We really enjoyed our meal of spaghetti and italian sausage with a side of fried spinach — sorry to hear that it’s closing down.
Xerxes N.
Évaluation du lieu : 4 Virginia Beach, VA
Unilocal stalking led me to see that one of my housemates was at The Pasta Bowl through the mobile check in feature. I responded with a suggestion to try the fried spinach and to tell the owner, PD, I said hello. After a day full of meetings all day with an empty stomach I came home with an offer from the housemate to have ½ of her spaghetti from The Pasta Bowl. Oh heck yeah! I only took a 1⁄3 and the spaghetti. It was pretty damn good. I wanted more… The meatball was large and still tender and the sauce had a good thickness to it. I did see the fried spinach container in our trash can. It was empty. :(I would have been happy with half of that!!!
Kaitlin E.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Chesapeake, VA
We had a lovely dining experience at The Pasta Bowl. My bf and I took my parents here while they were in town visiting. Petey owns and operates the restaurant. He is jovial and carried on a conversation with us off and on throughout the dinner. All of the food was fresh and delicious. We ordered two glasses of wine, two beers, two lasagnas, pesto penne, and chicken parmigiana. As to be expected, fresh bread was served in a basket and we were offered a second basket also. The total was around $ 70, not bad. One very interesting side they serve is fried spinach. They are delicious little soft yet crunchy spinach leaves lightly sprinkled with salt and grated cheese. It smells sooo goood.
Pat G.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Virginia Beach, VA
Simply delicious. We each had a glass of wine and house salads, they were yummy with a mix of delicious lettuces. My plateful of mussels were yes, simply delicious with a broth of bacon and tomatoes. It was served with grilled bread. The hit was the fried spinach. It is ‘flash fried’ and dissolved on your tongue, I have never had anything like this. My husband, who hates spinach, had mouths full of it. He had mostacholi with Italian sausage. It was so hot that it would give you a first degree burn if any fell off your fork and landed on your arm. I’m not talking spice hot, I’m talking 450 degree oven hot. We like our hot food hot, not luke and this did not disappoint. We also shared the fried ravioli as an appetizer. Our server was very attentive and helpful with our selections. She was there when we needed her and invisible when we didn’t. We will definitely be going back. With tax: $ 48.07
Vanessa G.
Évaluation du lieu : 2 Norfolk, VA
Let me start by saying there are still several good qualities about this restaurant such as the food, the location and the owner, Petey. However, after my experience with bringing my Meetup group here on Friday, I will sadly never return. There were a series of rude incidents by one of the waitresses directed at myself and my group of friends all throughout the evening. From the time we arrived, this waitress did not make us feel welcome, more like an inconvenience, even though we had made the reservation weeks in advance. We were excited to be there regardless, because Petey had graciously given our group a 20% discount on the food and I had told all my friends what a great place it was. We had 30 in our group(50 had RSVP’ed but 30 was still a good turn out, because it was more than half), but were not allowed at move the tables closer together so that we could enjoy each other’s company. It seemed the more people that arrived, the more annoyed the waitress became, which was confusing to us because we thought she would be glad to be getting more business. I ordered a glass of Moscato which was very good and I ordered the grilled salmon, which was mostly good and the bread and dessert were delicious as always. My friend Wade and his roommate were the last to arrive and Wade understandably wanted to sit alone with his roommate because he’d had a long flight with long delays and wanted to enjoy a more quiet experience, which was totally fine with us. I reminded him, just as I reminded everyone else about the discount on the food. A few minutes later, I was in a conversation with Dan, when I heard someone yelling my name. I immediately turned thinking it was an emergency. It was the waitress summoning me to tell me something. I excused myself from the conversation with Dan and went to her. She told me that Wade and his guest would not get the discount because they were separate from the group. I told her that they are part of the Meetup group and she still insisted that they would not get the discount. Although I was baffled by her tone and what she was saying, I just told her I would let them know and finished my conversation with Dan. I had never in my life been interrupted, reprimanded and spoken to so rudely by a waitress at dinner. Especially surprised because I felt I was helping by bring a bunch of my friends to. If we had not been there, the place would have had a sparse number of customers. I then went to Wade and his roommate and apologized about the discount. They are both very easy going and told me they were not upset with me or even about not getting the discount, but that they were upset by the waitress’ approach and that she had been very rude to them. His roommate told me she would never come back. I then went back to finish up my dinner when someone from another table(part of our group) came to our table and let us know that his table had not even gotten their dinner yet, as we were finishing up ours. Again, I know we had 30 people, but it wasn’t a surprise that we were coming — what would they have done if all 50 people came? Even after all this I was still willing to give them another chance and just come back for small business lunches because I like Petey so much. However, I found out that this waitress has been complaining about our group to other customers and even went so far as to say that I was lying about Wade being a member of the Meetup group just to get them the discount! I just cannot fathom someone being so unprofessional as to complain to customers about other customers and to call me a liar. The only reason I am giving them 2 stars instead of 1 is that Petey is the best, the food is great and location is great. Regrettably, I will not be returning with any of my friends or even by myself.
