Primo on Water Street — Restaurant in Fall River

I ordered a pizza (takeout) from here once that was really good.

However, my experience this evening wasn't quite as good.

We arrived and it wasn't very busy, yet for some reason it took 10 minutes to receive our drinks. It was a simple order of a beer and a glass of wine.

Refills also took another 5-10 minutes.

The food was mediocre, which was a big disappointment given the price.

The bread they gave us to start was a nice addition, but would have been better if it was warm.

The pasta was not made in house. Which I would excuse for a cheaper plate. But when you're spending $20-30 for pasta I expect it to be fresh. Especially in an Italian restaurant.

I don't mind box pasta, tbh. I love it. But the meatballs... The texture felt like they were frozen and reheated. The taste was pretty decent.

But again. If I'm paying $22 for spaghetti and meatballs I expect fresh.

If it was a cheap pizza shop. I'd understand.

The big giveaway was the texture. They tasted fine. But the texture was that of homemade meatballs that you freeze and then reheat.

The tomato sauce was really good. Not sure if they make it in house or not, but if they do. Props.

Overall, it was really disappointing because they flavors were good. But they were brought down by lack of freshness.

Pasta and meatballs are really easy to make fresh. You don't even need spaghetti. You can make some simple parpadelle or fettuccine.

Restaurants in Providence charge similar prices and make fresh pasta.

The pasta is absolutely forgiveable if the meatballs would have been fresh. The texture wasn't even consistent between balls. It was obvious.

I'm assuming they make them in house, but if they do, they definitely freeze them. And whatever they're using to freeze them is not worth it because they weren't great.

I really want to like this place. The wait staff is friendly. Service was fine besides the long wait for drinks.

I don't understand why you wouldn't focus on fresh with the prices they charge and the...

I had a meeting at Primo on Water Street. Danielle, whom served us was on top of her game. I mean service was on point. We started with some appetizers. I tried the arancini risotto balls ($14). Plated with 4 arancini balls. The balls were nicely fried. Very cheesy, but the risotto was underwhelming. The dish was served missing the marinara. The aioli was not great and had an odd flavor. I rate them a B+ but as cheese balls not as arancini. I tried the calamari (A-). It was served in a pesto. It was ok. The foccia on the table was okay (B). I next tried the cheese and meat board called "Antipasto". This was really great. The fresh citrus on the board was perfecto. The mustard on the board was odd and misplaced. The cheese selection was great. The cured meat was good. It was $22. (solid A)

For my main course I did "Zuppa Tuscana". I assume Tuscana is a play on words?... Zuppa is feminine as should toscana in Italian...The wording like the soup was a very americanized version of Zuppa toscana (lit. 'Tuscan soup' ) also known in Italy as minestra di pane (lit. bread soup'). The broth was nice but underseasoned. The potatoes were undercooked and hard. The bacon was not rigatino. It was still a good soup. (Solid B).

My collegues said the Chicken Parmigiana was kind of tasty (A- on their scale). They said the Chicken Parmigiana was salty though for their taste.

Overall service was A+ The atmosphere was great. The seat was mismatched but interesting. I note so was the dinnerware. The sitting room interested. If this mismatching is an attempt to make a nod to a nonna...no chair would everrrr be mismatched...I hope it has been designed to just be a talking point...Dio ci aiuti. The bathroom was very clean. My friends who drank said the drinks were well poured.

Will try again to see...

I dined with old friends (4 total) here a couple weeks ago for the first time on a Friday night. The food was a solid 7/10, the service 10/10. I say this with a smile, that is a good rating! There wasn’t too much grease on the shared mostly deep-fried appetizers (the combo tower). The meals ranged for us all with orders of fish, mussels, pasta, and chicken. All the food was cooked properly, the fish was cooked nicely, was flakey and had good flavor. I had the mussels appetizer over pasta for the main and there were a few personal preference things like too much chourico making it very greasy and the long pasta was for some reason in short strands making it very messy to eat (couldn’t twirl it at all – I totally ruined my shirt with grease), but there was nothing wrong with the dish and it was as stated on the menu. Our server Naida was pretty amazing, making our meal go from “this is perfectly fine” to, “this is a good time”. She was friendly but not pushy, attentive but not overbearing, knowledgeable but not conceited, and she was funny and kind. We didn’t have to flag anyone down for napkins, condiments, or drinks. She brought us everything we needed with a smile and a good attitude. Honestly Naida made us all want to come back. The food was good, but I would try something else next time. We will go back sooner than we would otherwise because of the awesome staff and feeling in the restaurant. I am glad we left around 9pm though, there seemed to be some sort of DJ starting in the dining area and it was so very loud. I am glad we were in the bar area at a table, because VERY oddly, it was not as loud in...