Rosario Ristorante
Rosario Ristorante is a quaint little out of the way place, that sits back in the corner off of 43rd avenue just north of Olive (Dunlap) at 9250 N 43rd Ave. When you see it sitting there in this strip mall, you truly have no idea how beautiful and tastefully decorated it is inside. The atmosphere is immediately relaxing and welcoming. It was as if the chairs were beckoning us to the table to join them.
The restaurant is small which I personally adore, however I think this makes reservations, a vital necessity, to ensure you get a table. My dining partner and I went later in the evening during the week, so we were lucky; it was quiet, with a little jazz music playing and just a few other tables occupied. Our waiter was attentive and quite funny throughout the evening, always sure to let us know the food was excellent, and he would try to make his service equivalently as excellent, however he warned us he may pale in comparison to the food.
We started with iced tea, which my dining partner was immediately in love with, I believe her comment was. “This is the best iced tea I have ever had.” Shortly after her love affair with the tea, I convinced her to share a bottle of wine with me. We ordered the Shiraz from South East Australia, it was an excellent choice, neither of us had tried it before and we probably will adopt it as a new favorite on our list.
We moved onto an appetizer since the wine had teased our taste buds. It was a hard decision between the Rosario’s crab dip, or the crab stuffed mushrooms that come with a spicy warning label, but in the end we stepped outside of the crab idea and had Mozzarella Fritto served with a spicy marinara sauce. Like the menu says it was ‘fried to perfection’ in fact in melted in our mouths. The next phase of our delectable meal was salad; I had been craving salad all day so I had my fork in my hand waiting for it to be delivered to the table. We both ordered the Mediterraneo, simply mixed greens with tomatoes, red onion, and olives in balsamic vinegar dressing, it was superb. I was however also eyeing the Caprese, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil in balsamic, it appears this will be my salad choice next time I dine here as, I am still thinking about it.
On to the main attraction, the star of the show so to speak……dinner. Seriously choosing wine, an appetizer and salad was not half as challenging as choosing an entrée. The diversity of choices could keep you debating over the menu for hours, once you have finally decided you are still not sure because everything looks delicious. The other two tables were both enjoying the swordfish, which I have heard many customers rave about and seems to be a favorite. After much deliberating I decided on the baked Ziti in a meat sauce, which turned out to be absolutely scrumptious. (It was so good in fact my picky teenager stole the left over’s.) My dining partner chose their signature dish Chicken Cynthia, stuffed with prosciutto, spinach and mozzarella and topped with cream cheese. It was served with bow tie pasta in a garlic butter sauce. A tad too much garlic for her taste buds, but since our forks were sharing both dishes it all worked out perfectly.
At the end of the evening our total bill was just a tad over$70.00, which I thought was unbelievably reasonable for all of the food including the awesome bottle of wine and amazing iced tea, that my friend still talks about. I made sure to graciously tip my waiter $15.00. So for a total $85.00, I treated my friend to a wonderful meal and had the pleasure of her marvelous company in a very enjoyable atmosphere.
Rosario Ristorante is a fantastic dining experience, for a romantic occasion or just to take a friend, as I did. I have already referred other people, and since received even more positive feedback on their Rosario experience. One last thing I want to mention, if you do not see something you want on the menu, but see that they have the ingredients to prepare it for you, the chef will be happy to do so for you, check with your server. What a nice touch.
Visit RosarioRistorante.net to check out the menu, make reservations, or plan an event. You can also reach them at 623-931-1810. So on my scale of 1-5 forks……Rosario Ristorante is definitely a 5 fork dining experience.