An Italian fare worth looking into... if you are on the way to Sports Authority.
The Italian restaurant picked out was the Palazzo restaurant in Reseda. This little hole in the wall is located on Tampa and Roscoe. The outside is deceptive to the somewhat nicer interior. Don't let the smell of the dumpsters outside color your impressions of the place. While not the greatest Italian food I've tasted, its worth the price of admission if you are in the area.
Breakdown:
Palazzo Restaurant in Reseda.
Environment - 2.5/5 Meatballs
Service - 2.5/5 Meatballs
Food - 2/5 Meatballs
Value - 2/5 Meatballs
Overall - 2/5 Meatballs
Rating: Luigi
Environment:
On arrival, the local restaurants had outgrown their attached lot. As a result, parking was had on a side street - dumpster adjacent. While the exterior was quite dirty with a foul odor wafting about, the interior was much more pleasant. The dining area was clean, acompanied by both classical paintings and classical music. I was going in with a Veal dish in mind, but altered my decision and decided on the Chicken and Sausage Pasta.
2.5/5 Meatballs
Service:
The waiter was courteous and quick. I ordered a soda, but I had to ask to get it refilled. Yes, it sounds snooty - but I should really need to ask. In their defense, though, they didn't have much of a wait staff (only 2 people). Soon after we ordered, our appetizers arrived.
2.5/5 Meatballs
Food:
A. Ling opened up with some Bruschetta. This was accompanied by a complimentary serving of garlic bread. Both were quite decent, nothing to write home about but definitely tasty.
This was followed by my order of minestrone soup which also was a somewhat average affair.
The main course was the chicken and sausage pasta. It arrive in a heavy plate and looked good enough to eat. Following suit, it also was your run of the mill pasta dish. Of course, I wasn't expecting anything mind blowing (being that this is an "Italian" restaurant in the San Fernando Valley). I really couldn't pick the dish out of a line up which means it wasn't bad, but it wasnt great.
2/5 Meatballs
Value:
The value was decent, for the food (just don't order the wine). (Median $14/person; Low $9/person; High $18+/person)
2/5 Meatballs
Overall:
The restaurant is an overall Okay. It's worth checking out if you are on Tampa and Roscoe, but probably not if you are on Tampa and Saticoy. Probably, won't want to take a date here to impress her. But if the love is gone and you are just hungry, give it a shot. You should note that the dishes seem to be hit or miss. While my pasta was decent, A. Ling and A. Acosta's dishes didn't look nearly as good.
2/5 Meatballs
Rating: Luigi (Don't go in expecting Mario or you will be severely dissapointed)
Palazzo Restaurant in Reseda
Palazzo Review
Today's event involved the the fine foods of Italy. The club decided to hit a closer location known as Palazzo - a small Italian restaurant in Reseda. At first glance the location looks pretty ugly - the area around the plaza the restaurant resides in has dim lighting, awful smells and just dirty in general. However upon entering the small business - the place was decorated nicely: a couple paintings, some greenery and even had some "generic" Italian music playing. Interesting enough it was suggested to make a reservation. After doing so I was assuming that it would be packed and busy by the time we arrived. To my surprised the restaurant wasn't full and there were only a couple groups of people inside. Once inside I immediately recognized the table we were assigned for the night. The waiter brought us the menu and the club begin its "epic" search for a dish fit for them.
Now the dishes - Instead of the alway tasty calamari appetizers, this time we went with bruschetta. The appearance of this dish looked pretty common nothing amazing or disappointing. It was dressed with diced tomatoes and light cheese. I honestly was hoping there would have been more cheese on it. The taste itself was fine, after finishing it though I felt we should have order the calamari again. The reason was because we were given a plate of garlic bread or in this case garlic knots - basically garlic bread tied in the fashion of a knot. Although we were got a lot carb like appetizers, this was still tasty itself. Oh to add a couple of us decided to order a glass of wine this time around. Personally was a waste of money for me since I didn't finish it and not much of wine person to begin with. We went with red wine and I believe it was Merlot. I honestly couldn't tell if it was good or not, but I suppose if you don't enjoy the taste then it isn't that good. My main dish was the Chef's Special Pasta. I'm not sure if I read it wrong or if the waiter heard me incorrectly, but there was nothing special about it. The dish itself didn't look at all appetizing - a side of vegetables, 2 slabs of chicken with gravy and mushrooms, and the pasta was light and hidden under the meat. The description of the dish or at least the one I thought was pertaining to it was suppose to have shrimp and calamari. I know - if it wasn't what you thought you ordered then ask about it. I'm a big believer that any complaints made or disagreements about your dish will just end up bad for your next one you wanted. In any event I decided to eat this meal and it was pretty bland. The vegetables did taste the way Albert, a founding member of the club, said "..like it was a package of frozen vegetables that was microwaved." The pasta was even smaller portion than I originally thought and the chicken was dry even with the gravy.
The service was relatively fast, but that could have been due to the small amount of customers. There were only 2 waiters handling everything in the restaurant. No complaints about service - they seem to respond fast to other customers and try to attend to their needs.
The prices of the restaurant are relatively cheap the highest is about $16 - the glass of wine $5. I probably won't be coming to this restaurant to order anything that is labeled as a "special" again, but I will try something more common like my brother suggested next time for a relatively small restaurant. Time for the TALFDC breakdown.
Value 3/5
Service 4/5
Food 1/5
Environment 2/5
Overall 10/20
Rating Meatball
Recommend - I wouldn't recommend this place for its specials, but it seemed fine for the common dishes. Dinner also seemed to be a bit more pricey than lunch, but the overall price wasn't terrible.