Comments on: Piazza Italia

By: MelodyAnn

MelodyAnn — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:11:08 +0000

Get the mussels here! (I used my empty shells as more functionable soup spoons for the broth). I have to admit I have only had one dish here because it’s so good I haven’t been able to branch out. Chicken breast stuffed with procuitto, smoked gouda and basil served over house made pasta cooked to perfection. Just do it.

By: MoFood

MoFood — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:52:14 +0000

So, I’ll beg to disagree slightly with some of the most positive reviews here. I went here with a friend for dinner on 12/23. Ambiance is indeed nice. I did like the bread and cooked garlic. I also enjoyed my soup-of-the-day: some sort of tomato bisque.

However, both my dinner partner and I were not impressed with our main dishes. I had a house specialty with napolitano sauce (didn’t see it on the menu online- I think it was tortellini?). My dinner partner had the ravioli ricotta. Both of us found our dinner dishes very bland. Pasta quality itself was good, but very little flavor in the sauce, which for me, is the most important part.

I noticed the main review commented positively about the eggplant parmigiana- I thought about getting that, but it’s $13. That seems excessive when you can get good eggplant parmigiana for much less from less-fancy places like Durham Pizza and Pomodoro and others in the area.

Between the comparatively high price and not-great sauces, I wasn’t impressed- would give it a 2.5 out of 5. But maybe it was a bad day?

By: jenn air grills

jenn air grills — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:17:35 +0000

Excellent pictures – soooo tasty looking.

By: Nando

Nando — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:14:01 +0000

I agree. Pasta is one of the cheapest ingredients in a kitchen and cooking it for 4 minutes in barely boiling water isn’t hard, either. To a restaurant, a fresh pasta dish with pomodoro (tomato) sauce costs less than $3 (even less if it’s not fresh pasta). Add a few dollars for fixed costs and the rest is pure profit.

A hole in the wall, where the esthetics aren’t important and the wait staff is minimum, would be a great addition. There should be no reason to sell a pasta dish (with tomato sauce) for more than $7.95, add a dollar for other sauces such as Bolognese or pesto, and $3 if you want a whole chicken breast.

By: apathy

apathy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:35:25 +0000

I agree, I also don’t know when 9-12$ for lunch became cheep. I don’t think I would describe anything even remotely near brightleaf as a hole in the wall.

I wish I could think of italian food that I’ve had in Durham or Raleigh that would be worth recommending, but nothing has been spectacular, or worth a revisit. Although it has inspired me to perfect the few italian dishes I can make myself, which is pretty awesome.

By: TSQ75

TSQ75 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:27:41 +0000

holy crap that sounds yummy even at 9am

By: YAR

YAR — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:42:47 +0000

I remember hearing and reading about a place in Pittsboro that was supposed to have great pasta, but I never made it there. I think it was Our Neighborhood School & Pizzeria, and it was probably from this post on Delicious Durham that I read about it. Anyone been lately?

By: mmmyummy

mmmyummy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:47:59 +0000

Their squid ink linguine + wild mushroom marsala sauce = amazing.

By: MEZ

MEZ — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:29:33 +0000

Point taken. I thought Pulcinella’s was cheaper but looking at the menu now, you’re right, it’s about $10 minimum an entree. The ambiance is hole-in-the-wall, though!

By: JS

JS — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:52:36 +0000

I don’t think people know what “hole in the wall” means. The recommendations above are all $10-15 for just the pasta entree. Should be something like $5-6 for a huge plate of orecchiette or cavatelli with sausage or meatball. Maybe I’m just spoiled with the plethora of dirt cheap Italian joints when I visit the folks – entree as noted above, couple pints of crappy beer (or cheap table wine), fried longhots, antipasto, lots of bread; $10 per person with tax and tip, followed by one hell of an afternoon nap. And the ambiance is pretty much the opposite of Olive Garden.

We have holes in the wall here, just not any serving Italian food.