Cry Baby Pasta — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Got recommended this restaurant by friends and I was really excited as both me and my fiance are italian and love pasta. I checked the reviews as I do with all new restaurants and there weren’t enough bad reviews to make me not go so we decided to go. Outside of the restaurant was nice and was located in a cute spot on the corner. Hostess was nice and the atmosphere was very cool almost like 60s retro but with a hint of 70s funk. We got seated and ordered appetizers and we got the potato appetizer as well as the garlic bruschetta. Potato appetizer was nothing special and very salty but i didn’t pay it much mind and the garlic bruschetta was really good I thought it was a great appetizer. So finally we ordered our entrees. I got this rabbit gnocchi special and my fiancé got some sort of chicken rigatoni. Service was fine and we got out meals. Firstly the portions were very small. Yes the prices aren’t outrages but it was very very small portion. At first we thought we saw my entree and were confused as to whether or not we got the right entree. We asked bc there was no gnocchi. Different types of pasta have different names because of the ingredients and most importantly their shape. The so called gnocchi was a hockey puck size something. I honestly could not tell you what it was as it had the texture of cottage cheese and really just tasted like nothing. Almost like baby food and pan seared on both sides. Obviously not gnocchi. The other thing was that they had shredded the rabbit on top of the hockey puck and obviously rabbit is going to be gamey but what you don’t do it shred it and use it as almost a pulled pork. It was overly salted and just tasted like a crappier pulled pork. My fiancés entree tasted fine but there was hardly any chicken. They had shredded the chicken so much it was almost like a mush and the pasta was very undercooked. All in all I was super disappointed and really upset because I tried my best to like it and so did my fiancé but it was just not good at all and would...

Do you think they add tears to the pasta water? Whatever it is, the love and the patience is apparent.

We had such a great time at Cry Baby, shout out to Jen for being a phenomenal server, she was super helpful to break down the menu and make sure we got exactly what we wanted. We’ll definitely be back to try more.

For an appetizer we shared the garlic bruschetta which was amazing, basically just super buttery elevated garlic bread. Great portion size too. The bread was amazing and super fresh.

The wine list was great too, all Italian wines and a lot to choose from. It’s great that they let you taste if you’re going by the glass too since there are a lot of varietals I wasn’t familiar with.

For the best part, the pasta! We shared the rigatoni and tagliatelle and both did not disappoint. It’s hard to go wrong when it’s fresh, homemade pasta and delicious ingredients. I will say though, that the tagliatelle really did something to me. The textures and flavors were so balanced. I wasn’t as into the rigatoni. I think for me, the chicken and the smoky flavor kind of dried out the pasta a bit. I was looking for more of the traditional, garlic, ovoo, tomato, and basil flavor. However, it was still really delicious and unique to try.

The only miss for the night for me was dessert. We should’ve gone with Jen’s recommendation for the butterscotch, but we went for the raspberry since we wanted something more tart. It was pretty flat in terms of texture and flavor, the crust was also super hard and we could never cut through it with the fork. Maybe it wasn’t fresh? Or maybe the crust was just not made properly to get that crumble? The almost and fresh raspberries did taste delicious though.

In summary, a wonderful and delicious experience! I cannot wait to come back and try more and I’m thankful for the quality. It felt well...

I had a reservation for 3 on July 30th, 2021.

We were greeted and seated promptly at our reservation time and everyone from the host, food runners, and server were polite, friendly and informative.

I do not remember the cocktails we ordered, however one person ordered something with cucumbers and either vodka or gin and the other two people had wine.

To start we ordered Meatballs, Crispy Potatoes and Garlic Butter Bruschetta. For our entrees, we had the Grilled Branzino, Cacio e Pepe, Tagilatelle and Crab Linguine. Finally, I shared desert with another in our party and I believe it was the Butterscotch Budino

In general most of the food arrived to the table at “room temperature”,nothing was actually hot.

The meatballs were tasty, but again just warm. The only item that was somewhat hot was the crispy potatoes and they may have been the highlight of the meal. Awesome crispy exterior with a hot and soft inside, the pesto was a nice topping and very fresh. I think the Garlic Bread Bruschetta was a little misleading, I was expecting garlic bread with bruschetta toppings of tomatoes, cheese etc., instead of just “garlic bread”. It was good though.

The Cacio e Pepe, when it arrived at the table was no longer a smooth creamy texture but lumpy bits of cheese stuck to barely warm pasta. A testament to the room temperature condition of the food. Honestly, I was unimpressed with any of the pasta dishes, with the exception of the Tagilatelle being the most flavorful.

The Grilled Branzino was…ordinary.

The only other highlight of the evening was the Butterscotch Budino. Bursting with flavor and richness, the Chocolate Graham Crumble was a wonderful opposing addition. We gobbled the small dish down without a second thought.

For all the rave reviews, I was...