Another Restaurant Thread

Inkys

I also suggest Inkys

Pasqualones on Woodville Road was tasty the couple times I've been there. Casual is certainly acceptable on that side of the river, and the prices are reasonable.

I went to some awesome whole-in-the-wall Italian place on near Heatherdowns once. Authentic as you could get, and delicious and very well priced. Let me take a gander...

Found it. Sebastiano's Italiano.

http://sebastianositaliano.com/

Good food, IMO. I'll definitely be back there during summer.

Inky's fits the bill on the original post.

I know Sebastiano's well. (Seba is the owner and the cook. He is almost always there.) Technically, they do not serve or sell spaghetti or vermicelli. They serve fettucini and farfalle ONLY. (flat noodles and bowties) Avoid the picatta. (Death by lemon flavor overdose) Prices are not cheap, but ok. I was hooked for a while, but after I was going there for a while I began to realize that there is much less fresh cooking going on than I thought, and more cans being opened. For example, the soups and bisques are from cans, which was readily admitted by the server.
I suggest the flaked salmon on farfalle with the vodka cream sauce.
Not a ton of salmon, but a good flavor profile.
Tip: try "Pal's" homemade hand-packed ice cream, either there or to go. One time, they gladly made me a take-home kit with some vanilla bean ice cream and some hot fudge.

If you like the Spaghetti Warehouse, then Inky's will probably be great for you. (I like more herbs in the sauce myself, so I go elsewhere). There'a also Jo-Jo's on Monroe Street -- very casual.

Would have never considered the Spaghetti Warehouse chain and the unique food of the Incorvia family, especially their signature pastry-dough style pizza to be comparables. Must be a similarily in sauce? Could be nothing else.

Speaking of Jo-Jo's, there's also one out near Centennial Terrace. (Mayberry Square, right next to the Amerian Legion on Centennial Rd.)

It is also fairly casual. We've taken our kids in there after baseball games, and didn't feel conspicuous with son in a baseball uniform.

P.S. Monday and Wednesday is half-off pizza night there - it's a good deal. (I know holland is looking for spaghetti, but I couldn't mention Jo-Jo's without pointing out the half off pizza night.) :)

Rosie's is out. Every meal we've had there was a disaster.

Are you talking about Rosie's on McCord?

Olive Garden - the McDonald's of Italian style slop! I'd stay well clear of this place. If you like Spaghetti Warehouse then go there. Otherwise I'd suggest Jo-Jo's on Monroe, Inky's or J&G in Sylvania.

Actually, I prefer J&G might be the best choice.

I've never had the pasta at J&G...every time we go there, it's for pizza.

What pasta dishes would you recommend? I might have to try one, if I can pry myself off the pizza. LOL

Charlie's Homemade Pizza & Edibles. Saxon Square in Sylvania. Used to be just a good ol' plate of spaghetti, but I know they recently changed ownership. Worth a try.

I have dined in there twice recently. Good, friendly service both times - I really felt like the server and new owner wanted to be sure that the customers were having a good experience.

Had pizza one time - very good. The next time I had lasagna - it was good, but I think I would have liked a little more sauce on it. I would definitely go back again though.

BTW, although I didn't personally sample any of it, Charlie's does have gluten free pizza and pasta options on the menu.

I thought that was worth mentioning, because I think it's somewhat rare/unusual to see those items on a menu around here.

I like to go to Inky's on occasion for lunch.I also like LaScola on Airport Highway.Their pizza is very good and the Italian fare is also very good.

Speaking of LaScola, they have a surprisingly large amount of vegetarian options sprinkled throughout the menu, which is critical if I am taking the offspring, who did not inherit my love for meat.

I went to copy a link for Pasta Fina restaurant and just found out they were closed. They "were" a nice little restaurant (I think family run) that made sauces in house and had a neighborhood clientele over by Holland Sylvania and Heatherdowns. My wife and I had a few good experiences there. Kind of bummed about them closing, now we'll have to keep an eye out for a new place too.

Pasta Fina was our all time favorite. Miss that place terribly. We will be heading for Saxon Square tonight. It sounds just like what we'd like.

Yup, I was talking about Rosies on McCord. Rotten food. (Can anybody in town make a decent Veal Marsala?) But the parking lot is always full. I dont get it.

We do get to J&G on occasion, but there's often a long wait for a table.

I don't particularly like the spaghetti sauces at Spaghetti Wharehouse, but the lasagne is decent.

Sebastiano's sound interesting. I'm not sure my palette would live up to their expectations. I love angelhair pasta.

I like Ciao's too, but my other half doesnt.

Forgot all about Inkys. I'm certain that's a place we will heading for.

Zia's at the docks... They have awesome happy hour deals on drinks and appetizers.

Sad to hear about Pasta Fina.

We've eaten at Zia's. It is excellent. A bit of a drive for us for a quickie mid week dinner, but well worth a weekend dinner with family gathered. Great sauces.

What about Calvino's over by Westgate? I've always heard great things about their food, though never eaten there myself.

I like Sebastiano's and Calvino's. Calvinos has the bonus of being four minutes away from my office. :)

Well, you see... I've never had the pasta either. If I pass up the gyro dinner then the pizza waylays me before I can order anything else. Just thinking about J&G put it at the top of the list.

Yup, I was talking about Rosies on McCord. Rotten food. (Can anybody in town make a decent Veal Marsala?) But the parking lot is always full. I dont get it.

Okay. I've never had a bad meal at Rosie's. The food has always been well above average and the outdoor patio is excellent. The dining room inside is nice to look at, but the acoustics are lousy and the place tends to get noisy. That said, I've never had the Veal Marsala.

