Kitty's Restaurant & Lounge — Restaurant in North Reading

Ive been debating this review for a whole week but ive decided the truth must be told....So.ive been going to kittys since I was 8! As an adult , I've continued to go there. Brought my children , other family members, friends and all that. Now my children are adults and I'm currently the big 5.oh. it seems to me that after kittys closed down a couple times there in the past , the food and service has declined bigtime! I often go Just for a pizza and antipasto. In the past , I was a big shrimp cocktail and lobster pie type gal. Now , mind you , the shrimp were at that time 3 dollars a piece and the lobster pie was around 33. I have no idea how much those items go for these days but I can only imagine , seeing how every last time I've gone , there's always a sign on the door, greeting us fools with "there's a rise in lettuce prices"or clams....Any who , my guy and I went there last week on a Thursday evening. Just as busy as any other night I've been. We ordered the fried zucchini appetizer and, you guessed it , an antipasto and a large pizza. Now. For the record,I've only ever got the antipasto. I would imagine it is a lot more popular than the review photos tell. I could not find one photo of an antipasto. Confusing. Now, back to mentioning the decline in food and service. I'm gonna have to say that the best thing I ate that evening was the zucchini sticks and that's pretty sad,considering they are just frozen breaded zucchini sticks...my salad,oh man. Now the lettuce is almost Always bitter and I just wanna mention that lettuce is Not supposed to be bitter,just in case you were wondering :/ and of course it was bitter. Wanna know how to get the bitter out of that lettuce? You soak it in water for a half...the dressing? Such a pity because it has the potential and was always a reason i had been returning but its no longer consistant! Extremely disappointing as it has No flavor what so ever. Lastly , the pizza. Totally and completely under cooked. Soggy mess with too much sauce. I'm not sure what's going on with that but it's been a progressive problem that I've noticed since that shut down time. My pizza only had green peppers on it and it wasn't loaded or anything. So maybe cook it longer? Unfortunately I now have to give up going to kittys because , come on now. I Can do...

Where can you go that you can always depend on no matter what day of the week no matter what time of the day to get the best Italian food and I mean this sincerely. I've been going to Kitty's for more than 40 years and I've loved every meal. I normally always get the chicken parm and it's enough for two or three meals. It's insane. You don't mind spending $30 on something if you're bringing home two meals left over. With that said, this time I tried the chicken marsala and I was so happy I did. Oh my goodness the masala wine. You could taste it. It wasn't just a hint but it wasn't over done and it was like almost like like a gravy over the chicken. It was so thick and delicious with the mushrooms. Oh my goodness. But the salad, I always love how fresh and crisp and crunchy it is and the addressing. I haven't tried anything else. I stick with the Kitty's dressing. My husband lately has been getting the chicken and eggplant parm sandwich, it's two sandwiches. He'll eat one there and bring the other home for another meal. They're on a huge roll (what they use for dinner rolls) 🤯 Our son was with us also this time and he got the chicken parm with linguine I believe. And the only thing we had to ask for was just a little bit more sauce because we do drain our pasta cuz sometimes there's still some water in the bowl at the bottom. So once you drain it and you serve the sauce we need just a little bit more but our waitress was fabulous. Believe her name was Christine or Christina. What a nice nice young woman. Anyway, she brought us a big bowl of sauce. It was enough to put on my pasta and my husband put some on his chicken parm for reheating. We always enjoy our meal, we know what to expect, exceptional service and delicious food. And we come down from New Hampshire to have it and I always tease them. Could you please open up a restaurant in New Hampshire cuz there's no decent Italian restaurants in New Hampshire that I actually can afford. 😉 So Kitty's hear my plea come to New Hampshire would...

Okay...let's use visuals to describe what Kitty's once was. If you're someone who grew up in the late '70s/early 80s, Kitty's was like one of those hot babes you would see riding in the passenger's seat of a Corvette, Mustang, or other gas-guzzling muscle car. She was the one who was tanned darker than George Hamilton and was smoking Newport 100's like every other babe of the day. No shortage of flash and sex appeal. That was Kitty's back then. It was fun, somewhat taboo, and the food was damned amazing.

Flash forward to today. That lady we spoke of earlier is in rought shape. The excesses of youth have caught up. Everytime you look at her, she looks like she's been ridden hard and put up wet. Rough would be an improvement. The Flash And pizzaz are long gone. She has multiple melenoma from the sun worship. The lips that once chain smoked many a menthol, are now gasping for breath. Emphysema and oxygen are her constant companions. She's surly and no longer has anyone's attention. That's what she's come to. The food is nowhere near good. And the service is shameful. The Dog House in Chicago has better customer service.

All restaurants have a lifespan. Kitty's technically should have been of blessed memory back in 2000. Sometimes it's best to know when to say it's been a great ride and...