Mizithra Cheese
Written: Nov 13 '00 (Updated Feb 04 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Mizithra Cheese
Cons: service is .... eh
The Bottom Line: Mizithra Cheese. Addictive.
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| megugrrrl's Full Review: Old Spaghetti Factory |
I don’t regularly patronize nor review chain restaurants (woah, that came out a lot haughtier than intended) but I recently dragged husband to the Old Spaghetti Factory because I had the strangest craving for Mizithra Cheese.
Now if you’ve never been to the Old Spaghetti Factory, you have to realize that it is a national chain and is very "chainy". Their prices are very low and their food is okay. However, you have to also know that #1 while they specialize in pasta, their food is far from Italian and #2 the service at this chain is particularly bad. It’s not that the food servers are rude, it’s just that Old Spaghetti Factories nationwide are jam-packed and the service feels like it’s on Valium, apathy Valium even. So again, why did I go? It’s this dish I remember from those good ol’ college days… Mizithra Cheese...
Listed under ‘Classics’ on their paper menu as:
“Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Mizithra Cheese, ala Homer.
A toothsome treat for cheese lovers (Legend has it that Homer lived on this while composing the Illiad”. It’s only $6.35.
Toothsome? Basically Mizithra is a Greek cheese that’s like part parmesano, part ricotta, part something else (sorry, I’m not very informative here) but reminds me of Parmesan cheese that is creamy and doesn’t have that aged taste. My plate arrived with a generous portion of white grated Mizithra cheese over a plate of piping hot of shiny buttery pasta. That’s it, three ingredients, noodles, cheese, and butter. The Mizithra and butter are good enough to carry the dish… I’m easily satisfied though. The noodles aren’t overcooked but not as al dente as I usually prefer. It’s still pretty good though – good enough to drag me to the Spaghetti factory. (Sidenote: If you end up liking the Mizithra cheese, you can actually take home a packet; ask your food server for how much it is)
Also, while it’s called the Spaghetti Factory, they do have other things like Chicken Parmigiana and other pastas like Ravioli, Lasagna, and Fetuccine. My husband ordered the cheese-filled spinach Tortelini with Alfredo Sauce ($7.25) which was cheesy but too salty for me.
Now the neat thing about the Old Spaghetti Factory is that they have ‘complete meals’. That means all entrees come with salad (a saucer with a lot of white lettuce), little loaves of fresh bread, a beverage (coffee, milk, iced tea) and dessert (spumoni or vanilla ice cream). While my salad wasn’t that great, the dressing, which was a creamy pesto was pretty good – infused with spices and tangy, very similar to a garlic and basil fortified ranch dressing. Also, if a mini scoop of spumoni doesn’t seem like a realdessert, they have mud pie that you pay for seperately.
Service:As I mentioned, the service at the Spaghetti factory isn’t that great. Everyone tries to be happy and helpful but their system needs to be worked out better. Our water was never refilled… our busser was running around clearing tables and bringing out dishes… so I thought that since the Old Spaghetti Factory is always crowded (and is a huge restaurant), why don’t they just get an extra busser; one to pour water and one to clear tables? It seems like such a simple solution to such an annoying problem.
But then again, at $25 (we got a few drinks) for dinner and some nostalgia (me and my Mizithra) who can complain?
Decor:I feel like I’ve walked into the library in a Clue game when I enter here – dark wood coated with high gloss polish, antique-y knickknacks here and there, giant chandeliers. It’s kind of neat. The Old Spaghetti Factory usually has a little train car caboose thing in the middle of the restaurant that, if you’re lucky, you can eat inside. (Caboose and old world antiques… hmmm.)
Since it’s a popular and inexpensive place, the place is packed with all kinds of people… there are a lot of kids around too… but the great thing is that despite all the children playing and large parties laughing, the noise level is really good! You can hear the conversation and your table and you can even hear the conversation at the other table too. (Not that you’d want to…)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
megugrrrl
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Oakland
Reviews written: 147
Trusted by: 321 members
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