzo soup seemed freshly made though, and was quite delicious. Enough to satisfy this greek girl before chowing down on her gyro (honestly, that was pretty decent - what you'd expect from a diner though, not from a "ristorante." Although the coleslaw tasted mighty funny and the tzatziki was watery). I do always have to laugh at restaurants who do have so much greek food on them, and the waiters don't know how to pronounce it (I asked for a gryo - "year-o" - and he said "okay, one gyro "jai-row""), although at least he knew what I was talking about. But then again you don't usually see gyros sold at restaurants noting authentic Italian cuisine. The color of my boyfriend's beef barley soup (should I call it "beef barely"?) was bright red and all you could taste was tomatoes, sad since we had been craving beef barley from Liquid Lunch all day.
I noticed my boyfriend's grandfather's burger came out with a half-burnt bun, and the mustard they gave him was empty. Eventually the waiter saw him flagging him down and he brought him out a cup of mustard. That guy, the only waiter in the place, kept either waiting up front at the window (it was 1pm on a Saturday and we were the only people in the restaurant, while the rest of the shopping center was booming) or in back to talk with the chefs and guys at the take-out counter. They all seemed like nice people and they wanted to please everyone, but obviously there is something majorly missing here. Part of me kept saying to myself "Gordon Ramsay needs to come here and set them straight."
I sadly do not think I will be returning, although maybe in a pinch if I'm in the area I'll give their pizza a shot again. Given the gorgeous redesign of the place, I really hope they consider parring down their menu. Focus on the Italian food, try to keep it all fresh (maybe even local, as is the current trend - which is a great trend to follow!). I think you'd go far because this is a great location and it can be a great restaurant if they just shorten their menu to two or three pages of Italian goodness so they can actually focus on cooking instead of trying to offer everything a diner can. read more