Not Here: Cafe Pasta

Café Pasta –

305 State Street, Greensboro  NC 27408

We chose Café Pasta as the perfect place to have our 1st anniversary dinner.   It’s located just a few blocks from our house and we had a great new year’s dinner there.   It still has the ambiance of a jazz bar but is cozy enough for dinner.   They offer free event space and had a wedding party in the upstairs space during our visit.   

The menu arrived on an oversized, one-sided piece of well-worn card stock.   The menu had obvious signs of wear and what appeared to be oil stains.  I expect better first impressions from lower-end chains.  

For our appetizer, we selected the Tuscan Oil Dip which is listed as a blend of spices, garlic and cheeses.   It arrived in an au gratin dish with a side of assorted rolls.   I was delighted to find that this was not your typical seasoned oil dipper.  It was more like marinara mixed with olive oil and cheese.  My excitement quickly diminished as I found the cheeses were powdered parmesan and pre-grated asiago.  The dish was also chilled and may have tasted slightly better having been warmed at least to room temperature.   The accompanying rolls were stale, tasteless, and semi-frozen in the center.

My boyfriend chose the Filet Oscar which he’d enjoyed during our new year’s dinner.  The filet was ordered at medium but arrived glaringly rare, without crab meat topping, and lacking hollandaise sauce.   Our server quickly returned the plate to the kitchen and apologized for the oversight.   Unfortunately on its second arrival, the plate was equally disappointing.   The filet, now re-cooked, was dry.   The crab meat topping was brown and severely discolored.    Needless to say the crab was not eaten.   The hollandaise sauce was curdled and looked like chunky lemon pudding.   This meal should not have been served to any guest under any circumstances.   The visual clues alone should have been enough for someone in the staff to ask quality related questions.  I was disappointed that the chef allowed it to leave the kitchen and that the server paid such little attention to the plate she carried.

I selected the chef’s special risotto with shrimp, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms and parmesan cheese.  My entree arrived semi warm and did not look like the creamy dish I am accustomed to.  I was offered a topping of preshreded parmesan cheese.   Even olive garden has freshly grated cheese!  My risotto, if you could call it that, was essentially sticky rice topped with sautéed mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and under cooked shrimp.  There was no creamy sauce; the risotto was literally like paste.  The one and only shrimp I dared to taste, was under cooked and was less than fresh. 

The restaurant owner stopped by our table several times and commented that I had not eaten my shrimp.   My boyfriend mentioned that they were undercooked.   The owner summoned our server and asked that she give me a dessert on the house.   We found it interesting that there was no mention of my problem entrée.   Who said I wanted dessert anyway?   Never one to turn down dessert, I selected the tiramisu.   It arrived perfectly chilled and was the best tasting part of my meal.  The mascarpone cheese was nicely whipped and the sponge cake was laced with just enough coffee liqueur.  

Overall our meal at Café Pasta was a bust.   We were disappointed that the meal was so terrible while our experience just a few weeks ago was so good.  We’ve vowed to never go back.  On our next anniversary we'll go out for pizza.

1/28/2010