il Sugo Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Meridian

I worked at this restaurant as a line cook for about two months. This review was not incentivized, and I wrote it about a month after I left.

Short review: il Sugo's food is fantastic, and the cooks all have individual authority to decide not to serve a dish if it looks subpar. Quality over convenience was always the motto- if I didn't want to eat it, it didn't leave the kitchen. I earnestly recommend everything on the menu, but my favorite dish was the Northender Veggie with chicken.

Long review: I only left this place because the restaurant industry was incompatible with volunteer work that I wanted to do which was in the evenings during the typical dinner service. I am pleased to report that I left this place on good terms, and the owner and my fellow staff handled my departure with professionalism.

The food is amazing. Working in a real kitchen after coming from a fast-food background was such a relief- I was finally eating real food and learning valuable cooking skills that I make heavy use of today in my home life and when cooking for my loved ones. Working for il Sugo carried with it the typical stressors of the service industry; it was not a "bad day-free" job, but the service industry is stressful. I had many more days where I felt awful before going to work, and better after having worked a heavy service.

I told the owner, Grant, when I interviewed for the position: "I want to make beautiful food," and he fulfilled that desire. Nothing short of art left the kitchen every day, and the few times that subpar food WAS served, it was because I decided to give a pass to a questionable-looking dish because of how deeply the emphasis on speed had been ingrained in me by the fast food industry. When I got comfortable with going the extra mile like my fellow cooks did, real magic happened.

All (or, at least, most?) of the recipes on il Sugo's menu are Grant's family recipes, and new items added to the menu are usually his personal projects. Several times throughout my employment, he would create or modify recipes for desserts, appetizers, or house specials, and he'd almost always share his creations with the staff and take their feedback.

I do recommend working for il Sugo Italian Kitchen as well as eating there. I long for when my financial situation improves so I can eat there again and...

Great, but pretty limited in appeal.

Nice setting with a vintage look, serving a pretty limited but tasty salad-pasta-wine menu, with an "authentic Italian" feel to it. Our first visit here. The food we ordered tasted great. Service was courteous and fast (a small miracle in itself in 2021). I am not sure if the limitations are part of the company ethos, or they are imposed on them because of space and labor shortages. But here they are: This is a pasta restaurant (with some appetizers and salads on the side). The variety of pasta dishes they offer is pretty wide, but you will have to eat pasta. Don't come here thinking you can order pizza, soup, or a number of other Italian staples. Come for pasta and you'll be happy. Don't come for healthy options. They do have a gluten free option, but not much that anyone who cares about total calories or carbs would be happy with (unless you're OK with just a salad). No zucchini noodles, keto noodles, or other modern invention. Come to indulge the taste, not to count calories. Don't come with kids. Unless your kids are ok with eating pasta with ingredients they can't identify for full adult price, or else (at the other extreme) if they are OK munching on the garlic parmesan bread without having a meal. They don't have a kids menu, and what the offer upon request is 2 versions of penne pasta that looks like an afterthought: one with the most acidic marinara sauce I've ever tasted, and one with just a bit of butter, salt and pepper. They were both a waste of money with our kids. And this particular point is the biggest one for me: If you moved from downtown Boise to a residential neighborhood in north Meridian, you can't ignore families. Maybe you do want to present yourself as a date night restaurant on purpose, discourage parents from bringing kids, but I don't think that's a recipe for success in this neighborhood. I'm saying it because I love the idea of eating "ultra local", at the restaurant we can walk to, but I'll never come here with kids again, which means I will rarely come here at all. I understand a desire to be purist with the adult menu, but at least for kids maybe compromise and make a mac-n-cheese or some other "fake...

Ok.Where do I begin? Sat down on a weekday evening. Only 4 tables were filled with customers. Sat down immediately. TWENTY minutes after being seated our server finally came to the table to take our order. There were four of us and we were given ONE basket of dry bread to share. They gave us one tiny square plate with oil and balsamic vinegar on it. Kinda unsanitary to have people sharing this not to mention there certainly was not enough for four people. Had to ask for another plate of it. Most Italian restaurants let you make your own with the bottles of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar on the table. Had to ask for butter. The host brought one….again, 4 people. Had to ask for another butter. 25 min later our food came out. My food was lukewarm and had to be remade. When my new plate came out I think I had about 6 raviolis swimming in the saltiest red sauce I have ever tasted. Not Italian!! I had to scrape it off to eat my raviolis. I swear, I’m not a fan of Olive Garden by any stretch but their food would put this place to shame. My wife ordered a Ceasar salad with fried Chicken. It came with a mix of fried and grilled chicken. The chicken had an awful odd taste to it. My wife had to remove the chicken off the salad as it was inedible. Server never asked if I needed a refill of my drink. She did have plenty of time to sit at the table next to us chatting away where the wine was flowing freely and I suppose a better tip? Had to ask for Parmesan cheese and again, we were brought a little plate for four people. Tables were sticky and smelly. When we went to move the glasses on the table and they were stuck to it. You could hear them unstick as they were moved. I assume it was from the grime and probably sitting on the table forever.

We will NEVER eat at this place again. How they can call this Italian food is beyond me. I wouldn’t eat here again if it were free. What a waste of $60.00. Thank Goodness our company made the evening because it certainly wasn’t the food nor environment. We got lousy food, lousy service and had to sadly pay for it. This restaurant is a disgrace to real Italian’s like myself. Shame on the owner of this...