| Food | * * * |
| Service | * * * |
| Ambience | * * * |
| Value | 6.0 |
| Cost | $ $ |
| Dish | Price | Value | Rating | |
| Pork Chops | $13.95 |
* * * | * * * 1/2 | |
| Half-Roasted Chicken | 12.95 |
* * * 1/2 | * * * | |
| Special Tomato Pizza | 10.50 |
* * 1/2 | * * 1/2 |
Armed with our $12-off-our-second-entree-coupon, we sauntered forth to A Tavola Trattoria. The restaurant is set back a bit in Town & Country shopping center, near William Glen. On a Sunday evening, the restaurant was all but deserted, but pleasant enough with 2-3 other couples enjoying a quiet meal, or craning their necks to see the current NBA final game. The entrance has two sets of glass double doors, opening in to the kitchen/grill area. Set out on fancy plates (rather artistically) were about 7 kinds of antipasto. The ceilings were high vaulted in the bar/kitchen area, with large sepia-tone frescos looking down from above. The ceiling was somewhat lower in the dining area, with several basic landscape paintings, and one of oil and vinegar cruets.
We decided to start our meal out with our customary non-alcoholic Coca-Cola, but the wine list is impressive here. We set out to taste the best food and don't wish to impair the palate with a bad selection of vino. The menu is set out into about six sections: antipasto, salade, prima platte (main dishes), due platti, pizze and desserts. Because we had a coupon, we were able to sample a little more and still not spend too much. I opted for the pork chops, which were cooked in a wine sauce with rosemary, and served with dill carrots and potatoes. J ordered the grill special of the day - a half-roasted chicken, also cooked in wine sauce and served with carrots and potatoes. For a third entree (though in Italy, it's not unusual to order pasta and follow it with pizza), we decided upon the specialty tomato pizza, a Northern Italian-style thin crust pizza.
After receiving our drinks, the table setter/busperson/fresh ground pepper dispenser brought by some hard, diamond-shaped bread, and poured a generous helping of olive oil into a plate at the center of the table. The oil had a slight rosemary taste, appropriate for the various herbs floating in the jar of oil. The bread was a little hard and was difficult, if not close to impossible to tear or cut into more manageable pieces. We had eaten about 3-4 pieces of the bread when our entrees arrived.
The servings were substantial. My companion had half a chicken (and not Cornish Game Hen sized, either!). I got two good sized pork chops, and the flavoring, although a little bitter, was so delicious, I ended up clandestinely (oh heck, blatantly) getting every little bit of meat off the bones. The carrots were cooked to perfection, but I felt the artistic license taken in leaving the stems on (and thereby forcing me to leave little corpseless carrot greens on my plate) was a little overboard. The potatoes were drier than Phoenix on an arid day, but the flavoring on the meat and carrots more than made up for it.
The pizza was, excuse the cliche, poetry on a plate. It was a cheeseless pizza, with thinly sliced tomatoes for the base, and real (unpitted) olives, red chiles, basil leaves, capers, and artichoke hearts spread evenly. The entrees were, however, so filling, that we had to take the majority of the pizza home in a box to enjoy later (and it tasted just as good 3 days later!).
All in all, the service was outstanding, though the waiter did disappear for quite some time between when we actually finished and when we could get his attention for the bill and a doggie pizza box. The restaurant was clean, the seats were moderately comfortable, the food invigorated the senses, and there was plenty of parking. With our discount coupon, the meal was even affordable (unfortunately only good Sun-Thurs). If I were to return, I would probably recommend either getting a pasta entree, followed by a pizza; or JUST a meat entree, and perhaps the sampling of a dessert. Either way, you're sure to be full and please your palate.