Amita R.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Herndon, VA
This place was so wonderful to our large group. I called a few weeks in advance to make a reservation for 32 people and when we got there, we couldn’t have asked for better service. Their entire staff was welcoming and super nice. We had a bunch of people in our group that were vegetarians and they were easy able to accomodate any special requests we threw their way. And as for the rest of the menu, it was superb. I think between our entire group, we must have tried almost all the items on the menu and no one complained about their food. Everyone had a great time and were happy with their meals. If /When I’m back in Virginia Beach, I would love to go back to this place.
Hillary B.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Virginia Beach, VA
My son(picky eater) and I ate ate there tonight and the services was great and so was the food. Friendly fast service!!!
Shannon W.
Évaluation du lieu : 4 Virginia Beach, VA
We had a fantastic time at this little place we came across in VB. I really liked how light the pizza was and the service made the whole night! Great place, we will go back! If your looking for a fancy Italian place, this is not the place for you. Just a casual place with good food /great service.
Jennifer K.
Évaluation du lieu : 2 Norfolk, VA
Disappointed. After reading so many awesome reviews about this place, I really expected more. I’m really sad that I didn’t like this place more because I’m a total Italian food junkie. Spaghetti? You really can’t go wrong. Service was OK. I really was not that impressed. I’m not sure if the waitress we had was that experienced, but she obviously seemed rushed(which was odd because there was practically no one there) and was not that attentive. The bread was alright, but not in my opinion the best bread I’ve ever had. It would have been nice to have olive oil and seasonings to dip the bread into or some type of garlic butter to spread on. The salads were pretty tasty. Fresh greens, fresh veggies — interesting take on the pickled onions. The entrees were what I was most disappointed in. Both my dad and I ordered spaghetti with meatballs. It came with cheese on top, but it was that caked pre-shredded cheese that never melts. Weird. The noodles were cooked perfectly, but the marinara sauce was bland. I have read and was told that all of there dishes are homemade and I’m not suprised, just not impressed with the favor of the sauce. The meatballs were definitely tender and cooked perfectly, but the flavor was strange. I ate half of one and could not bare to eat the rest. I did finish the pasta though. That was not terrible, but not impressive in my opinion. I just really was not blown away by the food. I do plan on coming back though because I always try to give places a second chance. It seems like a promising place if they can bump up the flavor. Fingers crossed they do! I just love Italian food too much not to like this place!
Steven A.
Évaluation du lieu : 2 Virginia Beach, VA
After reading so many positive reviews of The Pasta Bowl from fellow Unilocalers, I decided to take my family to this restaurant for dinner on Mother’s Day. I don’t want to be a negative nelly right out of the gate so here are the positives. The fried artichoke hearts with horseradish cream were excellent. We have always enjoyed artichoke hearts since we lived in California but never thought to fry them up like that. Its true that deep frying makes everything taste better. The concept of combining the two shows a flash of genius. The Lasagna was a showcase. It ranks right up there with what you get at Mannino’s and the owner, who was very active in the dining room through most of our meal, was clearly very proud of it. He beamed when my daughter told him how much she liked it. This is definitely a signature dish but is only available Friday through Sunday so plan accordingly. The fried spinach side dish and the Unilocal check in discount(50% off a second entrée if you check in during your visit) are also worth mentioning. Now for the not so good. Its a little tough to administer these lashings since this is clearly an independent business with an owner who is proud of his restaurant. All things that I look for in the restaurants where I choose to spend money. But I have to be honest. There were several missteps during our experience. First, the service. Our waitress must have been new since she was clearly nervous and flustered from the minute we sat down. We were only the second party sitting for dinner service when we arrived. Granted, they got slammed a little later with the entire restaurant filling up in about a ten minute timeframe. But in the beginning of our stay this was not the case. With a nearly empty dining room it took our waitress ten minutes to bring drinks and then take our order. She never picked up the menus and they stayed on the table for the duration of our meal. Plates also were not cleared in a timely fashion, which gets annoying quickly. Drink refills did happen on a fairly regular basis, though. For my entrée I chose the Shrimp Scampi, which when done correctly is a favorite of mine. I love the traditional method of preparation with lots of garlic, olive oil(or butter… or BOTH!) parsley, lemon and seasoning. Maybe even some crushed red pepper if you want to play slap and tickle with my palate. When done correctly this simple dish is so much more than the sum of its parts. What I got at the Pasta Bowl was a heavy cream based sauce that had already started to congeal by the time it was put in front of me. It was more like a thick alfredo sauce then what I think of as Shrimp Scampi. Also, instead of linguini I got angel hair, which was so thin that it had overcooked by the time I took a bite. No texture whatsoever. The only positive note is that the shrimp were a decent size and cooked perfectly. There is clearly somebody in the kitchen with some skills. When the owner came to the table and asked me how it was I said«I have never had a cream based scampi…» at which point he injected, «And this is so much better isn’t it?» Well… no. This place has some noteworthy triumphs but is not yet firing on all cylinders. I think we will give it a few months before we try it again.
