Tim's Pizzeria & Pub
 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio        Date of Visit  07/25/14         No Known Website 

Had a quick video shoot and a little time to kill before class started so we snuck up the road a short piece to a place we had passed on our way to Mark & Philly’s Pizza to Tim’s Pizzeria and Pub. We found our way in and joined a couple of folks at the bar and a single occupied table inside. The feel is definitively bar serving some food, not the converse.
 

The Chicken Fingers Ala Scott Were Fine With A Little Bite Of Heat & Garlic

Our server did a pretty fair job but had little else to do during our off hours visit. The pace did pick up as we were about to leave. There was a steady stream of people picking up pizzas at the middle door and a few tables enjoying broasted chicken. We didn’t order either.

The small menu seems to favor mostly Italian dishes so we ordered a less traditional appetizer and a bunch of Italian fare. We probably should have tried the chicken and pizza.

The appetizer wasn’t bad but it wasn’t much. Named Chicken Fingers ala Scott, we got chicken fingers tossed in a garlic buffalo sauce and topped with a serious pile of cheese. It was exactly what you would imagine it to be, not bad at all but nothing to inspire memories. We also had a cup of their homemade wedding soup. It had a deeply chickeny broth and the best done, tiny pearls of al dente pasta I think I have had in a wedding soup. The meatballs were copious but oddly spongy and there was a dearth of bitter greens. A fair attempt.
 

We were delivered passable bread and average salads but the dressings all had an sour tinge to them, less than appealing. That’s when things went off the rails for me. Steph ordered cavatelli and meatballs and I the chicken parm. The chicken itself was much better than expected. I had guessed it would consist of more of the chicken fingers but it was a pounded breast and was breaded with a deliciously flavored crust. Then it was doused with the sauce. That was the problem.
 

To start both plates were loaded with poorly drained pasta resulting in that pink kiddie pool nastiness I despise. Usually it thins out the sauce reducing the intensity of the flavor and flies off the ends of the pasta leaving little pink circles on all of your clothing. It was less a problems at Tim’s whose pasta sauce was the least flavorful I think I have ever had. It should be called a noodle lubricant on the menu for all it brought to the palate.

The cavatelli had been boiled past the point of surrender, the opposite of the nuggets in the soup) and languished in the same vapid sauce. The meatballs evidenced a serious percentage of bread instead of meat and also needed something with a hint of tomato or acid or herb or garlic to make me want another bite. While there were a couple of medium points, Tim’s was a let down overall. If I ever get invited there I will try the pizza or chicken…and hope.