Having driven 6 hours my wife and I were searching for a local place with a lighter fare. We we within 5 miles of Lou Malnati's so we gave it a try. The ratings looked good but seemed to be heavily focused on Pizza. Neither of us were ready to dive into that slice but we decided to take a chance. The facility has wonderful curb appeal nestled in among a heavy tree lined corner. It is easy to access. We were very impressed with the crowd on a Sunday night at 7 pm. People were ordering takeout and waiting for seating. We were told by the hostess that we would be seated in 15-20 minutes and asked us if we wanted to order on line that we would receive our food faster when we were seated. So we sat down on the old wooden ball park seats to look at the menu and our hostess called us to be seated. Fastest 15 minute wait EVER.
We were seated in a back dining room that was heavily used and nicely appointed. It was clean and the staff was dedicated to setting each table with glass plates, silverware and glasses. Our waiter attended to us almost immediately and supplied us with waters while we looked at the drink menu. That menu was light on drink selections--but not uncommon for a family dining location. We chose a Chianti (only one on the menu)--the Sangria was a close second choice and if I ate here again I would definitely try the Sangria. The Chianti was very nice, rich and medium dry. It would go well with dinner.
We opted for pasta dishes. My wife lives lasagna and she had two choices-- marinara or meat sauce. She chose the latter. When it arrived we understood the choice. The kitchen bakes the noodles and cheese layers than puts the sauces of your choice over top. This could produce a problem with the pasta being dry. And in fact one corner of the pasta suffered from this method. However, the pasta was otherwise nicely cooked, not mushy and stuffed nicely with seasoned Ricotta. The meat sauces was very flavorful and appeared to be a nice mixture of seasons ground meats. My wife, who eats small, ate it all-- a testament to its quality. Moreover, the imperfections made it clear that this is home cooked food.
I ordered the Rigatoni with Chicken in a cream sauce. This restaurant serves wonderful sized portions so you will not go home hungry. The bowl was loaded. Lou Malnati's mother would have been proud. The chicken pieces were nicely browned and tasty and there was plenty of chicken. I really enjoyed the slices of fresh Parmesan cheese shaved into the dish. My only disappointment was in the sauce. I was expecting a slightly heavier cream sauce with a bit more flavor. But it was otherwise nicely done. There was so much I had to send the plate back with food in it--an unusual experience.
My final comments concern price and clientele. The food is nicely priced and you get more than your money's worth. I noticed we were one of only a few tables ordering drinks. Had we not purchased wine we would have dined for under $20. That is unusual in this day and time for this quality. I also lived the diversity if the clientele. So wonderful to see so many peoples with so many diverse cultural heritages sharing the same space over good food.