LaScala Cape Cod — Restaurant in Dennis

Live close by so we’ve been wanting to try LaScala for a while. Nice location and venue. What appears to be an old Cape Cod house in very good condition. We entered from the back parking lot into a good sized bar area. There is some seating in the bar area. At 5:30 on a Wednesday night it was almost entirely filled. I looked around for some direction or assistance. I quickly saw a young lady at a hostess station on the far side of the bar near the front. She greeted us and told us we could sit anywhere we wanted to. It was at this time I noticed a large from dining room and what appeared to be another dining broom next to that. I asked if this area was open as I didn’t see anyone in there. She said yes it was open and to sit where we liked. We picked a table in the middle front part of the room near the street. While the street is pretty busy you couldn’t hear one whisper of a car going by. There are new windows in the front and they work bet well. The room is nicely decorated in a newer style of what an old Cape house would probably look like. There is a stove in front of a non functioning fireplace in the room. The stove looks like it’s used in the colder months. I hope it does as we plan on returning later in the Fall and perhaps over the winter if they are open.

We were promptly met by our server Kate. She was very pleasant, efficient, attentive and personable. I started with a drink off the seasonal specials menu. Vanilla vodka, pumpkin flavor, etc. It did not disappoint. I’m still in my summer menu mode so I ordered the lightly friend scallops. Entrees come with a salad, carrot cole slaw and a baked potato or pasta. While neither one of those go with friend scallops in my opinion I asked Kate if I could substitute the starch choices with French fries. She said absolutely. The Mrs orders Egg Plant Parmigiana with pasta. During this time the restaurant filled up quit a bit but our drinks, salads & meals came out in a timely manner. Kate also started us off with a small loaf of bread. I missed taking a picture but it looked unlike any small loaf of bread I’ve ever seen in a restaurant. It had almost a white color to it and it looked like it wasn’t baked yet. The Mrs gave it a squeeze and assured me it was warm. We proceeded to try it but unfortunately it tasted weird. Hard to describe it but it didn’t taste like anything we had ever had before. The salads are typical side salad size. They all come with the house Italian dressing. My salad was drenched in it and my wife’s was a little shy of how much it should have had. I use the word “salad” loosely as it was all lettuce. some black olive slices and one of those little grape tomatoes.

On to the entrees. My scallops were lightly breaded as they were described on the menu. They were good but not great. I’ve had juicer, sweeter ones. There could have been a few more but I did enjoy them. Fries were string fries cooked well the way I like them. I don’t eat Coleslaw so I can’t say how it is.

The Mrs wasn’t impressed with her meal. It was ok she said but just that. She said the sauce tasted like it came right from a jar. She ( not I) knew that the same type of comment is found in a lot of other reviews. She said the eggplant itself again like the pasta was ok. She did say she’d come back but wouldn’t have the pasta again. While I enjoyed my meal more than she did I also concurred that I would come back, as I saw several things on the menu that sound interesting. Overall we liked the staff, the venue, the ambience so we will be giving LaScala a second try some day.

PS. I like to finish off a dining experience with a cappuccino, coffee and dessert in honor of my friend Tony. I did so but asked if I could get one to go. Cate said of course so I ordered the Caramel Peanut Butter Pie. It came in a bag and I didn’t look at it until I got home. While it was delicious it was pretty small, especially for $10. Many of the restaurants we frequent offer desserts large enough for two or more to share. Lastly if you have Celiac Disease this is not a GF friendly place....

May have been the worst “Italian “ food I’ve ever had. The chicken parm tasted like it was breaded in straight plain breadcrumbs, was frozen, then thrown directly into a deep fryer with old oil. The sauce was completely tasteless. I don’t think seasoning exists in this restaurant. The linguini with oil and garlic was literally swimming in oil. There was a 1/4 cup of it in the bottom of the dish with gobs of garlic. No color on the plates, not even a speck of parsley or anything to make the meal at least look appealing. The bread was as dry as the Sahara desert. Clearly this is a case of the same cook for probably 30 years that has zero passion and gave up ages ago. There was a window air conditioner less than 1 foot from our corner table blasting on us the entire meal. The AC, or the carpet smelled of old must. It was very overbearing. The server was fine, but was clearly overwhelmed. Did not check on us once during the entire meal. People were being sat at dirty tables and they would come a few minutes later to clean them. Why not clean them first and have the guests wait at the hostess stand? Very overpriced meals. Kids spaghetti with 1 meatball was $14, a plain pasta with butter was also $14. $90 for 2 kids meals, a chicken parm and a linguini with oil and garlic. No alcohol and I had a water. Sorry, but management needs to take a hard look at the kitchen and make some changes before they lose all...

Five for the service, and one for the food.

I really, really like this place. I wish I can't be so harsh on it, but I guess I have to.

Service: The service was excellent. Our waitress was so very kind and patient. We got seated right away in a comfortable remodeled little home with quite nice decor. She asked us for drinks, didn't rush us, and was very kind in all ways possible. We left an extra big tip (30%) for the outstanding service. Haven't seen service like this in a long time.

Food: I hate to say this, but the food was pretty darn awful. I ordered the Veal Parmigiana while my grandfather the Pasta and Sausage. My plate came with a pile of penne and two slabs of veal covered in breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, and cheese. The penne was equivalent to that of a wet rag as it had no flavor, salt, and was so completely overcooked. The sauce tasted canned and super acidic; it felt like there was a litre of lemon juice. Not to mention is was very liquid-y. The final component was the veal. There was only a thin little piece of veal which was covered in so much bread it felt like bread was the main component. It was very very dry and unsalted. The cheese barely existed and there was just a little bit sprinkled. They offered freshly baked bread which again, felt stale and unsalted.

Bottom line, the food was awful and service great. I won't come back...