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 ~~

Ruggeri's in Colleyville

This past Friday I had the chance of going to Colleyville...quite far I must say. I've probably only driven through that area once or twice, never to eat. It was a group dinner with a bunch of my BF's co-workers and they decided on Ruggeri's Ristorante.

32 Village Ln # 100
Colleyville, TX 76034
(817) 503-7373
www.ruggeriweb.com
Price: $$

The restaurant is dimly lit, more of a romantic setting. They put together a couple tables for us in the back of the restaurant. There's a woman playing the keyboard to provide music in the background. It was ok until she started
singing...not a great idea. I would prefer if she just played the keyboard. haha. But after a while you kind of tune it out so it didn't bother me after that.

They gave us baskets of bread after they took our drink orders. The bread was pretty good. Had a nice crust on the outside and soft on the inside.

Some people ordered the Calamari Fritta (deep-fried squid served with marinara sauce) $6.95~ to start. (sorry couldn't take a picture...) I was able to try a little bit. The calamari had good texture and was fried nicely. However, it could've used more seasoning.

Most everyone started off with salads. My BF got Ruggeri's Caesar Salad $4.95~ The flavor of the dressing was pretty good and the lettuce was fresh. It seemed like there was a lot of dressing on the salad but it didn't taste like it was drowning in it, which was good.

I decided to get an appetizer and salad as my entree so my salad came later.


After the round of salads, they gave us a small sorbet to cleanse our pallets. The sorbet was pink but I couldn't really taste any fruit flavors...it was just like sugar ice. But it was sweet and did its job...I liked it. hehe.

I had read reviews that the seafood here was pretty good, so my BF decided on the Fettuccine Pescatore (fettuccine topped with oysters, shrimp, calamari, scallops and mussels tossed in our garlic butter) $14.95~
There was lots of seafood in the pasta. I was pretty impressed by that. The flavor was pretty light and you can really taste the different kinds of seafood. I liked the calamari a lot, but the scallops were definitely overcooked. The pasta was also overcooked...quite soft. :( The dish was also broth-ier than I had expected. I thought this dish was just ok, but my BF said he liked it.

I ordered the appetizer of Toasted Ravioli (stuffed with veal, ricotta cheese and spinach in a bed of tomato sauce) $5.95~ The ravioli was totally not what I expected. They said it was baked, but it felt /looked like it was fried. :/ I think it was overcooked. The inside was very flat, and the filling was dry...i couldn't differentiate between the veal and spinach, and I felt like there was no cheese in it. On a good note, I liked the tomato sauce. It would've probably be better as a regular ravioli dish with the marinara...no need to "bake (fry)" it.

I also got the Insalata di Spinaci Fantasia (spinach, artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, hearts of palm, tomatoes and aged Gorgonzola cheese, topped with a creamy italian dressing) $5.95~ I think they forgot my order because it came pretty late. I had to ask them about it...
I really liked this salad. The dressing was yummy. The ingredients were all pretty fresh. The spinach did not have that gritty after-feel which was good. The hearts of palm and artichoke hearts were great with the spinach and dressing. The gorgonzola on top was just icing on the cake. Everything went together very well!

Here are some of the other dishes people ordered (I didn't get to try):

- Linguine Pescatore Diavalo (fine linguine covered with oysters, shrimp, calamari, scallops, mussels and artichoke hearts in a spicy marinara sauce) $14.95~ This also had a lot of seafood in it...and seemed quite soupy. "Some guy I met" said it was really good. :P

- Stuffed Jumbo Shrimp (four jumbo shrimp stuffed with fresh lump crabmeat. topped with a creamy sun-dried tomato sauce with a side of spinach souffle) $16.95~ This was one of the dishes I read on the reviews saying it was really good. So some people took my recommendation and ordered it. They all seemed to like it. They said the spinach souffle was pretty awesome.

Overall, this place is not bad. I was a little upset because we were in somewhat of a rush so I wasn't able to get dessert. Kinda felt like the night was incomplete. :/ The food wasnt spectacular but the wait staff (and owner) were all very nice. They forgot my salad, but it wasn't a big deal. The owner was very sweet. He wouldn't let us leave until the ladies each received a long stem rose. That's a nice touch to anyone's dinner! :) If you live in that area, it's a nice place to take a date. I probably would not drive all the way out there to eat there again though.

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~