Rovali's Ristorante Italiano — Restaurant in Ogden

I could regale you with the story of my 20 year quest to find a restaurant with as good as food as a different location I visited frequently in my childhood, and how Rovalis is indeed that restaurant. But I won't do that - it wouldn't do you any good.

Instead, I'll tell you the three reasons you should sit down and eat at this wonderful restaurant:

1. The Food - Of course you go to a restaurant to eat the food and this place has got their food on lock. With portion sizes so large a competitive eater would need a take-home box, you aren't going to go hungry here. And beyond that is the flavor - it is so good as to leave me without words at moments so you'll forgive this inadequate review: the blend of flavors is so exquisite as to marry that which seems un-marriable and produce not only a robust flavor but a deep and profound layer to those flavors as to have you consistently going back for more.

But make sure to save room for desert. I have for 20 years searched high and low for an Italian restaurant to bring me back to my childhood, always tasting and sampling their tiramisu as a result. In my search I learned one lesson: lots of people think they make a great tiramisu, but few ever actually do. Rovalis makes the best tiramisu I've ever had - without flaw, and so delicate my wife became concerned my tears of joy would ruin the dish. (Worry not friends, I dabbed my eyes with my napkin before any such ill fate could befall my dish).

2. The atmosphere - Be honest, you forgot I was listing reasons to eat here, and got enthralled in the above paragraphs. It's okay, it happens to the best of us. And a similar fate will befall you at Rovalis. You will forget you're at a restaurant and feel as if you're at home dining with family or friends.

The wait staff is beyond curteous, constantly checking and rechecking every detail. But you're also greeted by the owner himself, gifted with a photo tour of the specials, and you feel truly welcome.

As a marginalized individual, welcome is a feeling that is often missing whenever I am in public, but here that was not the case. Even while waiting for a table, servers were greeting us as they went by, treating us like family and friends in the process.

You will feel that the moment you walk in the door.

3. The Desert - I know I touched on this already in the food section, but I'd be remiss if I didn't say more. The rotating nature of the desert menu means constantly evolving flavors that will wow the sense and enthrall even the most distractable. There are of course main staples, but with seasonal menu items rotating weekly, it truly feels like a home-baked desert waiting just for you to come over and try some.

And try some our table did. We tried all of them in fact, and they each left me equally reaching for words I couldn't find - as you can probably tell, that doesn't happen often.

In summary, if you haven't been to Rovali's please stop in. Become a member of their family. Make a new friend. Enjoy some amazing food, drinks, and desert. You won't regret it.

P.S. THE ROLLS...

I know this is a long review but it needs to be said. First off I wish there were more stars available because 5 does not do this place justice, thinking an option of 10 stars would be a better option. We found this place traveling back home after visiting my grandma in Colorado Springs. The location in the beautiful downtown area was a perfect backdrop. We did not have reservations so we had to wait about 30 minutes, thank the stars we did not leave. When we were finally taken to our table we were greeted by a wonderful hostess, she made us feel like family. She recommended several items and had a digital tablet to show the specials of the night. We started with the fried ravioli and they were the best I had ever eaten. I could probably have eaten a hundred of them, they were that good. For dinner, I tried a sampler platter of fettuccine alfredo, lasagna and cheese ravioli with a side of meatballs. The portions were perfect and the food was absolutely the best Italian food I have ever had. My son got a pepperoni pizza with sliced meatballs, once again from the crust to the sauce and toppings they were all top notch. He raved about it (keep in mind he just returned from a trip to New York were he tried several different pies and said this was just as good if not better). The lavender lemonade was very refreshing, the Italian soda was perfect. Dinners come with homemade rolls that are amazing. My wife loved the caesar salad and her adult beverage (once again recommended by our hostess). Finally when we were just about done, the owner stopped by to ask how things were. He welcomed us in and welcomed us to his family. We raved about the atmosphere, staff and food. He spent quite a long time engaging in an honest conversation and not just thinking about getting to the next table. He told the kids a corny joke and engaged everyone. You can honestly see he is incredibly passionate and proud of his establishment. Finally the desert menu came around. I opted for the tiramisu and once again the best I have ever eaten. The rest of the family all tried something different with the same results. This is a wonderful family operated restaurant. I would almost consider selling our house and moving to be closer to this place. You will not be disappointed and can't...

I don't know if I just had a bad experience, but the food here really was not good. I went there with my family for my birthday on a Friday night. We were told it would be 40 minutes to wait, but it was an hour and 40 minutes. I totally understand that other customers were taking forever to eat and that is out of the control of the employees, but this was just the start of a bad experience. We sat down and ordered our food and it came an hour later. We saw other tables get their food long before us when they had sat down a while after. Yes they had a smaller group (5 people versus our 7), but an hour to wait for food is a long time. I was surprised at how small the portions were, but I know that's how it goes at fancier, nicer restaurants. That being said, I was expecting high quality, delicious food. I ordered the 3 sampler plate so I could try more than one thing and was very disappointed. The sauces had almost no flavor, and the most flavor came after adding salt and pepper. There was nothing special about the food at all. As others have said, it tasted like cheap store bought sauces and such. All I could think was that I should have invited my family over to my house to eat and we could have cooked there. My mom's lasagna is a million times better than what I ate there. The best thing was the ravioli, but that wasn't even spectacular. For the price paid, I was even more disappointed in the food. It was not worth it at all and I left feeling bad that we paid so much for such a low quality meal. I'm not sure if people who have given good ratings for here have really bad palettes, or if the restaurant has new chefs cooking or something, but I would not waste money on this place. I would have rather gone to Olive Garden because I would have paid less and gotten more food and it would have tasted so much better. Thoroughly disappointed and unimpressed. Don't waste your money or time. On a positive note though, the owner is very nice and friendly. He tried to make things right with us having to wait which was very kind. Just too bad the...