Nicola’s Ristorante

Original Post: 3/5 stars

Before you go searching for the two missing stars from my rating, take into consideration several backstories before reading further:

1) I've been to Nicola's ONCE, and it was for Restaurant Week. That means my menu options were limited to several items from the regular menu, and none of these choices necessarily resembled anything I would have ordered had I had unlimited menu access.
2) For my main course, I had the Tagliatelle with Bolognese. I can count on my fingers and palm hairs the number of times I've eaten beef in my life (due to religious reasons), and almost always the occasion has been unavoidable. However, as Chris Rock says, "When Judgement Day comes, I refuse to believe that my diet will come into question." And a place like Nicola's must be making their own pasta, so I had test the difference that made from my own Meijer pasta adventures.  Still, my stomach and pallet has not been acclimated to the taste of beef.  

These backstories also serve as the backbone of my review, but since you've been so patient, I'll share some comments on the other dishes I tried:

CAPRESE SALAD - extremely fresh ingredients. Unfortunately, fancy restaurants don't list their menu items by weight, so the quantity is not going to win you over. Also, I'm not typically a salad person, but I fell sucker to the waiter's recommendation.  
DIVER CAUGHT SEA SCALLOP - I usually think scallop is too squishy to be succulent, but I tried a bite from a friend's place, and must say, that was the best-tasting and best-cooked scallop I've ever tasted
TIRAMISU - very delicious, but rarely have I had bad tiramisu. The ingredients make the execution almost fool-proof. Trying to make terrible tiramisu is like trying to make a sloppy smoothie - as long as you follow the recipe, it's going to be tasty.
VANILLA PANNA COTTA - so fresh, so clean

I will say that the service is AMAZING, like to a level that is typically seen at a hotel rather than a restaurant. When it's time for a course to come out, a separate waiter comes out with each individual's dish, but the waiters all come out together and place the dish on the table at the same time. And they're all in black. It's like synchronized swimming meets the swat team meets Nicola's fun house. 

However, the middle tier of menu items from Nicola's IS NOT tastier than top-tier Olive Garden selections. Nonetheless, it is a romantic place to take a date if your date likes medium-good food.

A Tavola Bar and Trattoria

Here's how I would rank the pizza places in town:

Never mind, it doesn't matter - A Tavola is head-and-shoulders above all. Sure, there are flaws in the experience, but there are no flaws in the food. Let's break down both, do the math, and then give you directions:

The Bad
1) There's always a long wait. But when a place is delicious, other people are going to notice too.
2) The Arugula salad is an artistic entry into the minimalist movement, and I don't want any food that I'm paying top-dollar for to be prettier than it is tasty. Also, I only ordered this because my two friends did and I didn't want to get jewed out of food when we split the bill three ways.  Also, salads are stupid.
3) There are large speakers, but low-volume music. It's like the sound is using its six-inch voice in a nightclub.  

The Good
1) The eggplant pizza is so so so ....so good.  The eggplant itself is of a flavor that I've never tasted before, but now want to taste always and forever.
2) Sausage  + Panna is also so so so so good, especially if you like sausage on your pizza. And not liking sausage on your pizza is like not liking ketchup with your fries. Hey, it's yo' life. 
3) The bill was separated amongst who ordered what instead of just splitting it evenly. This means I didn't have to order that stupid salad after all.  

When I go again, I'll definitely make sure to put down a name after work then wander about Washington Park and the like before going in for the kiln kill (so the wait doesn't feel as long).  The wait is certainly a negative, but that doesn't negate the fact that the food is so freaking delicious. If you don't like delicious things, don't come here. Maybe then I can get a table quicker.

Skillet

Holy wow. This was honestly one of the most satisfying meals I've had in a while, and it may have had something to do with the fooding format my friends and I experimented with:

As an indecisive table of four, we decided to order four dishes, set up 3-minute timers and pass our plates every time the buzzer went off; when we had all tried all the dishes, it was agreed that we could grab our favorite and finish it.  Somehow, someway, no two people went for the same plate and we all lived happily ever after. Yippee!

The menu is constantly changing, but here's what I think we ordered (in dulled terminology), ranked my from my very favorite to my fourth favorite:

(1) mac and cheese from the gods
(2) fish sandwich. long and lovely
(3) raspberry and cheese pancakes. Salt and sweet makes quite a treat
(4) Stinky cheese omelette. Smells delicious.  

Our waiter did give us a hard time about having to swipe four separate credit cards, and considering there was nobody else in the restaurant (kitchen had already closed for brunch), this did seem unnecessary. Still, I've only been once, so don't want to let that one customer service experience be representative of Skillet's typical customer service.  

Anyway, if you believe that ingredient quality and chef innovation can boost your brunch party, then take your tummy to Skillet and fill-it!

