To kick off Local Restaurant Week, I decided to visit Lombardo's on Hertel. The place was packed with happy guests. I was welcomed by the warm smile of Mr. Lombardo himself. He personally checked in our coats and showed us to our seats.
The special this week is a 2 course meal for $20.10. I decide to add the shrimp and crab cocktail on top of it. The featured wine is the locally made Arrowhead Red. It's a delicious mix of a couple of different reds with a perfume-like aroma. I was ecstatic because ever since Eric Genau over at City Wine Merchant recommended Arrowhead to me last month it's been a must-have on my wine rack at home.
We started our meal with the shrimp and crab cocktail, served with a home-made cocktail sauce. It marked a great start to our meal. That, coupled with the bread, really got my appetite going. Everyone in the room was just having a blast. There's something about a vivacious Italian restaurant that just makes you crave the food. For my next course, I chose the Gnocchi Bolognese.
Scott, our server, informed us that the gnocchi is made in-house. The texture of the gnocchi was perfect! It had a nice bite to it without the dense center you would find in frozen gnocchi. The bolognese sauce was very light with a high meat, low oil ratio.
For my entree, I had the Petite Filet Mignon. It was served with asparagus and lobster mashed potatoes. The filet was cooked to perfection-- a nice sear on the outside and juicy and tender on the inside. Now, I don't normally go on about the supporting actors of my entrees, but this lobster mashed potatoes definitely can stand on its own. There was an amazing amount of flavor packed in the the mashed potatoes. Ok, I'll say it. It was awesome.
Lombardo's was all sorts of wonderful, and it was a great way to kick-start Local Restaurant Week. Our server, Scott, was knowledgeable and entertaining. He really sold the food with a lot of passion. The 3 course meal was the perfect amount of food, and each course was memorable and delicious. Come check it out.
I know you've apologized for this in previous articles but Jesus Christ you really need a better camera or a better photographer. Then again, those presentations are a step above pathetic. The shrimp cocktail? looks like something I'd get at the Old Red Mill. Why can't anyone ever be honest about their dining experiences in Buffalo? How many negative reviews ever make it to print? Granted, this isn't necessarily the forum for that as this is happy, everything's great world, but seriously where can one find honest reviews?
I don't doubt the food was excellent, as every meal I have had there is, but I thought the same thing about the 'shrimp and crab cocktail'
Is it really Jesus' fault? Or was he at the dinner? Am I missing something?
Serious, honest reviews? I'm not sure about those. But perhaps you should google search for "Depressed, masochists club". They may be looking for a president and you may be their man.
So this is what passes as a clever response these days? Ehh... OK. Here we go again, the realists vs. the gullible innocents.
Food photography is tough, especially when you're trying to take a photo of your dinner without disturbing other patrons and get it done before your meal cools down.
I suppose any photogrpahy can be tough, right? As I noted, the author apologized in a previous post for her/his? photos, the editors obviously knew this. I don't think Artvoice is knocking patrons over with the silver umbrellas when they have pics of food.
It depends on how they (Artvoice) go about it. They might (and I'm speculating based on the quality of their photos) make arrangements with the restaurant to go in during slow hours, making it fairly easy to set up a basic shoot without bothering the other patrons or getting in the way of the staff. Many restaurants are more than happy to make this kind of arrangement if it means publicity.
A simple flash snapshot isn't going to capture food at its best, no matter how attractively the restaurant's presentation is. But it's kind of a big step up to the kind of photo shoot that would do the food justice. Also, I don't know if the BRO food reviews are planned in advance or not. The author might just have been out to dinner and decided to write a review of the meal.
the photos do not do the food justice. thank you for your feedback. It's always so dark in restaurants and by the 3rd picture people are looking at me and I'm so hungry that i just want to dig right in. nevertheless it was an amazing dinner and that's what really counts at the end.
Buffalo Rising is not about bringing people down. I've been to restaurants that were not so great and I've had to report back and say I'm sorry but I can't think of a good thing to say about my experience. Most of the places I have been to have been wonderful.
Thanks for your feedback and keep them coming. :-)
Nice to see someone can accept criticism here, some cannot. I wouldn't expect BR to post a severe review of any local business, and I wasn't necessarily saying this restaurant deserved a horrible write up. I'm just tired of no one in any local media having the slightest negative comment about a place. I think most owners would love to know what they're doing well in addition to what they are not.