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Showing posts with label bruschetta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bruschetta. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Goodfellas

This past weekend I went to get some dinner with some friends. I chose to go to Goodfellas because I had a Groupon that was expiring! haha.

Santino's Goodfellas Woodfire Pizza
8240 Preston Road
Plano, TX 75024
(469) 362-7999
http://www.santinosgoodfellas.com/

Price: $$

I've heard mixed reviews of this place so I didn't really have high expectations.

We went a little earlier cuz the guys wanted to get some drinks before dinner. On Fridays they have happy hour specials at the bar until 8PM. That's pretty awesome. I think beers were $2.50-$3.50 and apparently $3 you-call-its. Not too shabby! The bartendar wasn't that great with the service though... Since they were drinking, it's only natural that they wanted to get some appetizers...of course. We love food! haha.

Bruschetta (diced tomatoes, onion, herbs and garlic, marinated with extra virgin olive oil, served over grilled garlic toast) $6.49~ The bartendar spoke very highly of the bruschetta and it was indeed very good. I really liked how they used garlic toast so it was extra garlic-y. And we all liked the fact that the bread wasn't too hard or super crispy like most bruschettas. The sauce and tomatoes on top added a slight sweetness to it. It was yummy.

Fried Ravioli (lightly breaded and fried fresh cheese raviolis, served with marinara sauce) $6.99~ These were pretty giant raviolis. I really liked the crispy outside but the cheese inside was kind of dry... I was hoping it would be more melty. The marinara was nice.

An hour later it was time for dinner. We were moved to a dining table in the back room. That room was terrible...everything echoed so it was super hard to hear what everyone was saying. I didn't like that room at all...

We ordered several things to share.

I definitely wanted some greens so I chose Goodfella's House Salad (a generous portion of garden fresh iceberg and mixed greens, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, carrots, red cabbage and croutons) $5.50~ It was a pretty large portion, definitely enough to share between 2-3 people. The ingredients were fresh. I thought it was a good deal.

Pizza alla Vodka (fresh mozzarella, tomato cream vodka sauce, seasoned fresh mushrooms, peas and prosciutto) $13~ I knew I wanted this when I first looked at their online menu. It sounded so good...especially the vodka cream sauce. I felt like it would be different than any other pizza. There was lots of crispy prosciutto on top. I liked that. I felt the flavors were light but I could taste all the components. I really liked their dough. Just enough of doughy chew and a nice crust along the edges. This was my favorite dish of the night.

Sally Pie (lemon garlic chicken with roasted rosemary potatoes and fresh mozzarella, cheddar cheese, mushroom, caramelized onions, topped with a gourmet cheddar scallion cream sauce) $13~ This also sounded super interesting with the rosemary potatoes and scallion cream sauce. Unfortunately I couldn't taste either of those elements. I didn't even see the potatoes at all.. Maybe they forgot to put it on there?? The pizza was still pretty good but it was a little bland. It needed more seasoning. The reason I still liked it is mainly because of the crust, the cheeses and the caramelized onions. I don't think I will order this again.

Spaghetti & Meatballs (freshly prepared meatballs served over a mound of spaghetti and marinara sauce) $10.99~ This was a pretty straight forward spaghetti. The pasta was cooked nicely and the marinara was tasty. I don't like it when the marinara is too tart. This was really good. The meatballs were good, nothing special though. I wonder if their other pastas are any better.

Our waitress wasn't that great. She didn't come around as much as we needed her to. At least she was friendly. I did think it was cool that either the manager or owner of the place came around and greeted all the tables. Really friendly people.

I'll go back in the future. I enjoyed the food overall and I gotta go back and take advantage of their happy hour specials! :)

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

Monday, September 21, 2009

Vapiano - Interesting Concept

My sister told me about Vapiano. It’s a fairly new place at Mockingbird Station. The concept of it peaked my interest. You get a card when you walk in, the orders are swiped on the card and you pay for everything at the end.

Vapiano
5319 East Mockingbird Lane
Dallas, TX 75206
(214) 887-1557
http://www.vapianointernational.com/

Price: $-$$

There are different stations: pizza, salad, pasta…where you place your order and they make it right there in front of you. The décor was very contemporary and different. The seating is open, so you can sit in the main dining area, the bar, or outside seating.

We ordered a bunch of different things:

Side Salad (iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes) $2.50~ This was totally not worth it. It was small and meh. The dressing was supposed to be arugula/mustard vinaigrette but it was really light and I tasted none of the mustard.

My friend got the Bruschetta (roasted ciabatta bread, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil) $3.95~ I didn’t try it but she said it was just ok.




Chicken Alfredo (penne, chicken breast, cream sauce, parmesan) $9.95~
The portion was pretty big but could’ve used more chicken. The cream sauce was very lightly seasoned and a little more watery than normal alfredo sauce. It could’ve been a little creamier but I didn’t mind it being lightly seasoned because I could taste the actual pasta…which I like. The pasta was cooked pretty well…had a nice texture to it. I liked the dish.

Ravioli Ricotta e Spinach (ravioli with spinach and ricotta filling, tomato sauce) $10.95~ The ravioli also had good texture but could’ve used more filling…especially spinach. The tomato sauce was a little too sour for me and the sauce overpowered the flavor of the ravioli. It was ok…but the portion was quite small. Luckily we had lots of other food.

Chicken Pesto Pizza (chicken breast, basil pesto, fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic) $10.95~ This looked soooo good when I picked it up. It was pretty big and the crust just looked yummy. And it was. The crust was like thin cheesy bread…not overly crispy with a nice texture. The pesto sauce was also really good…not overly seasoned but still had good flavor. And there were lots of chicken pieces on top. :)

Overall, the food was pretty good…I would probably go back. But I would say check out this place more for the décor/concept. If you want really good Italian food, there are better places with similar prices.

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~~CHOMP CHOMP~~