Paula S.
Évaluation du lieu : 4 Virginia Beach, VA
Really good food and service, casual environment.
Rick S.
Évaluation du lieu : 4 Virginia Beach, VA
I think The Pasta Bowl has been open about 5 months, and is unfortunately in a Pembroke location that has a bit of a checkered past. Not a bad neighborhood — just a number of poor to average restaurants that have preceeded it at this spot. Having said that, we found the new place to be nicely rejuvinated inside, with a new bar, white linen tablecloths on new tables, pleasant pictures and plants, and a very friendly new owner(from India) and interested waitstaff. The restaurant makes a real effort at food preparation, and we found everything to be fresh and flavorful. We tried their red sauce(with eggplant parmesan, and lasagna, which is only available on the weekends), and found it to be rich and heavy with oregano. The limited menu contains the usual American italian dishes, with only a osso bucco being a little off the beaten path. The house salad was fresh and served with pickled onions, which I don’t see too often. The desserts were also a bit limited, with no cannolis being offered, and the tiramisu being served frozen. The real hit of the night was the bill. Bread, 2 salads, 2 entrees, 2 teas, for $ 33.00 before tip — about the same as we spend at our favorite mexican place these days. Here, we had a nice, quiet environment, white tablecloths, a candle on the table, fresh and flavorful veggies, great red sauce, several nice conversations with the owner and our server, and a generally pleasant hour+ of chatting and dining. I’m hopeful that the restaurant may mature over time into a place with more variety and more sophisticated food offerings, but, as it is now, it’s a very pleasant spot to have a meal when you’re looking for basic but fresh italian at a very reasonable price.
Emily R.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Sasebo, Japan
GO. HERE. NOW! Do not drive past this place without stopping at least once. As many locals know, the ownership of this particular location has changed many times in the past, but I firmly believe The Pasta Bowl is here to stay. We started with the fried artichoke hearts as an appetizer. They were lightly fried with a seasoned batter and came with a horseradish dipping sauce. They came out smoking hot and were delicious. The Man had Shrimp Scampi, and it would’ve beat out all other competitors in the local newspaper’s recent taste test. Large plump tail on shrimp over perfectly sauced linguine infused with a nice kick of garlic and Parmesan. I had the Vodka Shrimp. Again, large plentiful shrimp in a fantastic tomato cream sauce. The sauce was just the right consistency to sop up with the free Parmesan bread served when we sat down. The side of fried spinach was unlike anything I’ve eaten, but very addictive. Another reviewer posted that they were like chips, and that’s fairly accurate. Thin, light, parmesan spinach«chips» that melted in your mouth. The picky kid had the classic Fettuccine Alfredo. There were no leftovers on his plate, which says a lot. This kid eats like a bird, but is a noodle connoisseur, so no leftovers was a significant indicator of taste. He said it made his favorites list. Other kid had Mussels Provencal. The mussels were medium sized and came swimming in a flavorful broth. It was a tad salty for our tastes, but had a nice subtle bacon flavor from the ingredients. Not usually a dessert ordering family, we were sold on the Frozen Tiramisu and carrot cake when they said homemade. The carrot cake was moist, frosting was just the right sweetness, and the slice was huge. The tiramisu was different being frozen, but all the right flavors were there. The kids loved it. From the moment we walked in, to the moment we waddled out, the owner and staff were welcoming, funny, and just downright friendly! Everything is delicious and made to order. The pride of small business ownership is evident, and my family will be enthusiastic supporters!
