Went to eat here (just NE of Congress&Oltorf) this weekend with two friends. All of us are vegetarians, so carnivores take these comments with a grain of salt. I had teh vegetarian lasagna. It came out as a layer of noodles, a layer of mushrooms, a layer of noodels, and a THICK block of cheese smothered in a tinny, salty tomato sauce. I don't know what kind of cheese it was, but it was very creamy. I like mushrooms up to a point, but this proved to be too 'shroomy for me, and I didn't care for the slab o' cheese effect. My wife had a basic pasta with tomato, basil and shrooms. I know I'm contradicting myself here, but she had them add some crab meat from the special for the night. The waiter said it was blue crab, which I never had before. Anyway, I tasted the pasta without any chunks of crabs, but the whole dish was suffused with a decidedly crabby flavor. I may not order it anymore, but I did enjoy crab way back when, and I didn't like this much (in the restaurant's defense, this was her gig, no crab meat was offered on the menu). Again, too salty for me. Our friend had eggplant parmesan. I didn't try it because I don't get along well with eggplant, but both my friends said it was the same tinny sauce. She said she was looking for a EP that met very particular criteria, which it didn't, but it grew on her slightly as she ate it. Bottom line: none of us felt the food was any better than mediocre. The atmosphere was nice. The recorded music fit in wiht the Italian theme (my biggest complaint about El Mercado is the ubiquitous TV's and the Top 40 radio), and after we were there awhile Correo Arreo played live music that was quite enjoyable (though I wish I hadn't been seated directly in front of them, where it was very loud). Decor was nice, and the two TV's were at least small and tilted toward the bar area, easier to ignore than some. Service was also good. but, unlike some earlier posters, we were not inclined to give them another chance on that basis. So, has anyone else been blown away by the great food, suggesting we were there on a bad night? There are too many good italian places here to waste night out on a meal like that again. Keith
Austin, TX
treehouse italian grill
Babberney wrote: > So, has anyone else been blown away by the great food, suggesting we > were there on a bad night? There are too many good italian places > here to waste night out on a meal like that again. That place is just down the road from where I live, and I can't imagine how they keep the doors open. It's almost always empty. We've been there twice, once when it was Aldo's and once in the current incarnation, and both times the food was barely passable. I would honestly rather eat at the Spaghetti Warehouse. jim andrews
Someone wrote: >So, has anyone else been blown away by the great food, suggesting we >were there on a bad night? There are too many good italian places here >to waste night out on a meal like that again. I've been there twice, and out of a total of six entrees ordered by members of the parties, five were quite satisfactory. I got something with sun-dried tomatoes that were basically charred. However, my husband likes the place, even though he claims not to like Italian food in general because it is "bland and boring" in his opinion. Make of all that what you will. Try sitting on the patio. It is very pleasant. Cheers, Janet