Oriental Wok

1) I love finding good Chinese food
2) I've lived within a five-minute walk of Oriental Wok for the past ten months
3) It took me ten months to make the trip

There are a few reasons for this, all overshadowed by my pure laziness. First of all, Oriental Wok is a fine-dining establishment; consider it the Chinese equivalent of a high-end steakhouse.  Such fine-dining establishments typically attract my company for special occasions only. And because of the casual reputation of most OTHER Chinese restaurants, I was never previously willing to spend one of those "special occasions" by potentially getting handed some boxed Chinese food. Secondly, the location is strange - on the ground floor of a condo building, which itself is not close to any other buildings.  This kind of gives the surroundings a strange energy.

Nonetheless, within those eerie woods and uninviting condos is an oasis of a chinese restaurant.  I'm typically not a sucker for niceness (a lot of times people can misrepresent themselves as being "nice" merely by being quiet. The less you say, the less chance you have of saying something you shouldn't). However, I was overwhelmed by how kind the hostess was and how keen she was on making sure our first Oriental Wok experience was wonderful.  And it was.

Keep in mind that there are two types of people in this world: those who order Egg Drop soup and those who order Hot 'n' Sour (guess which group is more fun). Oriental Wok's Egg Drop soup is the best I've ever had, and it's tough to really stand out in a dish that only requires a few ingredients. But trust me, it's special. 

The rest of the Chicken dishes we ordered could've used a few more vegetables to break up the predacious portions, but I did appreciate the quantity of meat included in each dish.  

Also, we were there for my friend's birthday; I can't tell you what they do for birthdays, just know that this is definitely a place that puts a lot of thought into making their birthday guess feel VERY special (unlike a restaurant that brings out an extra Andy's mint with a used candle sticking out of it). 

AND they have this drink called the "Volcano," which is for 2-4 people, and has coals burning blue in the middle! If you're with more than just yourself, definitely order this to make everyone more fun than they usually are. 

In my mind, Chinese food is the most inconsistent in quality from restaurant-to-restaurant out of all culinary genres. It's tough to find a good Chinese restaurant - luckily, I've found one here.

Pho Lang Thang

Yesterday marked my third Pho Lang Thang experience, which means I finally became unofficially qualified to review their food....and other peripheral pleasantries.  

1) If "Pho Lang Thang" is pronounced like I pronounce it in my imagination ("Fo Lang Tang") then the restaurant is immediately granted bonus points for "fun name to say". If, in actuality, it is pronounced any other way, don't worry - this won't affect the way my mind pronounces it, and thus no fun will be forfeited.

2) If you are lucky enough to get an outdoor table, do appreciate their inventive table setup - doors over trash cans.  If it sounds shady, I assure you the look is lovely and the experience is more stable than most outdoor seating made up of clanky webbed black steel that leaves plenty of gaps in the table for slippy slips.

3) Cà Phê Sa á is their iced drip coffee which has the condensed milk at the bottom ready to be stirred and mixed accordingly. No sugar necessary, everything is already contained to make a fantastic cup of coffee - THE MOST DELICIOUS COFFEE I've had in Cincinnati.  

4) Gi Cun are their salad rolls that are wrapped in a see-through substance. This gives the rolls a "Bones Exhibit" quality that, though must be healthier than a regular fried roll, adds a texture that I'm not completely comfortable with. Also, my friend had HIGHLY recommended these rolls to me, and as expectations set the standard,  I was sadly disappointed.  

5) But, if you're still feening for a roll you're more likely to recognize in a lineup, please try the Ch Giò.  These are INCREDIBLE, and unlike almost all other rolls I've tried, are somehow able to stay together in a cohesive manner unprecedented in these rolls' relatives.  

6) Bánh Mì Tht Nng - delicious hot sandwich
7) Bánh Mì c Bit - cold-cut butt sandwich

Unfortunately, I can't comment on the restaurant's namesake dish, Pho.  This is kind of like me writing a review for Taco Bell and only commenting on the quesadilla. My apologies, and until I actually try their Pho, I'll leave that validation to another Yelper.

Since this place is right next to the freshest ingredients in town within Findlay Market, they seem to be using that to their advantage by using those ingredients in their own dishes - this gives the food a freshness that best be described as "New York good."
And whether it should or not, the fact that they keep authentic names for their dishes does give more legitimacy than replacing the name "Bánh Mì Tht Nng" with "Hot Chicken Sandwich and Fries" just for the domestic customer's convenience. Even the descriptions are chockful of Vietnamese vocabulary which makes it difficult to clarify the dish's contents.  Still, that's better than a tactic employed by one of my favorite restaurants in Ann Arbor that would write the name of the dish - Mysore Masala Dosa - and the description  'ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS' without any further clarification.

All in all, if you like delicious Asian food in which you can taste the freshness of the ingredient, do yo' thang at Pho Lang Thang.