Tutto bene means ‘everything is good’ in Italian. Apparently, it’s also a well known name for restaurants, according to Google. Unfortunately, not everything is good with the Tutto Bene retaurant in our little town of Ames, Iowa.
Opened almost a month ago, the owner’s brother owns a Mexican restaurant, Cazador, which is pretty popular in Ames. Since Cazador is very close to my office, we go there for lunch quite often and was very surprised when we’re told that they’re opening an Italian restaurant. Although Mexican and Italian cuisine both use tomatoes as main ingredient a lot, they’re not quite the same. Mexican food uses tomatoes for the condiments, mostly. While Italian food uses tomatoes mostly as sauces. I did have some hesitation towards the Mexican-owned new Italian restaurant.
So the four of us went to try it out one day for supper. I’ve not been a big fan of Italian cuisine due to my disliking to tomato-based food (except for pizza). But in spite of our family eagerness to be open to try anything new -food especially- plus my daughter is a big fan of pizza and spaghetti while my son’s loving lasagna.
The location is not new to us. It’s located at the former building of Mexican restaurant O’Malley and McGees. Interior-wise there was not a big change; including the seating arrangement. The lighting was not too bright nor too dark. Rather formal table setting with table cloth, tall big wine glass, and real silverware. We were seated rather quickly by a well mannered Mexican waitress. “Alright, this is going to be good,” we thought.
Time to order the food. Hubby chose the antipasto platters for the appetizer, which he claimed as ‘surprised’ to see it on the menu. ‘Surprised’ in a good way; more like ‘impressed’. Antipasto is the right Italian way to start a meal, and it cost $8. I ordered a chicken marsala (it’s ‘pollo marsala’ on the menu) for myself, while hubby ordered some kind of pasta dish. For the kids, we got them spaghetti with meatballs and lasagna.
The food was horrible. Started with the antipasto; the cured shrimp tasted old like ‘meat gone bad’ kind of taste while the marinated vegetables tasted weird. My chicken marsala was disappointing because the chicken felt like like rubber; like it was a frozen chicen breast and nuked in the microwave. They served it with green and red bell peppers, which was the first time for me to see. Hubby’s pasta and Davi’s spaghetti were over cooked, while the meatballs were very chewy and tasted horrible. We were hoping that the lasagna would be better, but it was less than warm and hard to chew. The only thing we could eat was the bread.
Since we couldn’t finish the food and the kids were still hungry, we opted to leave to go elsewhere for dinner. “Would you like a box to take your food home?” the waitress asked. “NO!” hubby and I answered in unison. “No, thank you,” I smiled politely.
On our way home, we turned in to McDonald’s drive thru. Nothing is more reliable than the good ol’ artery clogging Big Mac!
So good old Mac Donald… but you have to watch out as well as too much MD is not good for your health….
N: Actually I was being sarcastic :p
Haha… good old McDonald…
When you are hungry, you don’t even think about health, I supposed.
It was also my case in the Sushi country. While everyone I knew was racing to the nearest sushi-ya (restaurant), we rushed to the goold old McD. You can’t be healthy and hungry at the same time 🙂
Nooo… it can’t be. Italian food suppose to be yummy. Probably it’s because the chef is not italian yaa…
@ichi: tergantung yang masak kali yaa…
@mariskova: hey you, how you been? we definitely know that mcd is not good for your health. but when plan a fails, mcd comes in handy :p
Our experiences at Tutto Buono in Ames have all been positive. In fact, we go in for lunch or dinner at least once a week. The meal begins with a homemade soup or a Caeser’s salad. There are many entrees to choose from. The presentations are very nice, the food hot and well-seasoned. I especially like the salmon with vegetables. We have brought friends with us on several occasions, and all of them have enjoyed their food. The prices are reasonable. We know the chef; he is well trained .The desserts are elegant. I highly recommend Tutto Buono.
Perhaps you caught them on an off day? I frequent that restaurant with my friends often. We love high quality italian food and always go home happy. The pasta was never overdone, the salads nice and crispy, and my favorite appetizer the brushcetta is always perfect. I am wondering if (since your experience was so bad) if the chef needed a couple of months to get his bearings or if the management changed. One of my friends who is both italian AND attended culinary school thought the pasta was well done. Its interesting that our experiences were so different.
Maybe we did catch them on their off day. I hope so, anyway. From what I’ve heard, the owner of Tutto Bene is the brother of Cazador’s owner? I love Cazi, the people who work there are nice and the food is never bad.