Michaelangelo's: A Mealtime Masterpiece!
Written: Jul 22 '00 (Updated Jul 31 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Incredibly-great food in an inviting atmosphere served to you by friendly, eager-to-please people
Cons: Say WHAT!?!
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| AinsleyJo's Full Review: Indiana |
If the following review sends you scurrying in the direction of Noblesville, Indiana, you can find Michaelangelo's address at the bottom of this review.
When I do my banking at the branch in Pendleton these days, I'm still amazed at how this beautiful building used to be a fast-food place called Clancy's.
Clancy's, too, was a beautiful building--the owners just decided to close and sell the building because there wasn't enough interest generated in what they had to offer in that particular location.
When my bank (Star Financial) bought it, they also saw a beautiful, doable building that was still relatively-new, so--instead of choosing to level it and build from the ground up--they chose to remodel it to give it that plush "bank" look.
A few years before that, over in Noblesville, another Clancy's location was closing its doors--but for a different reason. The owners had decided to build their latest prototype of that restaurant at a different location.
Right after that, a magical transformation began to take place within the walls of Noblesville's first Clancy's--the result being a work of art with a name to prove it: Michaelangelo's!
I recall the original name being something like MIchaelangelo's Pizza, Pasta, and Cream. Now, it's simply known as Michaelangelo's Italian Restaurant--and it's one-of-a-kind! At one time, it was two-of-a-kind (due to opening up a second location in Plainfield), but the owners decided on just continuing to make the Noblesville location better and better with the passing of time.
And--in my opinion--they have truly succeeded in doing this!
What is the best way to prepare to write a review of such a great place? In order to write with a truly open mind, one must pay Michaelangelo's more than one visit within a short amount of time (Good of excuse as any for pampering my taste buds at a place that has been a frequently-visited personal favorite since my first experience with it in 1990, which was about a year after it opened, because a serious bout with my trick-knee kept me from getting there right when it opened its doors in 1989).
Right before the Fourth of July Weekend this year, I was celebrating my own independence--starting to get out again after being cooped up while recovering from my latest trick-knee incident. Because I'm considerably overweight, this means that trying to get back to normal too soon after a pop-out might just delay the recovery, due to the strain that bearing my weight would put on the healing knee, so I've learned just to relax and take my sweet time recuperating.
And this recuperation period hasn't been a total bust, because I had more time than normal to spend online--both discovering and getting started at Epinions during those shut-in weeks! :o)
But--back to my celebration of independence--what better way to start out than to make the 20 (give or take) mile trip from Anderson to Noblesville in search of sighingly-wonderful taste!
As I'm writing about this now, I'm coming close to sounding like that woman in those shampoo commercials, and I'm drooling like Pavlov's dog!
During my first visit since having the excuse of being a Food Critic for Epinions.com, I was waited on by Mary Dyer who pleasantly greeted me with, "Hi! I'm Mary, and I'll be your server!" to which I replied, "Hi! I'm Ainsley Jo, and I'll be your customer!" In typical chick fashion, we both started giggling at that point!
Mary--like every other waitress (and, at times, waiter) I've had the pleasure of being waited on by since I first began eating at Michaelangelo's--was very friendly and helpful. In order not to make her nervous or self-conscious, I didn't tell her about my (supposedly) main purpose in being there that day until a little later.
I decided that I wanted to have another dish just like one I'd had on a recent previous visit. The first time I'd had it, it was on special and at a considerably-reduced price. The price-increase didn't discourage me one bit.
Angel Hair Pomodoro (described on the menu as "Angel hair pasta tossed in olive oil, fresh spinach, tomato, basil, pine nuts and garlic.") could be mine, Mine, MINE for a mere $9.99! This huge serving of pure Heaven also came with a choice of soup or salad and was served with breadsticks. It didn't matter if your choice was soup or salad, the same still applied: unlimited servings!
Someone like Uncle Don might have almost bankrupted them! lololol Yet, it probably would have still been service with a smile.
I was somewhat less threatening to their well-being, having only a second large bowl of their soup of the day: a clam chowder where clams were a definite reality instead of mere lip-service.
Back to the subject of unlimited servings: the same applied to the breadsticks.
My pink lemonade was extra--but just as bottomless!
Mary was about to take my menu away when she noticed that I was copying down the details of what I was eating. She quickly apologized and let me keep it to copy, even though she had, at that time, no idea why I was doing this.
Speaking of menus: Michaelangelo's have just gotten new menus made, and they're works of art as well. I haven't yet been there when there was someone there who knows who designed them, but they're definitely not your everyday menus--looking like they were created by Michaelangelo, himself, along with some of the other masters. If you're in Noblesville and stop in there--which I hope you do a.s.a.p.--be sure to treat your eyes to the sheer beauty of these menus!
And drink in the decor as well, which is the perfect mix of casualness and elegance with its paintings, plaques, antique instruments, and other wall decorations; its hanging plants; its decorative center shelves filled with wine bottles, glass containers of pasta in a variety of colors and shapes, and a myriad of other pleasant things to look at; its two indoor dining rooms--a greenhouse and the dining space divided by the curio shelf wall--as well as a small area for eating outdoors if you so wished; and all of the other things that make it a pleasant place to eat, including audible-but-not-intrusive DMX music, which is, more times or not, set on an oldies channel--and, when not there, on a channel of the best in contemporary pop/rock.
Kid friendly? Are you kidding!?! This place is not only well-stocked with crayons and paper, but kids can eat there free (details in a bit) Monday through Thursday.
