Six Thumbs Up!
Having left Thomas Jefferson's
Monticello behind and with Washington, DC still ahead, we were
road-weary travelers when we checked into our hotel in Strasburg,
Virginia. But we were also hungry and I had noticed an Italian place
down the road as I was driving in. I was assured by the young woman
at the front desk that it was “pretty good,” and, bolstered by
that enthusiastic recommendation, I headed out into the early spring
Virginia night in search of sustenance.
Castiglia's Italian Restaurant &
Pizza is located at the end of a nondescript strip mall on a busy
highway near Interstate 81. But that's okay: some of the best Italian
and Italian-American fare I've eaten has come out of strip mall
kitchens. I'm not prejudiced about location.
It was late when our party of three
arrived, well past whatever dinner rush there might have been. We
pretty much had the place to ourselves. One table of guests was
leaving as we arrived and another came in shortly after. Obviously,
we were seated promptly by a very pleasant hostess. Our waitress was
equally pleasant and engaging.
The décor was typical faux-Tuscan and
the menu was standard Italian-American. I have long since given up
hope of finding much truly authentic Italian food in such places.
Even though the owners are from Naples, they, like the majority of
their paesani, have bowed to
the necessity of serving an American clientele that believes heaping
piles of spaghetti and meatballs to be the height of Italian cuisine.
I don't blame them: they do what they need to do to stay in business.
The
menu was, as I said, typical, with lots of pasta dishes, chicken
dishes, veal dishes, seafood dishes, an assortment of hot and cold
appetizers, soups, salads, steaks, subs, wraps, burgers, and a few
vegetable offerings. And, of course, pizza, calzone, and stromboli
along with the usual selection of dolci.
We were pleasantly surprised by a fairly decent wine list. The ladies
chose a nice Moscato. I was pleased to find Peroni on tap. Most
“Italian” places serve it in bottles and it's just not the same.
Knowing
that we were traveling and would not be able to carry out the usual
half-ton of leftovers, my wife and her mother opted for appetizers,
which the server assured us would be adequate as entrees. They both
chose something called “shrimp Margherita,” and I just ordered a
small cheese pizza.
The
complimentary fresh bread and garlic spread we were served while
waiting for our meal were exceptional. You could tell the bread was
fresco fatto in casa
and not some warmed over frozen travesty. We wolfed it down and asked
for more. I know it's not authentically Italian to serve bread before
a meal, but who cared? We were hungry and it was delicious.
The
appetizers/entrees were excellent as well. The sever was right: the
portions were huge. The shrimp Margherita turned out to be succulent,
perfectly grilled shrimp served over a bed of fresh spinach that had
been sauteed in garlic and oil. My wife and her mom agreed that maybe
a tad less spinach would have been better, but overall the dish was
quite successful. And my pizza was fabulous. I always judge a place
by how well they execute the simple things, and this simple pizza was
buonissimo. You could
tell the crust was expertly scratch made. The sauce to cheese ratio
was perfect. You may ask “how do you screw up a cheese pizza?”
Trust me, I can answer that question with a hundred examples. Not
here, though. I don't know if it was pizzaiolo
Salvatore Scotto, Gino Scotto, or Luigi Illiano who made it, but I
did some serious damage to half a pie and it broke my heart that I
couldn't take the rest with me. I mean, I guess I could have had cold
pizza for breakfast instead of the hotel's “continental”
offering, but......
There
was no room for dessert, which is sad because I'm a sucker for
cannoli.
I
would like to have been able to sample more of the menu, but from
what I had and what I observed, I can say that Castiglia's Italian
Restaurant & Pizza serves up good Italian-American food,
skillfully made by a real Italian family of cooks. The place was
clean and tastefully decorated, service was fast, efficient, and
unwaveringly friendly, and prices were more than reasonable. It's a
casual dining, family-friendly place with adequate convenient
parking.
The
location of Castiglia's Italian Restaurant & Pizza that we
visited is at 33820 Old Valley Pike, Ste 8 (US Hwy 11) in Strasburg,
Virginia, just off I-81 exit 298. Open Monday though Thursday 11 am
to 10 pm and from 11 to 11 on Friday and Saturday, Castiglia's offers
free area delivery. Call them at (540) 465-8777, check out their
website at www.castigliasva.com,
or find them on Facebook. Apparently, there's a second location in
Port Royal. Maybe I'll head over there next time.
Castiglia's
promises fresh, made to order food cooked with passion. And from my
experience on this occasion, they definitely fulfill that promise. Six thumbs up!
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