Violetta on the Square
In keeping with my obviously flawed theory on choosing where to dine based on popularity… we headed out to Violetta this weekend. Now, had I bothered to read the reviews available I would have known to order the burger, but honestly, I’m tired of burgers, I wanted excitement, variety, comfort food… and the chicken pot pie on the menu caught my eye.
Sadly, I found it very bland, however my son adored it – so in the interest of fairness, I have to give them credit because both my boys liked the food. Now, after reading some of the reviews, I think I’d best go back to check out the burgers … on a day when I’m in the mood! What I didn’t care for was it seemed to need some doctoring, salt or something, it didn’t have much flavor and the item on the top was just different than I expected. Not a pastry, not a biscuit, more like a hard scone, that didn’t seem as if soaking it in the gravy of the pie would help at all. It’s entirely possible that by the time I got it home, and my other son found it and loved it, something had happened to marinate it all together into yumminess – I will never know.
The other entree we ordered was their Mac N Cheese which my youngest adored. He can be discriminating, as he’s probably had mac n cheese in every joint in town that offers it, so if he vouches for it, you’d better get it. I had to take a bite because he was raving about it and immediately wished I’d chosen it over the pot pie.
What I liked about this was the creaminess, and the balanced taste, sometimes there’s an over-cheesiness (if that makes any sense) to mac n cheese, something that just overwhelms everything else but this had a nice texture, nothing mushy about it at all (another huge issue with this dish) and there didn’t seem to be any breading or filler – sometimes mac n cheese has this stuff besides cheese sauce in it, this had none of that so this is a dish I’d recommend if you go and want comfort food. 
After our meal, we decided to sample the desserts. We ordered a milkshake, a berry hand pie (they offered berry and apple) and a cookie. The pie was great, for what it is – something sweet and simple, you can eat with your hand, although I must have been in a picky mood for me because it really wasn’t extremely sweet. They boast that all their food is served in compostable materials, maybe their food is green or organic too and I was just in shock from the lack of preservatives? Not sure, but the pie was tasty. I guess the thing is there was nothing there so good that I had trouble NOT eating it all up. I had a couple of nibbles, moved on.
We also ordered a milkshake, which was good – I had the server put some extra on top because after he smooshed the lid down onto the top the pretty little peak that had been there was, of course gone, so we spent a bit of time trying to keep it from running down the sides while I tried to get shots. I think the pie would have been better IN the shake, or perhaps with a side of shake served with it, but apparently 100% compostable materials aren’t really waterproof. There was nary a plate in the place, and I’m just not crazy about eating from cardboard. It doesn’t photograph as well either, and maybe that affects the taste. Is taste intellectual, like physical attraction, do you think? Or am I really just a cutlery/china snob? I’m not certain but I may be suffering some kind of crisis over this, because I REALLY wanted to like this place.
There was nothing wrong with the milkshake. It was cold, it was ice creamy, it was vanilla-ey. Nothing wrong with it at all. Just needed some … pie?
Finally the cookie. I waited (believe it or not) until I got it home to open it, mostly because it was served wrapped in plastic and I couldn’t take any more of the biodegradable containers. We were dining IN. We didn’t order it to GO. So. Got it home. This was billed as a pecanish, chocolate something or other cookie. No chunks, though. Of anything. It was like little shredded bits of stuff in a cookie … again, with the bland. So I gave up. I never judge a cookie by it’s cover. Never. You have to taste it. So I did. Meh.
I feel bad, because I don’t like to write “bad” reviews and there really wasn’t anything bad here. The restaurant was clean, the servers very nice and I just can’t put my finger on anything specific, it just wasn’t all that … it reminded me a little of cafeteria food, but it may just be me because my kids absolutely loved everything, even the cookie. I may give it another shot, as I said, for the burgers, but I wouldn’t make a return trip for the other items.
