Trattoria Express

I previously reviewed Trattoria Romana which is the «fancier» sit down whereas this is more of a deli and takeout spot. Although they have a few tables, I can’t imagine I would dine in — the tables are awkwardly placed between two deli counters. I think I will stick to takeout.
One thing that stood out to me was that staff were much friendlier at this location. The deli cases are set up for success — huge sandwiches stuffed with everything imaginable, pastries & pasta salads and entrees.

I have gone to many restaurants for dinner and the staff here is very accommodating. I have an infant and 2 older children, under the age of 10. Finding a restaurant with great food and having children isn’t always easy. Our waitress brought over extra pencils for the kids to draw on the paper covering the table tops which my kids absolutely loved. My son is a very picky eater and they offered to get him mozzarella sticks and a pizza from their pizzeria (Pizzeria Romana, which has AMAZING pizza!!) And they even walked to the pizzeria to pay our tab there for us. This is now a place we frequent because of the way they treat us and more importantly our kids. If you haven’t tried their harvest sangria, now is the time as it is only offered around this time of the year. You need to try this place everything here is amazing, never has the food disappointed us.

Went here for a quick sandwich to go. Quick is not their strong point. And the menu boards are very confusing. And, they’re pretty pricy.
That being said, the sandwich was amazing… I’ll give them that. And the staff was friendly & professional. Place was very clean too. Also, I feel like the table were a little too close to each other for my comfort.
Base on that, I would come back to try more of their menu… but only when I have more time… and probably just as takeout… lol! Though, I hear the oysters are fantastic. Hmmm… decisions ;-)

This place is legitimately terrible. I seriously do not know how they stay in business, especially since Providence is only 15 minutes away. The only halfway decent thing that I’ve had are the wings. And this is an Italian restaurant. Chicken Marsala — terrible. Dry, anemic piece of chicken. Nasty canned mushrooms and whole cloves of garlic over pasta. Shrimp marinara tastes like someone opened a can of diced tomatoes, mixed in shrimp and served it over pasta. Chicken cacciatore — same except add some bell peppers. Imagine the most bland, tasteless Italian food you’ve ever had. This is worse — and it ain’t cheap! Save your money.

The chicken Parmesan dinner is fantastic… the best around. The prices are a bit high, but nothing exorbitant. Lunch, dinner, and dessert menus are varied and very good.

I’ve been a long time customer of Trattoria Romana and its companion establishments, Trattoria Express and Pizzeria Romana. In fact, today, after having pizza for lunch at Pizzeria Romana, a business colleague and I decided to stop at Trattoria Express for dessert. I will never return. In fact, I will seriously reconsider giving all of these establishments my business– which, as a professional who regularly hosts business functions, is considerable. Why? Today, I witnessed a Trattoria Express employee (I believe she is a manager) shoo away customers asking about their order at the counter only to then come to their table and further tell them that they needed to place a counter order because, «We don’t do table service.» In the midst of this, someone behind the refrigerated cases dropped a bottle which exploded and sent glass flying into the aisle and hitting a departing customer in the leg. Fortunately the customer was wearing jeans so there was no impact. As this employee was berating the customers, there were huge shards of glass sitting on the floor in the aisle leading out of the establishment. One of the shards embedded in a departing customer’s shoe. I spoke up to warn the employee/​manager about the glass and she shrieked at me, «I will take care of it!». She then exclaimed loudly to the employees behind the counter, «What the HELL is wrong with these people today?!?»
I will tell you what is wrong with me: I was trying to prevent your customers from being injured and potentially exposing the restaurant to lawsuits. You were too busy chasing customers away. Your attitude stinks. As a result, you have lost a customer who routinely spends at least $ 500 plus monthly at your establishments. Wow.

Unfortunately I am updating my review from 4 stars to 1 star. It’s not because of the quality. The food is awesome. We used to come here for lunch all the time. Best chicken parm and best meatball sandwich around. The other sandwiches are great. But this last visit was in fact my last visit. I ordered the Chick Parm sandwich and a fountain soda. $ 12.09. That is ridiculous! It’s not even a big sandwich. The prices were reasonable last year. Same cost around $ 8. What’s up with the inflation!!?

After my second visit to this next-​door-​neighbor of Trattoria Romano (TR), I’ve decided it’s a good option to their pricier sister next door but there are some things to consider before you go. The menu is filled with many of the same type of menu items as TR but at a better price. I love that and it made my gift card go that much further. They also have a full liquor license. On my first visit, there wasn’t a single complaint from any of the eight women at my table (that alone should make you visit, right?!) but my visit last night was a little different. My eggplant and veal Parmesan dish was tasty but barely warm. My husband’s short rib ravioli was hot and delicious and filling. The tiramisu was fresh and delicious but my son’s cupcake was dry and perhaps not as fresh as I’d have expected. The bread, now that was incredible! The interior is designed beautifully to be a deli and lunchtime stop that transforms into an evening dinner destination — it has a definite European feel and is bright and cheery as well. There are food items to purchase from the deli case as well as a wide variety of dry pastas and oils to buy as well. A friend bought and tried the quinoa spaghetti and loved it. I’d return but with a little hesitancy until I saw it was going to be like my initial visit.

First, the restaurant was really nice inside. It was really busy at lunch, and the deli cases were filled with a wide variety of cold cuts and prep foods. It all looked great.
The guy ahead of me ordered an Italian sandwich, it sounded good, so I ordered the same. He was offered a choice of regular or hard roll. I had a different server, and was not offered a choice of bread… and just got the regular roll, although I would have asked for the hard roll.
The sandwich was pretty good, except for the sharp stem on a hot pepper ring that was sticking into the roof of my mouth. The stem had the texture of a wooden stick. That stem kinda ruined the enjoyment of eating it a little, like having a thumb tack in your sandwich would. I’ll probably come back again and give it another shot, but I’ll order something different. because, sharp pepper stem aside, the sandwich was just average… especially for the price.

What a great place. Clean, bright, and very inviting. Good was good I had an Italiano sub which was fantastic. Staff was awesome very polite, quick service and thanked me for my business. I would recommend for a quick lunch. Glass cases so you can see their specials or grab a menu and see everything they have to offer. Either way add it to your list of places to try!

Wonderful place! I would recommend you add this to your must try list. We had a group of 16 and they did a wonderful accommodating us. I had the linguini alfredo and it was outstanding. The four cheese ravioli was excellent. The lasagna was to die for. The chicken cacciatore was delicious. We ate so much, we had to order our dessert to go!!!
Our servers were Jenn, Nicole, Ashley, Shane. I recommend you ask for anyone of them.