The first time I went to Caruso's was a couple of years ago to attend a graduation party. I don't remember exactly what I ordered back then, but I believe it was a red sauce pasta dish of some sort. Having been familiar with great Italian food (from cooking it, spending time in Italy, and eating at other good restaurants around the country) I was disappointed with my first visit. The red sauce tasted like it came out of a Chef-boy-R-D jar. I could not understand the hype that this place generated.
Last night, a friend wanted to try Caruso's out, as she had never been before. I was hesitant at first, remembering my first experience. But I thought, ""What the heck I'll give it another shot"". I had heard great things about their pizza. I thought maybe that's the reason people come in droves and not so much for their pasta.
After receiving poor service and waiting 40 minutes for our food, my pizza arrived. I looked down at a blackened and burnt crust and an extremely greasy and oily topping. It didn't look appetizing and all of my hopes quickly faded away. I was so hungry however, that I took a bite. I had been craving pizza for hours after all.
I was shocked. After waiting 40 minutes for a pizza, they couldn't even cook the darn thing right. My pizza dough was extremely undercooked...chewy, runny, and doughy. I took my fork and pushed aside the oily cheese topping to reveal a translucent, runny dough.
I quickly sent the pizza back. Server was unapologetic and wanted to replace my pizza with ""something that was quick and easy. Yeah? Well what if I didn't want quick and easy? I decided on the Carbonera. If you are familiar with Carbonera than you know it's a white sauce dish with bacon and sometimes eggs. White sauce was extremely bland. I kept shaking parmesan cheese over it, hoping it would taste better and mask the blandness. The bacon did not taste like bacon but more like Baconbits!
What more can I say about this place? First time was blah, second time was even worse. Will never go back.
Pros: the part where we left
Cons: just about everything
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