Matteo's Italian Restaurant

We have been working our way through all the restaurants in the Olmsted falls area this year. Today's trip took us to Matteo's.

Had a reservation just to ensure we would have a table which seems it came in handy as there were a few large groups already seated when we arrived.

Looking over the menu, there was a good mix of appetizers, salads, pizza, and quality Italian restaurant options on the menu. We ordered the sauteed calmari and the meatballs as our appetizers.

The calmari was prepared well and was not over cooked or rubbery as calmari can get. Had a good flavor overall with the provided red sauce.

The meatballs were amazing! The blend of the cheese, red sauce, and ground meat blend worked extremely well in the dish. They were quite large and a good portion for 2-3 people.

For entrees, we ordered the spaghetti and meatballs, lemon butter chicken, and the manicotti. The spaghetti and meatballs had the same meatballs as the appetizer, which paired really well with the, what seemed to be freshly made, spaghetti noodles. The lemon butter chicken was prepared perfectly with the chicken being fork tender without being overcooked and dry. Paired with linguine noodles and the lemon butter sauce, the dish worked well and was quite tasty. The manicotti was also quite excellent. The mix of the pasta shell with the ricotta filling and paired with a slightly sweet red sauce was perfect.

For dessert, we ordered a slice of lemoncello cake and an order of cannoli to go so have not tried them yet but they looked amazing.

Overall, had good service through the whole visit. The one oddity, there seems to have been a slowdown/change somewhere in the chain of things. We ended up placing our drinks and appetizer order, getting our drinks/appetizers, and were partially through eating them before our server had come back to take our entree order. That was a little odd but I noticed the same situation at other tables so this just might be standard here. This extended our overall visit but we didn't mind as we were catching up with a friend at the time. Had we been more pressed for time, it could have been an issue though.

Overall, would absolutely recommend this restaurant if you are in the mood for some fantastic Italian cuisine.