The service at Rosie's has been very spotty in the past. I've asked for a different server on more than one occasion, and the best I can say for the service is that the management has always fixed the problem.

You've convinced me to try Rosies again madjack. I'll try something different. You should not need a steak knife to cut veal!

Add Calvinos to the list.

We ate at Charlie's at Saxon Square tonight and found it very good. We both had the pasta "plain" (marinara). My salad was also good as was the house Italian dressing. B- on the garlic bread. I like plenty of garlic bite. This was pretty tame. We'll definitely go back. The waitress had a hard time grasping the fact that we wanted pasta, not the pizza on special. I also tried the tiramisu. Nothing to rave about, but I make home made and that's hard to beat.

Pasta Fina closed? My wife'll be totally crushed. It was her favorite restaurant of all

Kinda pricy but it'll welcome a casually dressed crowd: Manhattans. Not an Italian restaurant but a LOT of Italian options on the menu.

http://www.manhattanstoledo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Dinner-11-113.pdf

Pasta Fina website announcing closure:

http://www.pastafina.net/

I second Calvinos, two people can eat well for a 20 spot and the food is good quality for the price.

I live just down the street from Pasta Fina - the sign on their door says closed for renovations, so I'll keep my fingers crossed! First time I've seen the website posting however. My mom was told that they had some ownership/management issues that will hopefully be resolved soon. I also LOVED it!

Dug up this old Twitter post from one of the Pasta Fina owners..

Pasta Fina is closed, if you know anyone planning on going there this weekend. please let them know. New restuarant coming soon. (Posted March 9)

You've convinced me to try Rosies again madjack. I'll try something different. You should not need a steak knife to cut veal!

Most certainly you should not, although I've been served veal that was so tough that I asked my server for the loan of some poultry shears from the kitchen. She didn't get it.

Please let us know how Rosie's worked out for you. From reading your posts I understand that you're discriminating and not prone to unfair criticisms, so the disparity between our experiences puzzles me greatly.

I've eaten at Manhattan's and I wasn't impressed. The food is pricy, the quality of the food varies widely and the service is lousy. There are better choices.

Any idea on what's going in Pasta Fina's old location? The statement on their own website leads me to believe its a permanent closure (we're going a different direction with our family) rather than a closure for renovations.

I like Capers Pizza Bar on Byrne south of Heatherdowns, however the service is appallingly slow.

Lena's in Blissfield. They are from Italy and make almost everything homemade. Their Tiramisu is EXCELLENT. Small place on the left hand side, just before the park. Good pizza too. Angelo's Northwood on Detroit Ave. just across the Mich. line. They have an Italain pasta sampler that is HUGE. It's a really nice place. Dressy on the weekends, but you can wear jeans on weeknights as they get a lot of the local farm people that come in and sit at the bar. Papa G's Pizza in Sylvania (same plaza as Southbriar), they are the family that originally started J&G. Food is very similar, some better, some not as good. Bigger menu. 2 weeks ago that had a homemade Greek Pistichio that was very, very good.

The thing about Manhattan's is their lack of consistency. About every other meal I've had there was excellent. The ones in between - not so much.

Surprised to see Pasta Fina go out. I remember years back (in the 90s?)when they were in the plaza with Kazmaier's then moved across the street where they stayed for a very long time. Plus they had that other spot by 23 and Monroe in that big plaza. They had a good run I suppose.

I wonder if the Angelo's on Detroit has any connection to the Angelo's that used to be on Stickney back in the 1980's. They had square pizzas and amazing T-Bone steaks.

I often miss those T-Bones, but I stopped going there long before they closed. Found out it was my ex's go-to place to take his girlfriend. Meh.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0U5PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tgIEAAAAIBAJ&dq=angelo's%20stickney%20toledo&pg=5610%2C304680

Nice post gamegirl!

Had spaghetti marinara with meatballs at Bobby V's tonight ( Airport Hwy & Albon Rd., Holland ). As close to Pasta Fina as I've found so far. Very good marinara. I'm not a meatballl fan - they are not optional - so I gave them to my dinner companion, who said they were in the pretty good range. The meatballs are enormous.

I think Pasta Fina or its owners may have filed for bankruptcy. I say "may" because a 2011 lawsuit was stopped due to a filing of bankruptcy. The suit was against Pasta Fina/ownership company by a supplier. I havn't checked the bankruptcy filings to see if its an ongoing case.

We went to Angelo's when I was a kid, also liked the Dark Horse Inn on Telegraph across from Northtown. Joey's Supper Club on Detroit. All gone and buried, still got the memories though.

I remember the old Dark Horse! It morphed into Fireside, where Salt and Pepper used to play on the weekends. Main Lady and I used to go there regularly and close the place down. That Fireside was a great place to go, and we met a lot of nice people there.

I remember the Dark Horse AND Salt and Pepper!

And for some reason, that memory triggered a memory of The Coach House (?) at Cricket West, and a performer there I had a crush on. LOL!

Angelo's Northwood (on Detroit) is not affiliated in any way with the old Angelo's on Stickney, which is too bad. What I would do for one of those pizzas! And they're onion rings! Rumor has it that the "family" still has the recipe but won't give it up. There's a bar a block down from where Angelo's was and the owner a few years ago tried to get the family to give him the recipe so he could make those pizzas and they wouldn't do it. What are they waiting for?

Walked in once. Sat down at a booth. The "hostess" said hello on our way in. We sat there for about 15 minutes. It was a weekday evening around dinner time. At the 15 minute mark we got up and left. On the way out I said "we tried." Haven't tried again.