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Review content:
I have long been skeptical about Italian food-I didn't really see the big deal about mounds of noodles smothered with flavorless red sauce and dusty faux-Parmesan cheese that comprises most Americans' exposure to the cuisine of the second greatest food culture on Earth. Of course, I knew there was greatness out there, but I had to smell it, see it, taste it first. Trombino's was a revelation-it actually impressed me. First came the coffee. Unlike most restaurant coffee, which you just know came in little packages of brown dust that produce a beverage closer to motor oil that something a human being should actually drink, this coffee was full-bodied, complex and lustrous-and a good cup of coffee puts me and my palate in a state of readied contentedness that no substance could improve upon. Then came the appetizer-calamari. This old Italian warhorse suffers too much at the hands of the incompetent but this calamari was everything you'd expect-crispy, warm, and, forgoing the more cliched marinara sauce, dizzled with a garlic sauce that was completely delicious. One of the finest appetizers in existence. Then came the entrees-mine was lobster ravioli, with shrimp and lobster sauce. I must say, I have never been given pause by shrimp in this water-starved town, but these were real shrimp-they were not the tasteless crustaceans one gets so used to-they were tiny but filled with that delicious and unmistakable sea taste-slightly briny, salty and breezy. The portion for mine was not huge but after so much bread and calamari, I was quite grateful for this. My fellow diners ordered various things, but I must comment on the mashed potatoes-they were fabulous! I have been raised on honest-to-God, homemade mashed potatoes, and these babies, lightly infused with garlic, were maybe even better than homemade-no packaged mashed potatoes here, I can assure you. I'm running out of characters, but I think I've made my point-go to Trombino's! Now! You won't hate me in the morning.
Pros: Great ambience, food, service
Cons: perhaps a bit pricey for large groups
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