Suburban Restaurants

Over the last several weeks, I have visited a number of new restaurants. I will provide a few thoughts and overall impressions on these restaurants. Two of the restaurants were visited on a work night for a “see what the suburbs have to offer” meal.

One evening we ventured to The Cove. This restaurant is not really new, but until recently my interest in going to it was very low. During our time in the cities, this location has housed approximately 5 different food establishments. I’m not sure what the problem is with the location, although it shares a building with a Live Bait shop – which in my opinion is not exactly appetizing advertising. Another part of my hesitation was based on their website which is awkwardly put together. In addition, the menu is rather obnoxious. The addition of the z on the end of wordz is annoying. The menu is difficult to read and I often wonder if people who create menus actually look at the finished product. Different fonts are used and way too much verbiage is used on the different songs/records that introduce the different categories of food. Just feels like they are trying too hard to have a theme.

We did venture out one evening to the restaurant to give it a try. The evening we went, it was pretty well populated. This is always good to see. They had some awkwardly placed tables in the restaurant – meant for one person, but the person would have to face the wall in the corner. I know when I eat in a restaurant by myself, I like to be able to look out and people watch. I would feel like I was in trouble if I had to sit in those seats facing the wall. The restaurant is decorated with various rock ‘n roll posters, albums, etc. This played along with the theme on the menu. Ironically, the tv station was turned to the country station and the overhead music was country as well – although not the same which was annoying.

So …what about the food? I went with a plain hamburger and fries. The hubby went with the Chubby Checker Chicken Sliders and the Elvis Cheese Curdz. The food was surprisingly pretty good. I think I had low expectations so the fact that the food was decent was surprising. I doubt I will rush back to The Cove, but if I’m in the area…I’d give it another try.

Next up…Casa Nostra Pizzeria and Ristorante Italiano. We tried this new restaurant during their opening week. We will go back and try it once they are a bit established, but it was worth a try this particular night. We went fairly early and had no problem getting a table. By the time we left, nearly every table was full.

The restaurant is pretty small in size. The décor of the dining room was pretty nice…deep red walls with dark trim. One of my biggest pet peeves of restaurants is when they don’t think through all of the design elements of the space and how the customers will experience the meal. This particular restaurant had an opening between the kitchen and the dining room that had no door. While it was nice to not have a door swinging back and forth, the harsh bright light of the kitchen was distracting. Unfortunately I chose a seat that faced that door. It was very distracting to me throughout the meal. A simple curtain would have helped provide a barrier.

The hubby tried the fettuccine alfredo and thought it was ok. I ordered a pepperoni pizza that when delivered had a neon orange look to it. It was so unappealing looking that if I were the chef I would never have served it to a customer. I gave it a try and it was tolerable. Part of the problem was the grease from the pepperoni. That coupled with what appeared to be a cheddar cheese blend provided the orange glow. While I didn’t send it back, I also will not order it again if I go back. They have paninis that might be worth a lunch trip some day if in the area.

Both of these restaurants were worth a week night try. I won’t rush back to either one, but they do offer a suburban option.

Happy eating!