3/5 Stars

When
Tuesday, 11/12/19 @ 19:00
Where
Little Azio Pizza & Pasta – Ormewood Park, East Atlanta
Who
My wife and I
What
Shared: Mozzarella Sticks
Hannah: Sweet Tea & Tortellini with chicken and sun dried tomatoes with Alfredo
Alex: Coke & Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

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The air was cold. The rain was cold. My feet were cold. The whole commute home last night? Cold, cold, cold. And when I walked through the front door of our cold townhouse, my wife looked up at me and said, “Baby, I’m cold.” And I said, “Me too. Let’s go get some pasta.”

It’s probably not how most people would have responded to that situation. But I’m not most people and I was hungry for pasta.

So we hopped in the car (with the heat on blast) in search of something starchy and familiar. We had been to Little Azio before and had liked it, at least well enough to consider going back.

After we ordered, grabbed our drinks, and sat down, Hannah remarked on the decor of the seating area. She had noticed it once before but now we were talking about it: the lights hanging over each table. They were oddly shaped and of various color, each one contorted and bulging its own, unique ambiance. We briefly debated over whether this was tacky or not. But I’ll leave that to the interior design experts.

I will say that one of the things I like about the layout and look of Little Azio is how un-pretentious it is. The menu is on the wall behind the cashier who takes your order. You then seat yourself and they bring it you. The design reflects this transaction. It kind of looks like the Italian version of Chipotle or Panda Express. I like it because they’re not pretending that just because they serve Italian food that somehow they have to pretend to be fancy.

I like to think of the owner chiming in here and saying, “Yeah. It’s not fancy. Just eat it and go.”

Anyway… our appetizer came out at the same time as our entree. It’s not a big deal, but I prefer the idea of a pre-dinner snack as opposed to the idea that the waiter is walking over with full tray thinking “Oh, looks like Fatty Fat-Fat needs more food.”

In general, mozzarella sticks are nothing to write home about. It’s fried cheese that you can dip in marinara. Is it tasty? You betcha. But it’s not impressive. These were impressive. Most of my experiences with moz sticks is that they get cold and start to harden by the third one. But even by the third it was still gooey and delicious. As a side note, it looked like they may have put some kind of herbs in the breading, which had no effect on the taste, to my knowledge.

The flavor of the Alfredo sauce was subtle, and while I was taking my time trying to discern what exactly I was tasting, Hannah was already two bites into her Tortellini and armed with an opinion. She said it wasn’t that good. Then another bite later said it wasn’t bad, but not good either. I paused a moment and tried her bowl.

I took a bite of tortellini, chicken and sun dried tomato smothered in its sauce and nodded my head. It was not bad. I couldn’t exactly say it was good either. It was passable. Would I order it myself, or would she order it again? Doubtful.

Resuming the self-appointed task of hardcore judging the restaurant’s Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, I picked up my fork and spoon again. I thought it best to be methodical in my approach. Taste each part individually, then taste the sum and make a conclusion. Here’s where I landed.

The pasta was fine. It’s just as hard to over cook pasta as it is to under cook pasta. All you need to do is not set a timer. The pasta was also well salted, and if you read my review of Cameli’s Pizza, you know that’s a problem for me.

The Alfredo sauce was mediocre, to be honest. I’ve had Alfredo’s that were souped up and had lots of different flavors and different veggies added in. And while those can be good variations, they are not true Alfredo sauces. Alfredo is simple: butter, milk, cheese, salt. You could argue that if the sauce is missing any of these ingredients, it will most likely taste off. The missing ingredient this time? Salt.

I wanted to like it. Honest. I really wanted to leave a 4 Star review, but I couldn’t. The sauce needed salt, and it needed it badly. Everything else about it worked. It had the right taste and consistency. It was creamy and stuck to the pasta. The noodles were not swimming in sauce. It had everything I wanted in an Alfredo except salt.

But I was feeling like I could let it go, and give a 4 Star review if the chicken was on point. I’m looking at you, perfectly seasoned chicken breast with ya grill marks all up and down ya bad self! I was ready to give tons and tons of grace, but that chicken had to treat me right. It didn’t. At all. The taste and feel of it in my mouth screamed pre-packaged food. Not good at all. I never thought Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo would make me want to cry, until last night.

After inspecting each category of the meal and finding mediocrity mixed with disappointment, I resigned myself to covering the rest of the plate with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes (my standby move for something that could have been better) and continued my meal.

Over dramatic? Yes. Heartbroken? Also yes. I gave the restaurant a 3/5 review because I really liked the mozzarella sticks, Hannah and I both didn’t really love the Tortellini, and I had mixed to pretty disappointing feelings about the Alfredo.

Would we come back to Little Azio? Yes. I’m sure we’ll be back at some point. But with a city full of different restaurants and a myriad of cuisines, I don’t think I’ll be back for a while. But if and when I do come back, it won’t be for the Alfredo.

Hannah Said, “You forgot to take a picture!” So I re-arranged it as best as possible.