We've been to A Tavola locations two or three times and thought highly of it.
But for me, A Tavola's pedigree has not not carried over to Taglio, the more casual (and originally carryout/delivery only?) pizza spot in Columbia-Tusculum opened by A Tavola's owners.
A pizza we ordered several years ago from Taglio must have been forgettable because for a long time we never thought to go back. But then a Detroit-area-native former coworker whose taste in food is far above average raved about Taglio's Detroit-style pizzas. Back during the early months of the pandemic we ordered one for carryout and thought it was terrific: big flavors (Taglio's basic red sauce is zesty), and wonderful textural contrast in that crust.
A couple of subsequent Detroit-style pizzas were quite a bit blander, though. There was a noticeable deficit of sauce. And these featured a Taglio trend that is quite annoying: major chintziness with toppings, which are not cheap at this restaurant. (The photos indicate that pepperoni, which I don't like, is an exception; order that, and you get a whole damn sausage on your pizza.)
We dined in for the first time a couple of weeks back, and there were several additional problems:
First off: Caesar salad at $10 was tiny, had what appeared to be "shaky cheese" rather than freshly grated parm, and the balsamic vinaigrette was too tart.
But Taglio is about pizza, and a medium New York style pizza was a terrible value at $23. The crust had pretty good chew but strangely little flavor, and the sauce was only OK this time. Big problem here was that the dusting (I'm barely exaggerating) of sausage and mushroom added *eight dollars* of cost to this pizza. If this paltry sprinkling cost Taglio more than 75 cents, I'd be shocked. As pizza, only pretty good, and wildly overpriced for what you get.
A bit of side issue, but still a beef: The wife and I have long loved IPAs. But that apparently means we are Gen X fossils, as we have found this town increasingly hostile to them; often local beer menus bump IPAs for beers that taste like candy (peanut butter, raspberry, chocolate, you name it). It's a mystery to us: IPAs are still a vibrant part of beer culture in areas like the Pacific Northwest that have had craft-brewing scenes far longer than Cincinnati has. Anyway, on this evening, the list actually featured a single IPA, but its keg was dry. Come on, folks.
The staff on this evening, which may have featured several newer employees, was friendly and pleasant but often out of sync. The restaurant itself is sharp enough looking, with a giant bar in the middle, but ultimately kinda generic.
Anyway, over the years that's five pizzas, only one of which qualified as delicious. And the consistent stinginess with the toppings is really off-putting. read more