Pastabilities — Restaurant in Greensboro

Pastabilities may very well be Greensboro’s premier “looks good on paper” restaurant. The menu is enticing, but each of my few visits has been something of a disappointment.

Tucked into a Battleground Avenue shopping center, Pastabilities seems smallish from the outside, but it is deceptively deep. Inside, a wall of wine bottles and tasteful wood trim make for appealing décor, but the charm is somewhat undercut by the close positioning of tables. Even still, noise levels were not insufferable among a dinner crowd.

The biggest asset here is the menu. The pasta-with-a-twist concept may furrow the brows of traditionalists, but for those who want something creative, look no further. Classics like carbonara, cacciatore, and parmesan hobnob alongside various Cajun and Asian-inspired offerings. Want to mix things up? The Four Aces combines linguine, Anduille and Italian sausages, chicken, and shrimp in a mushroom and onion sauce while various dishes incorporate artichokes and pine nuts. And if you don’t see something you like, you can always build your own.

This versatility, combined with above-average service and delicious, fresh-out-of-the-oven bread gives diners every reason to get their hopes up, but within the first few forkfuls that hope is likely diminished. To clarify, the food here is not terrible, merely underwhelming. The Great Sea Caper (linguine, shrimp, scallops, capers, and clams in a tomato clam sauce) was reasonably portioned and adequately sauced, but the clams were tiny and the pasta was limp and overcooked. My companion’s Eggspecially Italian (linguine, peppers, sausage, and onions in marinara sauce) suffered from similar ups and downs. Admittedly, the Cajun-inspired dishes I had tried in the past were not overcooked – and looked great on the plate – but failed to deliver the anticipated big flavors.

At the very least, one can take solace in the fact that Pastabilities does not overcharge for this inconsistency. My entrée and a side salad rang up a reasonable $12.50 while my companion’s dish was a mere $7. You can feed yourself well here for $10 to $12, perhaps too well to enjoy the tantalizing-sounding desserts (Cheesecakes by Alex and various flavored poundcakes).

Despite the punny name, Pastabilities leans closer to tragedy than comedy. The menu, service, pricing, and décor all suggest a winning dining destination, but the food’s failure to impress makes Pastabilities worth only a rare...

We were really excited about trying this restaurant. Our daughter arrived first, and the waitress did finally get her some water while she was waiting. When we arrived, the place is small and there was a large group right down the middle of the place. They were LOUD, but having a good time. While we were chatting and looking at the menus and specials board our waitress came by--never introduced herself, and kept pushing the empty chair up (leaning against it) and into my daughter's leg. We asked for some bread while we were looking and trying to make up our minds. We were told that bread was only served after we ordered. If you are going to bring a basket anyway, what is the problem???? Our waitress from then on changed to Victoria. She was really nice and attentive, still not sure why the other waitress gave us up, as she was hanging at the bar from then on and would walk out of her way to avoid us. We ordered pasta dishes. Never again, might go back to try something else. Our pasta dishes took about 10 minutes to get and they were really nothing special, on the verge of being cold, the sauces were jar quality and I make better sauce. The bread, which we did get after we ordered, was delicious and hot. We ordered dessert, which is made at other places and brought in, was wonderful. When we received our bill, it looked good--however, when she brought it back after ringing it up said, "Oh I had forgot to add the desserts, so I did before I ran your card. Had to run it twice because of this error. Then I got to looking at the receipt and I had been charged for a dish that was more than what I had ordered. I brought this to her attention, gave her my card and ask that she run it again. Instead the manager just sent $5.35 to cover the difference. Was seemingly a very popular place but I am not sure I will...

How this place could have 4 stars is a mystery. It was probably the worst Italian dish I've had in Greensboro so far. I was by myself so I initially sat at the bar, but then moved to a table because the bar was so high! I should have measured it, but it was too high for me to eat and not feel like a goofball in a high chair.

I always order chicken parmigiana at a new Italian restaurant because, for me, that's the baseline for a good Italian restaurant. I didn't see spaghetti anywhere on the menu (strange for a restaurant called "Pastabilities"; spaghetti is not possible?). The young waitress with short bleached hair said to me "Our linguini is spaghetti." Riiiiight. I'll just let that one go. I also noticed that she was much friendlier to other guests. When I asked for things (I had to ask for silverware when she delivered my salad), she wouldn't acknowledge my request. She would just turn around like I was a terrible inconvenience in her day and come back eventually with whatever it was that I needed. I'll let ya'll figure that one out.

The food was just horrible. The marinara sauce had all the excitement of a tomato sauce straight out of a can (with no herbs or spices whatsoever), so I couldn't complain that there wasn't enough of it. To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure the chicken was FROZEN chicken tenders! If you look closely, one of them is even darker than the others, a clue that they weren't even fried together...one of them was probably sitting for a while before they decided to put it on my plate with the other two. My goodness - I was ashamed for them. I took the majority of it home and tried to salvage it with my favorite marina, but it was a total loss at that point.

On a positive note, the bread rolls and butter are fantastic. If I ever go in there again, it'll be JUST...