I had dinner with my wife and daughter last night at Nirchi's Italian Grill in Cazenovia. The menu has a lot of good choices for Italian family dining, including chicken and veal dishes (marsala, parmesan, etc.), pasta dishes (penne alla vodka, cappellini, lasagna), sandwiches, and entree salads. The atmosphere is identical to the old Cazenovia Grill business - same colors, same booths and tables. They have closed off the kitchen from the dining room, which (in my opinion) is a smart move.
The full review follows; you can add comments in the Nirchi's reviews section of the discussion forum.
The restaurant doesn't have its liquor license yet, so drinks were limited to Pepsi products from a fountain sprayer, as well as lemonade, sweetened iced tea (no unsweetened available), and seltzer water.
One very special touch is the availability of gluten-free and whole wheat pastas for an extra charge ($2.50 (the menu says $2, we were charged $2.50) for gluten-free; $1 for whole wheat). As my wife has a wheat allergy, we appreciated this.
We shared a calamari appetizer, which was good if not particularly inspiring. The calamari was properly done - not tough and not gummy - but the white coating did not add any flavor or look especially appealing. The sauces served with it were good - the Nirchi's tomato sauce and a garlic herb melted butter sauce.
Bread arrived with our salads. The bread was a round crusty Italian loaf made with very white flour. The flavor and texture were unremarkable but having freshly poured olive oil with garlic, oregano, and cloves of soft roasted garlic in which to dip the bread made it much better.
Salads (included with our entrees) were made from an attractive and tasty mix of field greens with a small amount of romaine lettuce mixed in, with onions, cucumbers, shredded carrot, and what appeared to be homemade croutons. I ordered crumbly bleu cheese dressing after confirming with the waitress that it would be accompanied by their Italian dressing. When the salad arrived the bleu cheese was on the side as expected but there was no Italian on the salad. When the waitress returned to our table, I told her of the oversight and she quickly brought a small container of Italian dressing. (A warning to the frugal: the $1 upcharge for the crumbly bleu cheese is pretty standard, but it wasn't included on the menu or indicated by the waitress when she recited the dressings as we ordered)
My wife had a gluten-free penne alla vodka; she reported that the pasta was overcooked (I tasted it and agreed - it was practically mush) and that the sauce was not memorable. [Disclaimer: She is Italian and a great cook, so your mileage will vary!] The menu says that the dish is finished with Prosciutto di Parma which we took to mean prosciutto spread around the top of the dish like a crumble. Instead, there was one lonely piece of prosciutto hiding out among the penne pieces.
I ordered lasagna. It was cheesy and hot, and the portion was large enough for a very hungry person. The ground beef layer had very little flavor, though the sauce was tasty and the ricotta cheese was smooth and rich.
Our daughter ordered from the kids menu ($4.99 for chicken tenders and fries).
There were three choices for dessert: tiramisu, chocolate-peanut butter cheesecake, and raspberry chocolate cheesecake. We didn't order anything but coffee... and I'm happy to report that the coffee had a strong, roasted flavor like good Italian coffee does, without tasting burnt like (for example) Starbuck's. In fact, the rest of the meal was all just OK, but the coffee is a keeper.
Service was friendly, but it was apparent that the restaurant is finding its legs - there were confused looks and longer-than-usual waits for some parts of the meal. The initial visit from our server seemed to take quite a while to arrive, and we noticed that others had similar problems.
We'll go back - it was just about exactly what we expected. OK food for OK prices with OK service. Nothing about it was bad, but nothing stood out either (except the whole wheat/gluten free options - that was pretty cool). I am looking forward to trying their spiedies, pizza, and wings.
It's a new and promising business. It's fantastic that they are taking a chance and doing this in Cazenovia, and I hope they have tremendous success with the business and are in town for many, many years.
[Update: I had the pizza at a staff lunch today, 7/27/07. We tried two of the sheet (rectangular) pizzas with three types - cheese, sweet peppers and mushrooms, and pepperoni. All were very good - a tasty and soft (but not mushy) crust, a good sauce-to-cheese ratio, and quality, tasty toppings.]
Posted by jimj at July 26, 2007 10:27 AM | TrackBack