This place was my go-to place whenever I needed a break from the stresses of college. After 3 years of eating at this place, I feel like I have the warrant to critique it.

Lemme start with the service. I think the service is great. The waiters are kind and they are responsive. When I ask about a menu item, they explain it well, and I have a better understanding about what I am ordering. I also remember one day when I did have to wait over an hour for my food (the cooks must have had a bad day, that happens, it’s fine), and the waiters apologized to me about the food wait time, and gave me the option for a refund. I do respect that.

As for the food, the highlights for me are anything that has the tomato sauce. Their spaghetti and meatballs are SO GOOD. It was my meal of choice when I went there. The sauce is so flavorful, it has a great balance of sweetness, acidity, and savory. The meatballs are perfectly juicy and are seasoned well. Other red sauce dishes like the chicken parm and the sausage & peppers are also really fantastic as well. And they also give you enough sauce that you can mop it up with their complementary ciabatta, and it’s awesome.

My least favorite, however, is anything with a cream sauce. The chicken alfredo it legitimately unappealing and unappetizing. Whenever I had them, the pasta itself was overcooked, but the worst part is that the cream sauce is WAY too loose. Good American alfredo should be creamy, and just a little goopy, and it should coat the pasta. The sauce was so watery, and combined with the mushy pasta, the texture was just off.

Also, they have carbonara, but it is just straight up not carbonara. Ideal carbonara should be eggs, a cured meat of some kind like pancetta, and parmeggiano or pecorino. If it’s American style it can have cream, along with the egg and pancetta along with peas or something. Their “carbonara” is a pink sauce with mushrooms, which I don’t know why or how that can be called carbonara. It’s like some kind of messed up vodka sauce. If you’re gonna have carbonara on the menu, make it with the correct ingredients, or else it’s just a completely different dish.

I may seem like I’m overly criticizing them in the latter half, but I’m doing it out of love. This place held a special place in my heart whenever I had a straight up bad day in college. I go to the restaurant, and order myself a spag and balls, and on those bad days, it always made me feel better. I know they can do so much better with their white sauce, and it’s just small adjustments to make them so much better. Thicken the sauce, cook the pasta al dente, etc. It’s so simple, so easy, they can totally do that.

Overall, I give this place four stars, some of the dishes aren’t great, but the ones that are are fantastic, and nostalgic in a way, too.