Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Lobster Bits


I go here often, but this is my first official visit since I became a self proclaimed restaurant critic. Kristee and I braved the Provo chain, and for the most part was very pleased. She ordered the eggplant parmigian, which turned out to be more like a manicotti. Eggplant wrapped around cheese and covered in marinara sauce. She let me taste it, and it was a surprisingly good twist to a usually very simple dish.

I ordered the Ravioli Pescatora. It is basically a seafood ravioli (mixture of crab, shrimp, lobster, and cheese) in a lobster cream sauce. Normally it is garnished with a chiffonade (thin cut strips) of basil, and tiny salad shrimps. This particular instance was tiny bits of lobster!!! Very nice surprise! There are very few things so far in my experiences that have made me want to lick my plate clean. This is one of them. I let Kristee try some too, and in fact, she came back for more later in the meal! Neither of us could finish our entire meals, so we got to-go boxes. We left them on the table when we left. CURSES!!!

For some reason, I am just cursed with bad experiences with friends at restaurants. They can usually go a million times and not have one single problem. The minute they go with me, all of a sudden there is a problem. Either the waiter, the menu, the food, the hostesses, you name it!

I seem to have better luck at the Provo restaurant than I do the American Fork restaurant. I also think the Provo one tastes a little better too. I will still probably go to the A.F. one since I have a few friends that live out that way, but I think I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Provo.

PROS: Authentic Italian feel in the ambiance. Good food. Average service. All you can eat foccacia bread (you'll have to ask for more if you eat the basket they give you, but they'll give it to you).

CONS: Wait service is average. Hostesses rarely have a clue (AF). Servers take your food and box it up for you (some people might like that but it bugs me). Chiffonade of basil is a lousy garnish. Rule #1 in plating and garnishing is that you don't garnish with something someone won't actually eat. I can't really even call it a chiffonade, these are usually giant uneven strips plopped right in the middle of the dish. It is almost as bad as another restaurant and their giant sprig of parsley that has no purpose whatsoever!

4 comments:

Kristeee said...

Mmmmm....lobster bits....

You forgot the part about the waiter trying to make excuses for why he wanted us to leave. "You see, I have a table over there of forty and I might not come back to often to check on you...

They also have no low/non-fat choices in salad dressing, something that makes me growl inside. The waiter said that the balsamic vinaigrette was lo-cal - ha! I checked, and most of those dressings are 5 freaking points per 2 tbsp. It was, however, very yummy. I enjoyed my eggplant-manicotti-parmigiana and the pescatore was also VERY good.

goddessdivine said...

Love Ottavios, although you and I tend to have problems at the AF one.....but I still like their food. Mmmmm......gnocchis.

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha! I laughed a little big about your mentioning the restaurant with the giant sprig of parsley. Hmmm...I wonder which one that could be? I have only heard you complain about that very thing about a hundred freaking times. :) But, enough about that. I now want to go eat at Ottavios. Anyone?

Anonymous said...

You know my deep and abiding love for the Ravioli Pescatora. If no one is looking I often think lustily of lapping off the plate. OH... if i could only get my hands on the recipe for that sauce!!!! ::shivers blissfully::
Honestly I haven't LOVED anything else I have ever had there and the whole shrimp (AKA Moth) salad was enough to keep me from proclaiming it fabulous. BUT.. that ravioli alone is enough to make me go back.