Azzareli’s Italian Restaurant

Azzareli’s Italian Restaurant
22764 Westheimer Parkway #600
Katy, Texas 77450
281.395.9010
http://www.azzarellis.com/

Date:  Thursday, August 07, 2008
Guests:  2
Meal:  Dinner

Price:  Average $10-$15 per entree

Ratings:

Overall:  3 stars
Food:  3 stars
Service:  3 stars
Ambiance:  2 Stars

I have heard good things about Azzareli’s and since it came to Katy, I decided to go check it out myself.  My friend and I went there for dinner.  It was a Thursday evening, at approximately 8:00 pm.  The restaurant was busy though not packed and there was a private party also going on in one of the private rooms.  Azzarelli’s is located in a strip center and for where it is located; I think they did a decent job with the ambiance.  However, it was rather loud and there was nothing striking about it.  It was not conducive to a romantic dinner or even intimate friendly conversation.

All in all, it was adequate and that’s about all I can say about the ambiance.  We were seated promptly in a tiny corner table right next to the party room which was cordoned off only by a fabric drape so it was very noisy.  Perhaps if we were seated closer to the center or perhaps if I was not given a menu with food all over it I would have had a better impression of the ambiance. 

The service was fairly decent with the waiter being attentive but not obtrusive.  I had a glass of their house wine which was pretty good and my dinner companion had iced tea.  After looking over the wine menu it seems as if they have a good selection at reasonable prices.  Our drinks were served promptly with a basket of bread and olive oil for dipping.  The bread was very good.  We started with a calamari appetizer which was good but not outstanding.  I’ve had better and I have definitely had worse.  Throughout the night water and iced tea were refilled promptly.

My dinner companion had the lasagna as an entrée.  The lasagna itself was good but the sauce seemed like sugar was added to cut the bitterness…and too much at that.  The portion size for the lasagna seemed a little on the small side as well.  I had the Chicken Triola which is a chicken breast stuffed with Italian sausage, spinach and cheese and topped with a Marsala sauce.  I had high hopes for it.  When it came out it looked and smelled delicious.  It would have been wonderful…except the chicken was way overcooked and dry.  The flavors were great and had the chicken been cooked perfectly it would have been a great meal.  All in all both our reactions to the food was, “eh”.

So, we figured we had a mediocre meal thus far and we might as well get dessert.  We opted to share the dessert trio which consisted of three selections from their dessert tray.  We chose cannolis, banana bread pudding and Italian cheesecake.  This was definitely the highlight of the meal with each selection tasting very good.  My dinner companion liked the Italian cheesecake and my favorite was the banana bread pudding.

We were served the check but then it was mentioned a mistake was made on it and they had to recalculate it.  Total price for our meal was approximately $50.00.  All in all service was good, ambiance was adequate and food could have improved.  But on a positive note I did get the impression that this was not the norm.  I was not turned off by it so much as to never go again but I am definitely not in a rush.  Perhaps next time, though, they will be on their game and I will have a more positive experience.