Stuzzi

Saturday night, my 6 year old and I met friends (another Mother and daughter) for dinner at Stuzzi. We arrived at 6:00 pm and the place was already mostly filled. We did get a table right away and promptly ordered waters for the 6 year olds and a glass of wine for us older girls. The selection of wine by the glass was small - 4 each for white and red. I had not heard of any of the selections either - mostly Italian. I chose a chianti that was ok. The menu consists of appetizers/little bites, salads, pizza, and pasta. We ordered the calamari, an arugula salad, a sausage and rapini pizza, a wild mushroom pizza and a child's order of a 1/2 cheese and half pepperoni pizza. One thing we thought would have been good is if they would have gone over the menu with us or asked if it was our first time there, etc. The waitress seemed to be very hesitant - not sure if she was new or what.

The calamari and the salad arrived first. The calamari was nicely crisp and tasted very fresh. The marinara sauce that was served with it was good and plentiful. The arugula salad was ok. It was served with fresh parm and the dressing overpowered the spiciness of the arugula. The arugula was actually a bit mild.

The pizza was served shortly after the appetizers which were still half uneaten. We were running out of room on the table. The kid's pizza was made with fresh mozzarella and pepperoni. It was steaming hot when it hit the table. The girls really didn't eat much of it. I think they were too distracted with their Littlest Pet Shop toys and playing with each other to eat much. I tried it and it was quite tasty.

The sausage and rapini pizza was served with fresh basil as well on the top. The sausage was good and plentiful - though the rapini was not. I am a huge rapini fan and there really just wasn't a lot on the pizza. The mushroom pizza was served with an italian salami - can't remember which one and topped with the arugula mentioned above. I liked this one better though there wasn't actually much mushroom on it and the salami took over the palattte. It paired nicely with the crunch of the arugula. I used the remaining marina from the calamari to dip my pizza crust in and it was quite nice. There were a few parts of the crust that were burnt - but overall it was a really good pizza crust.

We were asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu - but since we had a ton of leftovers already we declined. By this time the restaurant was packed and had a line out the door. Bottom line, I would definitely try this restaurant again, they are open for lunch starting today, June 12th. I want to try the pasta's. It is fairly kid friendly - but I would go early like we did. Anyone else have any experience with this place yet?