al Vento

If you want to be treated special this is the place to be. The staff makes sure you feel welcome and that your time at Al Vento is to be remembered. Reservations should be made unless you are willing to have a drink at the bar. If you are on a first date this place is perfect. It has a romantic atmosphere and will impress anyone who steps inside. You can tell the resturaunt has the personal touch of the owners heart. The prices for what you experience are nothing. Al Vento offers a date night on Tuesdays that is well worth checking out. Al Vento offers wine dinners every so often that will impress you and teach you a great deal of how food and wine go together. Everything on the menu is excellent. I recommend starting with the sample of four bruschetta. My recommendation for a pasta dish would be the Bucatini dish. (Bucatini is a hollow spaghetti noodle) For an entree I would recommend the grilled rosemary pork tenderloin. If you are in the mood for a pizza they are overwhelming with flavor - try the Neapolitan. If you want to be impressed or impress someone special take them to Al Vento.

This so-called Southern Italian-crap cuisine makes me sick literally. If you ever experience food poisonin?, you know that youll never go back to eating at the same place again. After having a bottle of overpriced wine, you would think all that alcohol would destroy all the germs in that food! Right after I get home from the restaurant the headache came on, followed by series of excretions that left me drained for 4 days. I know for fact that it was from either the sampler bruschetta or ceasar since these are the only things I ate that day besides my cereal I had for breakfast which I have been eating for last 3 years and never made me sick. I have been here before in the past, but never was impressed by the entrees so this time I thought to play it save and get simple dishes thought wrong!!

I had some pasta dish with duck and chicken ragu and goat cheese that made me want to eat myself into a coma. Even their table bread was above average. Very good fresh food and a wonderful waitstaff! I will go back to sample their ever changing menu.

The meal started out well- although we were seated at a dirty table. This doesn't bother me at all if the host acknowledges it and comes by to wipe it off. There were large chunks of food left on the table, but she just set our menus on top of the food bits. We started with the crab cakes and caesar salad, and both were very good. We ordered the scallop and steak entrees, and were both disappointed. The scallops were cold- really cold, when they arrived, and were covered with an odd relish. The risotto underneath was warm and good, but it didn't really save the dish. The steak was tasteless. It was warm, but the mashed potatoes were lumpy and unremarkable. We were surprised that both entrees were so bad. We might try this place again, but stick with a pizza entree.

We were very impressed with all aspects of our experience. To put it simply, the quality of the food started with the "basics" done properly, which are too often overlooked. The freshness and quality of the pasta was remarkable, as was the cesar salad. From that base, the combination of flavors also worked very well, across the board. We started with the truffled pecorino packets - very tasty (while the plate was drowing a bit in the brown butter, as long as you don't swish the food through the butter it is great). The cesar was just the right combination of flavors on perfectly fresh romaine. The sauces, meat and cheese all worked very well for our entrees. For dessert, we had the creme brulee trio. My wife loves creme brulee, I do not. So, when we order it, it is usually a compromise for me. Not this time - their "twist" was to serve three small portions, one each of pistachio, espresso, and orange liqueur - and the first time I really enjoyed creme brulee. Also, as we dined on an off night (Sunday) and early (5:30), we did not experience any issues with noise and overcrowding that others have reported (but hey, what do you expect with a good restaurant?).