Sometimes, the family owned restraraunt just ain't as good as the chains...
Had a pretty disappointing meal at what I always thought was a hometown favorite, DiPietro's restaraunt in West View.
Picked up Ms. T and the boy in Oakland around lunch, and stopped there for lunch, since I had been there a few times in the past and thought it was OK, plus we had one of those "Entertainment" coupons for a free lunch entree.
After we walked in past multiple signs advertising "Lunch specials starting at $5.99" with our BOGO (limit $5) coupon, I took a look at the menu. Rather than being a buy one get one free coupon, the $5 off won't cover half of an entree, or buy a sandwich. In fact, the only evidence I see of anything on the "lunch menu" that can be bought for $5.99 is a special on the chalkboard for a $5.99 "turkey melt."
Ms. T's meal seemed fine to me, but my $12 plate of raviolis was really a half-plate of food, and while I had no complaint about the food quality, there's no way my pasta did not come out of a bag straight from Sysco foods. Similarly, the Boy's $9 meal of chicken fingers was obviously just out of a box (not that all kid's meals from every restaraunt in town aren't freez-dried microwaved rip-offs). And I guess they were just losing too much money on the $4 Iced teas, as they were watered down to about half-strength.
All in all, The $45 bucks I paid didn't get me a meal that was near as good as one of those "Evil Corporate Chains" (like Olive Garden), and was actually probably more at the level of Pizza Hut pasta.
I need to find some restaraunts that, well honestly, aren't complete rip-offs.
:-(