A few years ago we loved this basement Italian place in Evanston because of its college feel. Tonight we went there to find that the place has gone down. Our waiter told us, as he gave us the check, ""total waste of money"". He obviously wasn't a very good waiter -so that covers the service. My dinner was not good, I had the garlic scallops which had absolutely no garlic in the recipe. My date had the shrimp and scallops Alfredo and she was disappointed. I tried the alfredo and it was much better than the not-garlic scallops, but was thin in the flavor department. The wine of the day, a temprenillo was very good. As we tried to keep a positive attitude we struggled with a screaming baby at the next table. It is a bit cacophonous down there as evidenced by the spray-painted noise-reducing foam that is staple-gunned to the ceiling. (Enough people must have complained.) The bread wasn't good, and even the olive oil tasted funny. The same strange thinness that my dinner had, perhaps made from the same low-quality oil. You'd expect that an Italian restaurant of any caliber at least carry some decent olive oil. Overall, kind of bleh. I could make better pasta at home.
Pros: Wine.
Cons: Everything else.
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