Pasta Grill — Restaurant in Conway

!Not Italian!

I agonized forever while writing this review over two, three or four stars. As you can see, I opted for three.

Pasta Grill is a great restaurant ran by people who obviously care that much more about food than almost all of the other eateries you will find in Conway (admittedly, that may not be saying much in a town who votes a piece of fried catfish the "best fish" in the city).

That said, however, I really do take exception to this restaurant being called - or calling itself - Italian. I mean - ye-es - in the American sense it IS Italian.....meaning it sells spaghetti, alfredo, meatballs and cheesecake. Unfortunately for me, though, I am after a slightly more authentic Italian experience - which I used to get when Russo's was still in town, until after about four years of having a deserted dining room they packed up shop to make room for their premises to become another fried-fish-and-oyster place. But - I digress.

Pasta Grill is very good, very popular and the darling of the Conway socialites, who line up outside before they open for either lunch or dinner waiting for the floodgates to be opened. I myself have eaten here several times - and the food is consistently good-bordering-on-excellent. It is not however authentic Italian and should never be construed as such.

For starters - those who experience issues with dairy-heavy recipes will want to take extra precautions when eating here, because you will be VERY hard pressed to find something that doesn't involve a pasta that is laden with lashings of cream-based sauce clinging to its surface. From their signature cajun cream sauce (which is excellent, by the way), to alfredo sauces, to 'light' cream sauces (?), to vodka sauces, to pesto cream sauces - almost EVERY SINGLE pasta dish they sell comes as standard with one of these. Newsflash: true Italian dishes never see the addition of cream in any manner. That authentic carbonara sauce that they're famed for? Yeah it's supposed to be eggs, cheese and bacon - and it is NOT supposed to be smothered afterwards in an alfredo sauce.

Actually - while we're on the topic - alfredo sauce was invented by a restaurateur in Rome to appeal to his American clientele. It is basically the Italian attempt (and equivalent of) mac & cheese.

I mean to go back to Pasta Grill and see how open to substituting their cream sauces for lighter, tomato-based acidic sauces they are. Given their attention to detail and great (if creamy) food - I am sure they will have no problem in accommodating special requests.

Additionally, Pasta Grill incorporates many other non-Italian ingredients into their cooking, such as crawfish, jambalaya (with Polish sausage), cajun sauces, "blackened" shrimp scampi, spinach feta cream, straightforward steaks, chicken tenders, chicken 'cheesecake', shrimp & grits, cornbread, and breaded chicken items.

While this is a great restaurant that you will be hard-pressed to find quiet on any given day, I do take exception to them calling themselves 'Italian' when they are obviously a southern-inspired pasta joint with an emphasis on cream sauces that have no place in...

Such a quaint little store front. Must be good for all the people in the tiny bullpen? So surprised we were when having our name put on the list and told "it'll be just a few minutes" for our party of 3. Awesome! So after 20 minutes and watching party of 4 after party of 3 be seated, one party of 4 even greeted by the hostess at the sidewalk(they must have been regulars) I stepped up to the hostess and host to inquire to be told by a very sweet gal that our was another 15-20 minutes! "There must be a mistake, we were told 'just a minute'" . Her gracious apologies cut off by the fellow who originally gave the misleading timeframe by asking "what's going on here?" That tone immediately raised my eyebrow! So I explain, "you told us it would be a minute, did that actually mean 30?" With a gesture of his hands "look around, we're busy" I argue that his 'just a minute' was expected to be a close estimation and vastly different then the 35-40 minute wait that it is turning into. Customer service etiquette would have a host humble themselves with an apologies for the mistake made, but not this guy! As if I was a toddler he needed to appease and a snotty tone to match "well do you want a water or a piece of bread or something?" "No thank you, we're not starving", I tell him and pick-up the conversation with the sweet thing that shot me square to begin with "so we're looking at another 15-20?" "Yes, I'm sorry" she sheepishly replies. I check with my party and advise her that we won't be waiting. All that dramatically laid out, little millennial man needs a lessen in his job as a businesses first contact with a patron and the destruction it could lead to. An apologies for the mistake, an offer of a glass of wine while we wait(which I would have happily paid for, and frankly would have "locked" us in for the wait) would have prevented this review, which is not even for the food but the service. I am a 15 year veteran of the service industry from dishwasher to restaurant manager and everything in between so with that I say sorry to the owner who won't get a lovely review for the experience he worked hard to create and the server who doesn't get the gratuity only another server gives. You can thank the egomaniac greeting...

UPDATE 1/29/21: Tried Chef's Gnocchi, substitute chicken for sausage. Excellent dish (but a little bit salty). Service faster this time. Still not the best location. Very crowded and almost nowhere to park. A better location with a parking lot would be great.

The best Italian food in Conway, as far as I know.

I'm not too into many of the ingredients in some of the dishes and I decided to start with something simple -- Grilled Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo.

Hard to find the place at night as I'm not familiar with the area. They were helpful and came out to the car to bring me the food then take my card and charge me. The girl was very polite on the phone and at the car.

At first glance it seemed like a lot of pasta and not much chicken. However, I'm okay with the overall amount. They do have slightly less chicken served than what I'm used to with Italian places I grew up with in LA but the quality is just right. They have plenty of noodles as well. Obviously noodles are very cheap and chicken costs more. They made it very good. I usually like a good amount of sauce with my alfredo and it didn't appear to have much. However, when I ate it, it was actually perfect. The chicken was tender and just right as well.

It came with some garlic bread which was decent. The sauce was decent too. It's a step above the usual marinara/pasta sauce that comes complimentary with orders at Italian places.

The value is really good as well. So much food and very good quality for a good price. Of the three Italian places I've tried in Conway this one is by far the winner. Smokes the...