Colichia's Italian Village — Restaurant in Groves

I spoke with a few people who said this was once a good place so my wife and I decided to give it a try. We wish we hadn't. This place gets two stars only because of our waitress being very nice and attentive. The atmosphere is extremely dated and it looks like a throw back to the early 00's olive garden. My wife ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce and I, the cannelloni. Food came with a salad. Wife went with a house with ranch and I, a Caesar. Mine was good, croutons did taste like fish though. Her salad clearly came from a bag and was wilted. Food came out, and right away I knew it was going to be trash. Her spaghetti, the noodles were dry and clearly just pulled from having been sitting aside in a container. The sauce, was watered down to the point that there was red water that the pasta was resting in. Little to no meat was present in the sauce and to be honest, it was clearly from a can and tasted like Campbell's tomato soup, super sweet and more of a pinkish orange than red. Two cannelloni is standard and it was plated nice but the same disrespectful "tomato sauce" was what it was bathing in. One look as the store bought great value slice of melted mozzarella cheese on top told me all I needed to know about it, trash. The filling, was put together well, but there was no flavor, no seasoning, just a mouth full of sadness. There is no love or respect in this food. Then there was some dude in a ball cap, old Carhartt jacket and jeans just wondering in and out of the back room. There was a couple seated a little away from us and I heard her ask him if they just wanted to box it up and then go order a pizza from Domino's. If you need help, I'll come make a sauce for you, can't give you the recipe because it's from the old world, but this was just disrespectful. Dishonor, dishonor on you, dishonor on your olive oil that has gone rancid in the corner, dishonor to every Nonna that is rolling in her peaceful Italian grave....

One of the best ribeyes we have ever had...garlic and olive oil marinade...then grilled to medium rare...amazing...also the calamari and marinara sauce are some of the best we've ever had...We will be going back to this well kept secret in the groves...update on this place and I'll take off 1 star because the last two times we have went there they did not have vegetables for a side dish...we ask the waiter and he told us that the owner will not cook vegetables anymore...what? I guess he hates them I don't know but it it's not good for people that don't eat carbs...so even though the steak is awesome we won't be spending a few hundred dollars here anymore...and it's a shame because when we did have the veggies as a side they were top notch...update on this place we stopped going because they no longer serve vegetables...and we eat more keto like so that was a major thing for us just pasta as a side dish is not a good thing...I guess the owner thinks there are no vegetables in Italy? It's a shame too because they were cooked perfect and went very well with his...

I live 90 miles away from Colichia's, and if we ever find ourselves in the vicinity, we make sure to be there when they're open so we can bring home take-out.

The tomato sauce is perfect. It's incredibly sweet, and that's what makes Colichia's food so superior to any other Italian restaurant you can think of. The incredible amount of garlic makes it even better. The meatballs are delicious with a little bit of kick, the salad dressing is always excellent, and even the bread is worth eating here, where other places just put something flavorless into the bag to soak up the sauce and call it a day.

If you have a low tolerance for sugar, it may not be your thing, but it's the signature of Colichia's that makes it a unique experience worth driving 90 miles for.

One more thing: consider getting extra meatballs and sauce on the side. I love how much spaghetti you get with a take-out order, but the sauce is spread a little thin,...