gaspare's ristorante italiano recently relocated and re-opened near my home right in the heart of phinney ridge - 67th and phinney ave, right across the street from red mill burgers. i had heard very good things about the restaurant at its old location on lake city way.
we went there on a beautiful sunny evening with high expectations. we found the food average and somewhat bland; it generally lacked flavor. we started off with a tomato salad. the tomatos were not as flavorful as what you can find all over seattle during the summertime. we were dissapointed. for our main courses we had chicken marsala and a pasta dish with shrimp. the main dishes were better than the appetizer but still lacked overall flavor.
one of the things that surprised us was the overall service. while the waitress was great, the food came to us so quickly that we did not have a chance to enjoy our nice bottle of italian wine. at the end of the meal we had 1/3 of a bottle left. it gave us the impression that either 1) the food was already prepared and sitting under a "heatlamp" (although it certainly did not taste like it) or 2) it was a very slow evening on one of the first really nice saturday nights of the summer. either way, it left a bad impression.
additionally, the bill was very expensive when i compare it to other italian places i'd put it up against (with the quality of the food and service being inferior): il terrazzo carmine or tulios. we may give it another try, although doubtful.
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