I attempted a new Italian Restaurant in Austin . . .

I tried a new Italian Restaurant on the recommendation of a coworker who is also a foodie. I am very picky about my Italian food, and I'm wary of new Italian places because of that. But he promised it was fresh pasta, and that's something I won't turn down.

So I went and tried Cedro's Italian scratch kitchen in Cedar Park. Turns out I forgot to take a few food pictures too. Oh well.

  

They did offer bread. They said it was a focaccia bread, but it wasn't focaccia bread. It had no olive oil, was soft and fluffy, and was served with a bean spread similar to hummus. It wasn't bad tasting, but it was weird to have that at an Italian restaurant.

We ordered meatballs as an appetizer. They came in a marinara sauce. They were fine. There wasn't really any flavor or seasoning to it, so they were a bit bland and flavorless. But they were cooked.

Then came my pasta carbonara. This was very good. It was definitely homemade pasta, however you don't normally see pasta carbonara with fettuccini sized noodles. I didn't mind that so much as the flavor was good. They asked if I wanted some parmesan cheese on top, and I said yes. I expected them to bring out a fresh brick of cheese and then grate some over my pasta. Nope. She came back with a shaker full of fake cheese - the kind you shake on your fast food pizza. And then I found a curly little black hair in my pasta.

Yeah. It was a bit gross. I sent it back, and they gave me a new dish. Still, gross. My partner in crime at this tasting got a seafood risotto. It was good at first, but by the last few bites it was tasting really fishy and not so great as the first few bites.

Then came dessert. I an not a huge tiramisu person, but my partner is. So we ordered it. It was drowning in alcohol. All you could taste was the alcohol. Not the best tasting thing for either of us.

I took a good chunk of my pasta home as I couldn't eat it all. It didn't keep well. When I ate the leftovers I got really sick to my stomach immediately afterwards. I didn't feel sick the first time I ate it.

So in a nut shell, it wasn't the best first impression of a restaurant. The homemade pasta was fantastic (minus the hair in it), but everything else on the menu was a bit underwhelming. I'd go again for the pasta, but I couldn't take home any leftovers as they apparently don't keep very well.

Sigh. Being a food snob is a pain. But I can't undo what I know things should taste like.