Danielle B.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Norfolk, VA
At first I was unsure if my boyfriend had lost his mind when he took me to this restaurant, but it was the perfect choice for two! The welcome we received when we first walked in was very welcoming, which continued through out the night. The Pasta Bowl is a genuine mom and pop place. The owners make the food from scratch, which make the food like no other Italian place in town! When we sat down the waitress brought us fresh bread. It was sooooo good. I am an avid bread lover and I would give their bread a 10 out of 10! I had the shrimp fettuccine alfredo dish for my entrée, which was gone in seconds! The desert was to die for. We had their home made chocolate cheese cake. The flavors just melted in your mouth. My boyfriend and I left the restaurant completely satisfied! The restaurant is spacious and would not mind if you brought the entire family!
Cynthia B.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Virginia Beach, VA
One of the best kept secrets in the Beach!!! The food was fresh and delicious — from the crisp house salad — to the freshly baked bread — to the scrumptuous entrees. The waiter and waitress were very friendly and informative. The prices were very reasonable and there was plenty to eat. Please visit The Pasta Bowl at your earliest convienience… you will not be disappointed. By the way — the chicken alfredo was tremendous!!!
Allison L.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Virginia Beach, VA
Based on all of the incredible reviews and the proximity of this restaurant to where we live, I have been dying to get out there and try it. My husband and I dined there with another couple who had also never eaten there before. When we checked in to Unilocal,there was a deal for 50% off your second entrée, so be sure to check in when you go! I’m not sure how long this deal with last. We had made reservations since we were dining on a Saturday evening, but they weren’t necessary. The restaurant is small, but it was not busy. I am sure this will change very soon as this place was amazing. The bread was very tasty. A friend and I both had the cheese ravioli with white sauce, my husband had the lasagna(which is only available Friday, Saturday and Sunday), and our other friend had the eggplant parmesan. We were all very pleased with our meals. The veggie of the day was fried spinach, which was essentially spinach chips topped with some cheese. It was surprisingly delicious. For dessert, the choices were tiramasu, cinnamon and clove cheesecake, and carrot cake. Even though we were all stuffed, we just could not resist. We got the cheesecake and the carrot cake, and like our meals, they did not disappoint. Such a great way to end our evening. They do have a kids’ menu. This would be a good place to take the kids for lunch. The service was very friendly and we were informed that every single thing is made fresh at the restaurant. All four of us look forward to getting back here soon.
Kayre H.
Évaluation du lieu : 4 Atlanta, GA
This place is amazing. Came here last night and had the ‘Chicken Pepper Cheese.’ I know… sounds very classy, right? But it was chicken with onions, mushrooms, bell peppers and pepperoncini peppers in a creamy sauce and it was very tasty. Also, the portions are HUGE! I didn’t think I would finish it, but it was so good I somehow found a way =). I went with my coworker and he had the basic fettuccine alfredo. Since he doesn’t eat meat, he asked for it with extra vegetables and they were happy to oblige. I’m told it was really good. They somehow talked us into dessert(it wasn’t too hard =)) and he had the bitter sweet cake and I had the carrot cake, which were both good. I don’t eat nuts and was very excited to learn that their carrot cake does not have nuts! The slice was ridiculously large though, and it’s been over 24 hours later and I am still working on it =) The owner took our orders and he was very nice. The food also came out really quickly, and everything is made fresh. My only regret is I’m only in town for a business trip and may never get to come back here again.
Kim B.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Henrico, VA
I had the misfortune of stopping in this location under previous ownership. We waited 10 minutes to be seated in an empty dining room, and only because we yelled multiple times did anyone acknowledge us(my boyfriend and I) waiting to be seated. The tables were covered with red plaid cloth and plastic(like my sister’s bed until she stopped peeing in the middle of the night). The food was blah. The bread wasn’t fresh. Needless to say, I was reluctant to stop in when I saw the name change. After contemplating stopping in for a couple months, I finally made the leap. I cannot tell you how happy I was to give this location a second stop. This is not the same place at all!!! I was greeted with a friendly staff. The plastic has been removed for white linen. The décor and lighting have improved. But that’s not why you’re stopping here. I don’t know what they put in it, but their white(alfredo) sauce is the best I’ve ever had. I had mine covering delicious lobster raviolis(with a side of fried fried spinach, which was delicious and almost chip-like), and the boyfriend enjoyed the chicken alfredo. The bread was delivered straight from the oven, and the women who was serving us made us feel like we were family. Both times I’ve been in, the owner has been in talking with the patrons. You can tell that he cares about the quality of his restaurant and the satisfaction of his guests. The only thing that disappoints me is that I didn’t stop in sooner.
Justin C.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Daytona Beach, FL
This place is very good! The service was amazing! And the owners were on point with the food and service! I would recommend this cozy Italian restaurant to anyone. Will definitely be coming back!
Richie S.
Évaluation du lieu : 5 Virginia Beach, VA
Went by xerxes review everything about this place is good. Happy hr is from 4 to 6