Tomaso's (Second
Visit) |
|
|
We ordered a wee pizza and a couple of dinners, Cavatelli and Chicken Parm. Salads are crispy and their house creamy sweet and sour is nice. The pale yellow garlic bread is crispy and garlicky in a buttery sort of way. The pastas are actually well cooked on this trip, and while there is a bit of water swirling beneath, it’s a far cry from the literal pond from our first outing. The chicken breast has maybe a little too thick coating, which is brown and crunchy enough. Meatballs are light and meaty. You get a little paper cup of sherbet at the end. All fine.
There was one thing I loved and one I just didn’t care for at all.
One might lead us back here without hesitation and one that would
ensure that didn’t happen. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
The downside. I really don’t like their sauce. At all. It’s smooth,
a ruddy red but there is just something about it that doesn’t work
for me. Whether spice blend or scorching at the bottom of the pot
there is a pinch at the back of my jaw and a singed flavor I find
off putting. Ladle it on whatever, I’ll pass. |
|||
But No Matter What You Put It
On... |
|
||
Then there was the pizza. Their Bianco. Thin crust baked just short
of cracker crispy. Topped with olive oil, Provolone, Mozzarella, and
Parmesan cheeses. Gooey, stringy, salty cheeses. They also do take
and bakes or half bakes which we may very well avail ourselves
of….cause this thing was constructed of the simple tastiness that
makes for good Italian. This excursion was much better than five
years prior but the fact 90% of the menu is covered with that sauce
will keep them out of the regular rotation. |
|||
|
|
Change in Ranking | |||||
Original Score | Which Way? | New Score | Why For? | ||
D | C | Much Was Improved
This Time But Even Super Cheesy Pizza Can't Trump Sauce Shortcomings |
|||
All Restaurants By Ranking | Restaurants By Date | These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things | Steph's Favorite Things | |
Home | List of Restaurants by City | The Ratings | What's Rated | Random Thoughts |
Tomaso's Barberton, Ohio Date of Visit: 10/31/10 http://tomasositalianvilla.com/ Having had so many solid to superior meals in the Barberton area since we started this whole shindig almost a year ago we thought we would try an Italian themed place that has apparently been around for decades. We slowly walked up to the weathered wood building and found a menu outside the front door. Looks promising, all standard American takes on Italian fare, and in we went. This place is just crazy inside. Just the look of the round room just inside the front door was enough to let you know you might be trippin the light fantastic…just check out the picture. Walking into the dining room you see flowers stuffed into huge wine bottles, grape vines braided with Christmas lights dangle from the ceiling, there is a pizza clock on the wall and centrally painted the opposite wall is a quote from the Godfather…”Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” Wacky. |
Just a Hint of the Interior |
As has been out tradition we over
ordered and started with an appetizer of provolone garlic bread.
While I regretted it later, the bread gave an opportunity to try the
sauce. It is a spice driven gravy with long simmered tomato and an
array of spices predominating any herbaciousness. The bread is
simple but then again all good Italian food is just that. The salad
was standard and the wedding soup is one of the best that I have
tried outside of my favorite Y-town
version, although there remains no comparison. The soup is salty
with orthodox tiny meatballs, pasta, and greens. All in all we were
really enjoying ourselves in the madcap Tomaso when our entrees
arrived.
Steph ordered the cavatelli with
plain sauce. The sauce was identical to the cup served alongside the
bread and would have worked well with the noodles. The noodles were
the problem here…tragically underdone. Almost dry in the middle with
a stunningly strong raw pasta flavor the cavatelli were a serious
disappointment. The meatballs were suspiciously soft and spongy but
tasted much better than the texture would have indicated. |
Sauce and Provy Bread |
Pretty Good Wedding Soup |
Standard Salad |
Underdone Cavatelli |
Stuff Covered with Scorched Meat Sauce |
OOOooo...Cookies! |
I had the sampler which included
ravioli, rigatoni, cavatelli and manicotti. First things first. I am
a sauce nut, the more the better. However, if you are serving
multiple items on a plate that have a sauce, don’t cover every inch
of the items. It’s nice to know what you are digging into. The
sampler comes with a meat sauce which appears to be the plain with a
little something for the carnivorous. Two major missteps with this
dish. First of all it is served with the underdone cavatelli.
Secondly, whoever was browning the beef to add to the sauce got
distracted by something else and the meat was clearly scorched which
had essentially ruined the sauce. Both entrees were second-rate at
best. Bummer. Now full, we had already ordered dessert…oh dear, what
were we thinking, since the menu suggests ordering them ahead of
time. While simple the cookies were a redeeming factor in our
experience. Warm chocolate chip cookies arrive at the table and
stuffed into the middle of the cookie we find a melted truffle. Warm
and chocolaty hominess on a plate. In the end, Tomasos was not up to
scratch over all, not due to the menu but due to a lack of
attention. |
|
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
||
D- | C | B+ | A | D- | D | ||
Just Nutty | Cookies | Disappointing Main Attraction |