Walking in the restaurant seemed pretty busy and loud even though we went later at night. The volume speaks to the popularity of the place which seems to be a good thing. We were promptly seated and though there were plenty of open tables, were sat next to an occupied table. The tables are set fairly close to each other and as I discovered throughout the night that it was loud not necessarily because it was busy but because there were no “soft” textures throughout to absorb sound.
The menu was very appetizing, with many available options. Then the server comes around to tell us about the specials and throws a curveball out there…a veal chop finished on the rotisserie. I was going to go with the rotisserie duck but after the veal description I had to order that. It was served with a cilantro-type chimichuri sauce on the side and potatoes and carrots. When I got the food, I tried the veal chop first. It was surprisingly bland. It was well salted, but there was just nothing that stood out for me. Sadly the flavor was not imparted on the other items either as the vegetables seemed to be missing that extra oomph. The chimichuri sauce was ok, but my inherent dislike of cilantro made me not care for it that much. I had such high hopes for the dish and it just let me down in regards to flavor.
Sadly, I am going to give this a 2 of 5. I really wanted to like this restaurant because of the good reviews it had and the popular atmosphere, but recounting my meal made me think otherwise. My coworkers pasta (which I usually don't care for) was actually pretty tasty. It was penne with chicken, broccoli, tomatoes, in a creamy sauce. I would want to try Parkside again to see if the food was always marginal or if it was just this meal.
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| Looks good, lacked flavor |
76 S Main St
Providence, RI 02903
Soft textures for sound absorption - that's that nugget of wisdom I expect in every mgofood post.
ReplyDeleteBummer on the veal. You've mentioned your dislike for cilantro before, I'm not a big fan either. Seems like it's all over the place lately - cilantro/skyr dip in Iceland for my potato chips? Meh.
Yeah, pretty unusual for you mention pasta at a restaurant as a good thing. Question - if you were to make your own pasta, how would you go about it? What would you build around, sauce (red/white cream), meat (sausage/chicken/beef/etc), or the pasta shape? Like if you were forced to do an Olive Garden build your own pasta, what would you get?
Have you eaten at Roast yet? If so, what did you think? If not, you wanna try it out?
one pasta dish i make is real simple. brown sausage in olive oil, when thats cooked add in garlic, penne, and crushed red pepper. mix in broccoli rabe if desired. done. quick pasta with oil base is good for me.
ReplyDeleteanother is spaghetti cabonara (sp). friend introduced it to me a while ago. crisp bacon to start. when spaghetti is done, mix in garlic, bacon grease, eggs, and cheese (mixture should be creamy consistency). warm spaghetti will cook egg enough. top with bacon.
i have had Roast, pretty good meal but my ribeye was covered in a green onion puree. i asked the server if i should order it with it and they said it was mild and would not effect the flavor too much. it did, i scraped it off...