Pasta II

Ate here this evening with my son and father. They both had gnocchi and said it was very good with a wonderful tomato sauce. I had rigatoni with hot sausage. Sauce was very good, could have drained pasta first, but delicious nonetheless. Sausage was good. For an app we had stuffed hot peppers that were to die for. Only gripe is pop in cans that each of us paid for 2cans each. Finally a real Italian restaurant in a predominantly Italian neighborhood.

We stopped in for a bite to eat looking for some pasta for take out. The restaurant is small with about 6 or 7 tables, some for 2 or 3 and a couple for 4. It use to be another restaurant that we had been to once years ago.
Found out it is BYOB for $ 5. Yea!
I had the rigatoni with hot sausage and tomato sauce. The rigatoni was cooked al dente and the hot sausage were very good. I thought the tomato sauce was OK, could use a little more seasoning for my taste. Received some warm buttered bread with the meal. We were talking to the owner and he grew up in the neighborhood and had a shop on the Northside but closed that and then found this space.
Will have to stop back and try the pizza.

Street parking right on Brookline Boulevard– don’t forget to feed the meter!
My friend and I stopped in to this place around 3:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday (we’d skipped lunch, but were hungry, so we figured we’d have «lunner;» I was craving pasta and we saw this place as we were driving by and decided to give it a try).
This is a BYOB establishment with a reasonable $ 2.00 corkage fee (compared to other restaurants in the area I’ve experienced). NOTE: There is a Wine and Spirits store 2 doors down! We weren’t in the mood to have an alcoholic beverage with our meal, so we didn’t take advantage of this perk at this time, though I’m certain I will in the future.
The menu is one page– there are only about 30 items listed. The dining area is small, but clean and quaint.
We were the only customers there (again: it was 3:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday) and there were two gentleman working, one who said he was the owner and (I guess?) the cook. They both greeted us warmly and both took turns serving us– in chatting with them we learned that the special of the day was gnocci, that their sauce and meatballs were «the best,» and that they had only opened about 2 weeks ago.
We ordered a Sprite, water, a tossed salad ($ 4.95), a 7″ Garlic Bread ($ 3.00), spaghetti and meatballs ($ 8.75), and rigatoni with tomato sauce ($ 7.00). Each pasta dish came with plain bread and butter, but we wanted garlic bread too, we were both craving starches.
The food really hit the spot. The salad seemed fresh, the pasta dishes were yummy, the bread was good.
The bill came to $ 27.50 for the two of us. I tipped 20%, even though we weren’t technically served by a server, I wanted to make certain I showed my appreciation.
The only criticisms I have is that I asked for a glass of water and was brought a bottle of water (which I was charged for) and a glass of ice; they don’t have any dessert options, and I didn’t notice any kids’ menu options.
They also offer hoagies and «thick square» Sicilian pizzas, I plan to go back and try that the next time I’m in the area and craving pizza.
It’s not fine dining. If you’re a foodie who needs ambiance in your restaurant, flair in your service, and/​or a lot of pomp and circumstance in the preparation or presentation of your food, you might not enjoy this place.
If you want a good, well-​prepared, reasonably priced, no-​frills meal while experiencing some honest, simple, friendly service, you’ll be very happy patronizing this establishment.