Villa Ballanca — Restaurant in Lower Burrell

My wife and mother-in-law went here for dinner since it had been so long since we had been out to eat together. When we arrived, we were told there was about a 30-minute wait, and we waited somewhere around 25 minutes. When we went inside to be seated, we were greeted by a cute Italian restaurant, though the whole space was a little small, and we were seated in the area to the left of the entrance. If you get the chance, definitely ask to be seated in the main dining room.

When we were seated, our server came to get our drink order right away. While waiting for our drinks, we took time to peruse the menu. They had several appetizers, all deep fried, a couple of soups, and several side and entrée salads at the beginning of the menu. None of these looked terribly appetizing, so we decided to move on to the main entrées. There is a very large pasta section featuring a “create-your-own” pasta option as well as other common Italian and Italian-American style dishes. After some consideration, I ordered the spinach ravioli with pink sauce, my wife ordered the pink pasta with chicken, and my mother-in-law ordered the Stromboli special. My wife and I both received a side salad with our orders.

The first thing to arrive was the bread plate for the table. It was hot from the oven. Though it was less like bread and more like pizza dough that had been cut into sticks, it was still good. The next to arrive was the salad. It was a little sad for a salad, consisting of mostly lettuce with a few slivers of red onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The Italian dressing we ordered was a house made dressing, and I could tell, because it probably wasn’t stirred before serving, as our cups consisted of mostly oil. When our food arrived we were ready to dig in. The spinach ravioli were very large, about 4 inches around each. The filling had a good spinach to cheese ratio. My wife’s pink pasta was deliciously cooked, but the chicken she ordered as a topping with it was a little bland. My mother-in-laws Stromboli was absolutely huge! It was easily the size of both pasta dishes combined. The crust was beautifully browned and crisp, and toppings inside were cooked to perfection. It was definitely the winning dish, and I plan to order one next time (as it also yielded at least a whole second meal in leftovers).

Altogether this particular experience was okay. I was underwhelmed by some of the food we were presented, but altogether, I would consider returning, if for no other reason that to try...

Neighborhood Gem - Went out here this evening with 4 other family members (been coming here for years and plan to come back again). We enjoyed good food and had a good time. Overall I rate it 4.4 out of 5 for the food and 5 out of 5 on service. We arrived at 6 PM in the restaurant was packed. However, even though they were extremely busy our wait person was very attentive, got us our drinks quickly and checked in frequently. Food was good to very good - everyone started off with fresh salads and we had a couple of bowls of the wedding soup. Salads were fresh wedding soup was very good 5 out of 5 on the soup. Dish 1: fettuccine à la carbonara - huge portion just as described in the menu (not traditional carbonara, but an alfredo version) rich, filling, tasty 4.5 out of 5. Dish 2: linguine Pescatore with scallops, shrimp, muscles and clams - seafood was all cooked perfectly, dish was great where seafood was highlighted and not the sauce ( if I had a critique, the sauce was a bit watery and could’ve used a pinch more seasoning) but it was very good 4.5 out of 5. Dish 3: vegetarian calzone was cooked well tasted great and the sauce was excellent which bumps the overall rating to 4.6 out of 5 (the filling seemed a tad light on mozzarella but the sauce made up for it) Dish 4: raspberry chicken, I did not try this but I heard it was great and would get it again if they came back. 5 out of 5. Dish 5: chicken Parmesan chicken was cook well pasta was done well and 4.5 out of 5. This place is a great value when you consider the combination of the quality, service, and price. We...

I was really excited to try this place because the menu looked great, with all the traditional Italian favorites, and when we walk in there's a man speaking Italian to the hostess. It was busy, but we got a table fairly quickly, in less than ten minutes. Unfortunately the food was just meh. I had the baked ziti, one kid had fettuccine Alfredo, and my other kid had penne primavera. Our salads came first, and they were warm, to match the building itself. The restaurant did not offer much relief from the 85-degree heat outside. The salad seemed fresh, with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and onions, but having it warm just was not appetizing. The complimentary bread was piping hot, so that was nice, and it tasted fine with butter. Nothing to write home about. The baked ziti had no flavor. Just noodles, tomato sauce, and cheese, but didn't seem to be seasoned at all. I asked the kids how theirs was and we all felt our entrees were a 3 out of 5. I had a Pepsi and the kids had water, and those were all great. Very cold and the right amount of syrup in the Pepsi. And our server was fabulous. Very friendly and prompt, got everything right. No complaints there. Also the price was fine: $52 for the three of us. But if you're looking for flavor,...