We decided to try the Camp Hill location with a party of 6 for my fathers birthday, he wanted Italian food, my (vegetarian) brother recommended this place, and this will be the LAST recommendation we take from him.
I was shockingly surprised at just how bad this place was considering all of the awards they boast. I had lobster ravioli ? which wasn?t horrible - 2 pieces had a really poor fishy taste, the other 3 pieces were very bland, no seasoning ? the alfredo sauce was average. They serve a salad on the plate, a cold salad on a hot plate with hot food and sauce ? most of the salad was cooked and wilted. This was 16 bucks, not impressed.
My mother gets what she always gets, spaghetti and marinara sauce. I noticed she could not eat it, she asked if I would like some, and I agreed. This was the worst marinara sauce I have ever had, and after dinner that was my mothers remark also. No flavor, no tomato flavor at all, just harsh garlic ? and it was swimming in grease. I have had better sauce in jars. This is inexcusable for an Italian restaurant - the foundation of your business should be your sauce ? Nona would smack you silly for serving that, shame.
My wife got a shrimp salad, which she remarked wasn?t horrible either, but I tasted some of the shrimp (which were cooked perfectly) but had a flavor of chlorine bleach- yuk. (a tactic some fisheries use to hide a fishy smell) After I detected the taste, my wife noticed it also ? it wasn?t super prevalent, but noticeable none the least.
They serve what they call ?pizza bread? 2 slices of plain pizza crust that is baked off. This was the worst bread offering we have ever had. The ?bread? was tough and chewy and without flavor - the bread was not risen at all ? flat ? it was neither crispy or soft and doughy or inviting. A seemingly good idea that is not executed well at all.
My dad got salmon, again he really had little to say, his salad had the same cooked wilted thing going on. He did tell my mom that he was very disappointed and will not go there again. Really the service we had left a lot to be desired. The waiter was obviously rushed, we felt he was in a always in a rush to be somewhere else. He was not really friendly and was hard to understand as he seemed a sort of Latino and did not take kindly to being asked to repeat himself.
This place looks real nice, I used to frequent Hardings many many times, I know the interior of that place was shot. Knowing this I was really surprised at just how nice this place looks, as we were waiting for our food I was impressed at the flocks of locals walking in from all over the neighborhood and thought we were in for a treat. Wow if this is what passes for good Italian food these days it is a crime. I do not know how this place won all of those awards ? there must not have been any competition.
I feel I have to make some further remarks ? I have never reviewed a restaurant before. We were shocked and appalled with our meal. In my opinion Italian food is difficult to screw up, I can?t ever recall walking away from Italian feeling ripped off. Some are better than others - but never awful. The prices here are above average, and it obvious to anyone who eats out a lot ? they are cutting corners (and expenses) at the customers detriment. We did not eat pizza ? maybe that is better (it seemed like lots of folks were eating it) ? most of the other wait staff we came in contact with seemed nice and friendly.
I am sorry to have to write this bad review - but I also didn?t think it was possible for a higher end Italian place to screw up plain spaghetti.
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