No, Ma and Pa Kettle couldn't come there and get all of their Young'uns tanked up on the house, but the deal is still quite good. For every adult who eats $7 or more (before taxes and tips), one child in his/her company can eat a free Kid's Meal! (Drink extra).
But--back to my first of my three good-excuse-to-eat-there meals. . .
I mentioned that the entree was served generously and told you what was in it. But I want to describe the quality of it--which can also be applied to the other two entrees:
Very flavorful! Vegetables cooked to that perfect consistency where you can tell that they aren't raw but they still crunch! How should I put it? Melt-in-your-mouth, crunch-between-your-teeth deliciousness! Putting it another way: If Dom De Luise were eating this, he would probably hiss, sigh, moan, and melt into a big puddle of tiger-butter!
Angel-hair pasta is the perfect kind of pasta for a dish like this, and the pine nuts add a wonderfully-unique flavor and crunch.
Ah! But we're not done yet! There's still dessert, and there's something new and delicious-looking on the menu: Tira Misu.
This $2.99 delight is described as: "A blend of creamy sweet custard and cheese layered over coffee infused sponge cake and topped with cocoa."
How to pronounce it: something like "tearamazoo" with the accents of the four syllables being like "Kalamazoo" rather than "Hiawatha."
Anyway you pronounce it, it's delicious!!!
By this time, I'd told Mary that I was getting ready to write a review of the place--and it didn't make her the least bit nervous. She was happy to answer my questions about Michaelangelo's.
It is owned by Clancy's, Inc.--which is founded by, and still in the hands of, a local family with the last name of Foglesong--and is one of their many restaurants, the others being: Clancy's, Grindstone Charley's, Red Rock, and Houlahan's.
Mary also told me that she had been in there when locally-well-known food critic, Reid Duffey, had paid Michaelangelo's a visit, but this had been many years ago before she had become a waitress and was, instead, a little girl in there with her family. She ended up showing up in the footage shown on DUFFEY'S DINER (Channel 6--ABC affiliate--News).
During my next two visits--although they have several more wonderful desserts and drinks (even alcoholic beverages for those who want them)--I stuck with the Tira Misu and Pink Lemonade but changed my soup and entree each time. I also had different waitresses the other two times--Natalie Pollack and Ashley Adamak--who continued to keep up the tradition of Michaelangelo's excellent, friendly service.
My next time in, I had their Wisconsin Cheese Soup. Great! Cheese, bits of red pepper, and little ham chunks delighting my taste buds. My last time in, I had their house soup: Minestrone. I'd always enjoyed their Minestrone Soup--but I think it has gotten even better since the last time I had it. It was loaded with beans, bacon, and a variety of chopped veggies that had that wonderful melt-and-crunch texture I'd mentioned earlier!
On my second visit, I had the other angel hair pasta dish (also $9.99). This was called Angel Hair Primavera and was described as: "Fresh broccoli, carrots, zucchinni, yellow squash and red pepper tossed with angel hair pasta."
Is it really necessary to keep repeating myself to tell you that it didn't disappoint? Not only did it--and the other two meals--not disappoint, but it didn't even come close to disappointing.
However, I'm disappointed now, because--due to the fact that they've just added it to their menu--their Fettuccine Alfredo dish isn't shown on this take-home menu I have here to copy down every little juicy detail. But I can tell you this much: The FA has been topped with a generous amount of flaky, tasty, tender salmon and cooked-just-right asparagus tips. This sells for around a dollar more than the other two dishes.
Let me add here that you can get away with spending a lot less at Michaelangelo's and still come away feeling very satisfied. You can get all of the salad (and they make one mean salad!) you care to eat for just $3.99. You can get at least one huge bowl of soup for $2.99--and, although it doesn't mention this on the menu so I can't guarantee it, my experience in the past has been that they have served it with breadsticks (ditto on the salad) and they offer refills.
The appetizers (besides the breadsticks) range in price from $4.99 to $6.99 and could easily be a meal in themselves. There are various pasta dinners (served with breadsticks and a choice of soup or salad) that range from $4.99 to $8.49 during lunch (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and range from $6.99 to $10.49 from 4 p.m. until closing. There are whole sandwich subs for $6.29 and half sandwich subs for $4.99 that are served with potato chips and pickle spear--and, for 79 cents more, you can subsititue fries.
And there are pizzas with choice of size and crust. Too many to mention them all. Too many of EVERYTHING to mention it all--meaning you'll just have to go there and see for yourself. But I'm going to give you the cost of the Michaelangelo's Deluxe (pepperoni, Italian sausage, onion, green pepper, mushrooms, provolone and mozzarella cheese) in its different sizes:
Individual: $2.99 / 10" $7.99 / 12" $10.99 / 14" $14.99
No matter if you order the most expensive thing on the menu or just come in for a soft drink and a dish of ice cream, you're made to feel important and welcome at Michaelangelo's. Nobody tries to hurry you along to make way for the next customer. You're frequently checked on to see if everything is all right.
I'm going to post this Epinion. As soon as I see it up, I'm going to call the folks over at Michaelangelo's and tell them the news they've been waiting to hear ever since I promised to write about them:
"It's official! Michaelangelo's is on the Internet!!!"
550 Westfield Road (a.k.a. the westside of Noblesville on
State Hwy. 32)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
AinsleyJo
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Member: Ainsley Jo Phillips
Location: Anderson, Indiana
Reviews written: 263
Trusted by: 216 members
About Me:
AJ is in multi-tasking mode and spinning her wheels! LOL
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