Pasta Pane — Restaurant in Town of Clifton Park

How do I begin to describe the disappointment and sub par “rustic Italian” experience that was had? I mean, anyone who can read between lines can get a sense of the disdain I feel towards this establishment.

Now, I’m not the one who chose this eatery, as a friend chose it to celebrate an occasion. The menu seemed promising, with meal descriptions that makes you realize you’re salivating and craving some good Italian-esque food.

Our Olsen sister look a like waitress spoke low in volume despite the the loud surroundings. It was difficult for the entire table (a small party of six) to even hear the words coming out of her mouth. It was a Friday night, and it was packed. You should know that this was not a quiet evening.

The service in general did not feel like it warranted anything beyond a basic 15% tip/gratuity, let alone a 10% one. Especially when more than half the party felt like it was undeserved. The wait staff seemed pretentious as they stated “oh yeah, they don’t understand the names of the dishes.” Barely checking in on how things are going with the table when the station to enter orders is literally in the other side of the railing? That’s sad.

The food. Where do I even begin on the disappointment and sadness? The only good, which I did not even try, was apparently the calamari. The meatballs for an appetizer seemed over seasoned with salt. Not sure if that was from the sauce or the cheese. But it was possibly there to mask the underwhelming, Luke warm balls of protein underneath. Then between appetizers and the main meals, the wait was most definitely NOT worth it. When ordering a full sized salad, you do not expect the half size order to be about the same size. That’s one overcharged meal right there. Then I had ordered sausage crumbles to be added to my meal. One would assume (that’s my fault) that the sausage would be one, some kind of Italian sausage, and it would actually be crumbles. What came out was nothing of the sort. It was sliced, sad, cold, a mushy, unappetizing side of possibly fake sausage. The skin/casing of the sausage didn’t have that typical bite full of resistance. Instead when sampled, it was just down right gross and cold. Now there was an option for plant based sausage, and that’s where I think there might have been a confusion. Whatever it may have been, it left a bad taste in my mouth. At least the waitress took off the charge for the protein.

Now, one would expect (again, should have known that this was not a normal Italian style place) a full piece of chicken or a link or two of sausage when charged a premium for it to be added to a pasta or salad. Well, I guess not. At least not here. My partners dish lacked in flavor, seasoning, and the extra $8 for the chicken. We could only count three measly slices of chicken. And the person sitting to my other side ordered the Italian crumbles had nothing noticeable or resembling of sausage taste. The Vodka, which sounds too full of itself to be called vodka ala penne, had a sauce that was very heavy, yet watery. How does that work?

And I feel bad for my other friend who ordered some pasta with added shrimp. They lost all sense of appetite when they bit into a shrimp and it was chewy. No. It was not over cooked. It was in fact, undercooked and mushy. They are not like myself, and didn’t say anything. They picked a few pieces of pasta, and stopped eating altogether.

The food looked good. It looked appetizing. But looks only get you so far. The same goes for the entire restaurant, decor and environment.

I do not see myself ever returning to this place. I would never even recommend this eatery. Going to my fair share of (american) italian restaurants, this place has definitely found its way to the very bottom of the list. Now I’m not saying Olive Garden is any better than this place, but what I’m saying is Delmonico’s down the road is worth the switch. Do go here if you want below average wait staff, long waits, and over priced, inedible food...

I definitely give Pasta Pane a 4 star...wish it could have been a 5...this was my second time coming here and was carrying out. I travel from out of town and was so impressed by the food on my first visit, that when I came back thru the area, I knew I wanted to grab some take out. When I called to place my order, the young lady I talked to was very nice. She did not have the answers to all of my order questions and had to place me on hold. I wanted to add a special sauce to my entree and she quoted me a $3 upcharge for that, which I was just fine with. Then I had another question, she placed me on hold and a man came back on the line. It seemed like he was taking over because the young lady was struggling with my order. He was slightly abrupt, confirmed my order and then said, "credit card #?" He didn't offer me a total not did he ask my name. I was so taken aback by his tone, that I gave the # without asking the total. When I arrived to pick up, I was given a credit card slip to sign..it had a $6 upcharge instead of $3. I was a little aggitated at the difference but at that point it was too late anyway. I signed and waited for my order to be done. The sweet young lady that checked me out, ended up getting the additional charge removed from the upcharge. The way the whole thing was handled by the man that was on the phone and at the hostess station was less than stellar and I was thinking that I may never come back here. HOWEVER, once I tasted my food, I was BLOWN away by the flavor and quality! It was OUTSTANDING! This is the only reason I will try Pasta Pane one more time, my next trip thru town which is not until October. Hopefully there will be an improvement in the way these types of things are handled by the man that I...

Birthday Dinner.

Coming off of two flights back to Albany, I wanted to finish my Birthday on a restaurant I've not yet visited but really wanted to try. Que Pasta Pane, which opens too late for me to add it to my regular Friday dinner lineup.

Too a little bit for a table to be cleared, around 7-10 minutes, but afterwards we got inside and seated. Placing our orders quickly after, we nibbled on the complimentary bread and sipped out tap water while we waited.

Noticed the glasses for the water both had scuff marks inside from a dishwasher, and they had a wet dog smell to them which comes from a dishwasher that needs to be run with cleaner. So I'd reccomend they do that, because it was pretty stinky.

Not too quickly but not too slowly our orders were brought out. I went with the Mezzanine Otero, my father's GF ordered the salmon, and my father a caprese salad. Since it was my birthday my father took the bill before I could get a look at it, but the menu showed that prices weren't all that outrageous for the dish sizes.

Think I could have gone with the half portion of the Mezzanine Otero, as it was quite a lot for one guy suffering from jet lag, but man was it good. Creamy, a rich tomato flavor, bursts of tangy sundried tomato bits, and the super savory chicken. My father and his GF both really enjoyed their dishes too, with all of us agreeing that these were some of the best meals we've had in a while.

Also got to check out the bathrooms while we were there, and wow, walking inside it was like I walked into someone's personal cabin. There was mood lighting, scented candles, soft music, rustic decorations, it was a lot but it did the job.

Overall, great food, acceptable prices, stinky water glasses,...