More overcooked pasta

Having eaten so much of it growing up every once in a while I just have to have some sphagetti and meatballs. I stopped in to Impellizeri's in Holiday Manor to try theirs. I've had the pizza and subs numerous times and it has always been good.

The meatballs were great. Small, firm and very flavorable but the pasta was soooooooo over cooked there is no way to describe it other than downright Mushy. As if it had been boiled for half an hour. The texture was such that in my mouth I could barely decipher the noodles from the melted cheese. Fortunately I had a small salad and between it, the breadsticks and the meatballs I was not going to go away hungry. When the waitress asked me how everything was I politely told her. She appologized and said she'd tell the manager. She returned and asked if I wanted something else. Since I was already full, just not on the pasta I had craved, I told her no thank you. They deducted my pasta from my bill. I have no idea if this was an anomaly but after the long thread on Rocky's pasta I though I'd mention it.

Btw...... for all you servers out there, I did base my tip on what the total bill would have been with the pasta. Not fair to make the waitress pay for the kitchens error.

7 minutes, boiling water. It's not like you are saving a ton of time cooking it to order and the difference in quality is obvious. I fail to understand this shortcut.

Come on Ronnie,aren't you the dinner in a bag king? I know your an expert on "boil in the bag." Give me a break!

We pre cook the pasta and then we micro the finished product. If it's cooked to long in the first step, there is no way to adjust. It's a prep cook problem and i will address it. You can bank on that.

I'm glad that you brought it to our attention, and the server went to the mgr, who comped it.

I expect everything we send out to be perfect, no exceptions. If not, it's teach and learn time.

Thanks Neal for the feed back!

If you ever have a problem, call 216-8933 and it will be corrected, on the spot!

Anne Marie:

We are a "pizza joint", nothing fancy. Our "cooks" probably did'nt finish high school. No "chef's' on our staff. We are a just a step above fast food.

We are not Avalon, Service,Oak Room, ect.

That being said, we have systems and procedures in place. I expect everyone to follow those.

You would expect everyone to be able to boil pasta correctly.

I read the Rocky's thread and said thank goodness it's not us, well......

As a restaurant owner i read this sight multiple times a day. Love it when people give us good reviews, and hold my breath that nothing critical is said.

But when it is, you can expect I will go to the root of the issue and it will be corrected, today.

I eat the pasta at least twice a week, in both stores. Ask my doctor, he knows what I eat. I'm in the stores about 26-28 days a month. I'm in the kitchen most of the time and watching as much product going out as possible.

But one thing for sure, I appreciate a customers point of view. May not like it, but I will address it. We don't always see your side, but don't think we will forget.

Wes I think you've handled this nicely. Very professional. You bring up a very good point too that I've never seen addressed on these boards before and that is labor. I doubt that that are very many members of the kitchen staff in most restaurants that have any formal training. Many in restaurants such as yours, are kids just out of school -or not- and this is their first job.

We are a "pizza joint", nothing fancy. Our "cooks" probably did'nt finish high school. No "chef's' on our staff. We are a just a step above fast food.

Wes,

Actually I consider your place to be far, far above fast food. But I love that you wrote this- no pretense - and pointed out the labor issue. Great response and action plan- I'll be there soon.

Deb

We've had good luck for years in many different restuarants with cooking al dente, shocking in ice water, oiling pasta and then dipping each order in boiling water for about 30 seconds. This is the only way I can deliver a good, fast, product, and by the way, we do pasta's on Thursday nights and they are the bomb. Bill and Susi

7 minutes, boiling water. It's not like you are saving a ton of time cooking it to order and the difference in quality is obvious. I fail to understand this shortcut.

It's not quite that simple, if the restaurant is a joint that sells a good amount of pasta, the kitchen may have several orders at one time, this takes up space, you can't just dump all different pasta's in one pot and there is also a timing issue, different orders in at different times. A restaurant could use a large pot and have several of the strainers that hook on the sides but still a "cook" has to keep them all straight. I have found it easier to instruct my cooks to blanch the pasta (very al dente) then finish it quickly, often times in the sauce it is going out with. Now we don't do a ton of pasta but maybe 15-20 orders on a busy night. The only pasta I don't have them blanch is angel hair. This seems to work good and our pasta is never overdone.

We also pre-bag our orders for the sake of consistency in serving size, we can finish to order the pasta in a matter of a couple minutes. It works on a small scale but I am sure there would be some sort of issues if we sold a bunch of pasta.

you can't just dump all different pasta's in one pot

I worked at a place in Winter Park, FL that used a large deep-fryer for pasta - fill with water, set low, and we'd use the round perforated silverware sorter cylinders for individual orders. Pretty easy to fit 12-15 orders in at a time. Not a great solution for every venue, but it worked well for us.

Wes, I appreciate the way your staff handled it, and, your concern and comments. That is why I, like so many of us here, prefer to dine at places such as yours where the owners care and are involved. I'll try it again in the next week or so. Hope heads didn't roll to harshly.

Wes!

I was mainly saying that fine dining establishments with fully staffed professional kitchens have no excuse not to cook the pasta to order (and if you sell a lot of pasta you should get really good at it and have a routine down). I totally understand "pizza joints" and the like finding reasonable shortcuts that do not sacrifice quality. I"ll let the "dinner in a bag king" crack slide because I like you.

My memory is fuzzy, but I recall cooking every order of pasta to order when I was working the kitchen at Lentini's back in the good old days and we sold a lot of pasta.