Sam: 1.5 out of 5 Stars (19 September 2015) Paul: 1 out of 5 Stars (19 September 2015) Parental Note: As you will see from the boys' review below, this place was awful and it is no surprise that (sometime between September 19th and the publishing of this review) Johnny Carino's on Camp Creek closed permanently. So, the review is a moot point; but, the boys still wanted to post it. Sam: So. We were coming home from the airport after we picked up my mom from her trip to Puerto Rico. We were hungry and looking for something to eat. We always see Johnny Carino’s whenever we go to the airport. My dad said, “Let’s try it.” So, we went in the parking lot and we saw not that many cars there. We were like, “Hmmm…” Paul was like, “Let’s pick something else.” We went inside. We got our seats immediately. We sat down. We were watching the Georgia Tech-Notre Dame game. We ordered our drinks. I had Orange Italian Soda. It was good. Then we ordered our food. I got Spaghetti and Meatball. It looked good until I saw the watery sauce. Like actual water in the sauce! And then I tasted the plain spaghetti. It was not good. But, the meatball was good. I was thinking, “This is supposed to be Italian. They call themselves an Italian place – but they mess up Spaghetti and Meatball! A classic!" Also, we saw a party trying to get set up in the room next to us.... ...The bathroom was pretty clean. It smelled good, too. Good bathroom. Bad food. Bathroom: 4.5 out of 5 Stars. Food: 1.5 out of 5 Stars. Paul: This review is going to be short because Sam basically said it all. But, it was dad’s idea – not mine! Anyway, it was pretty much my fault for ordering chicken tenders at a so-called “Italian” restaurant. I could tell when they brought them out that they were frozen…even before I ate them. The French fries tasted like nothing and they were very soggy. Even my parents’ meals were terrible. They even screwed up my dad’s Caesar salad. How does that happen!? The only two things good about this place were the Italian soda (I got vanilla) and the bathrooms.
So, that’s probably why you should NOT go to Johnny Carino’s. If you are near the airport, you are better off going to Longhorn or someplace like that, since they are all in the same strip mall. 1 out of 5 Stars.
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Paul: 4 out of 5 Stars (9 August 2015) Sam: 4 1/2 out of 5 Stars (9 August 2015) *Parental Note: This review was dictated to dad and transcribed with 100% accuracy. Paul: There’s this new shopping center across the street from the Publix on the East-West Connector in Smyrna. The main store there is Sprout’s Farmers Market. But, next to it they opened an Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint, an AT&T Wireless store, one of those nail places, and a Mattress Firm. After church on Sunday night, we went to Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint for dinner. When we got there, the owner asked us if we had ever been there before. We answered, “No.” He told us that it was like a Moe’s, Willy’s or Subway - but for pizza! So, basically, how it works is they have personal pizzas and you can pick your dough, your sauce, your cheese, and three toppings. This is called the “Build Your Own” in case you were wondering. They also have specialty pizzas that are made with pre-decided ingredients. They also have salads and toasted paninis. After they make your pizza fresh in front you, they put it in a conveyer oven. It takes around five to ten minutes. I ordered the traditional crust, tomato basil sauce, mozzarella cheese, pineapple, red onions, and bacon. The pizza was good because the ratio of sauce to cheese to toppings was great. If you go to some pizza restaurants that aren't the best, they have lot of cheese and barely any sauce on the pizza. But not at Uncle Maddios! Another reason why I like the pizza here is the crust. It is very light and airy. So, you can eat your entire 9” personal pizza without getting stuffed. The cooking time was spot-on. It wasn’t burned and it wasn’t under-cooked. It was just right. WARNING: The bacon is very salty! For dessert, they have MASSIVE cookies. We ordered chocolate chip. You have option to put your cookies on the pizza conveyer belt to heat them up. I recommend it that way. I wouldn’t exactly call it a cookie. I’d call it a “mini-cake”! It was good. Not amazing. But, really good. Uncle Maddio's is awesome! Sam: I ordered the BBQ Chicken Pizza on traditional crust with no onions. It was great - no..wait…it was OUTSTANDING! What I mean by “outstanding” is outstanding with no bacon. I mean, it comes with bacon, but you should order it without. The reason why should leave off the bacon is because it’s overpowering…or whatever that word is. There were lots of posters on the walls. Surprisingly, there was only one poster that had a pizza on it. The poster above our booth looked like it was a picture of Italy because they are famous for good pizzas. They actually are. I read that in a book. Oh, yeah, let’s go back to Paul’s review of Uncle Maddio’s…. Don’t listen to Paul about those cookies! I didn’t think they were THAT big. They were good, though. Even though it was chocolate chip, it tasted a little like homemade sugar cookies right out of the oven. Uncle Maddio’s was clean. But, I expected it to be clean because it was a new place and a lot of times stores and restaurants are clean when they are new. And now….dun dun.... DUNNNNNN!!! It's time for my patented bathroom review! The bathrooms were based on modern stuff. The cabinets were modern. The lights were modern. Pretty much everything in the bathroom was modern. Like I said before, the place was new - so it was clean. Thanks for reading the bathroom review and our restaurant review! I hope you read us again! *Parental note: You can read more about Uncle Maddio's here. 4 out of 5 Stars (December 27th, 2013)Parents' Note: This is the first blog entry that was typed by Paul Gaeta himself. To this point, the boys have dictated their entries to their father. On this review, however, Paul typed it all by himself using his new Android tablet. Sam dictated his part to Paul. Paul: We went to Pasta Bella on Friday. For our appetizer we had garlic rolls. I had the Seafood Maria. It was basically seafood with pasta. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!! It had seafood like scallops, muscles, shrimp, and fried calamari. The server was helpful and nice. The service was good and we got a great circle booth. As far as the bathroom cleanliness: it was clean. Sam: The spaghetti was good. There was a lot of music in the restroom. The spaghetti took a lot of time to cool down. 5 out of 5 Stars (October 13th, 2013)Paul: We went to Siracusa’s for our Sunday meal after church. We got there and our waitress hooked us up with a great appetizer. We ordered the Zucchini Fritti. If you are wondering what that is, let me tell you. Zucchini Fritti is zucchini that is sliced into very thin circles. They kind of look like potato chips...but don’t let that fool you! It is actually zucchini. They were lightly battered and fried. They were served with marinara sauce for dipping. They were unbelievably delicious! Unlike other places, the zucchini was only lightly battered. They were seasoned perfectly and cooked very well. The waitress told us that they were “cooked to order”. My dad told me that means they are very fresh! For our main course, my dad and I split a four-slice pizza. It was the Eggplant Pizza, which is their specialty. It was fantastically awesome! It was kind of like Eggplant Parmesan...but on pizza! It had eggplant, ricotta, marinara sauce, and mozzarella. I did not eat the crust. (I don’t like the crust on pizzas.) I know it was good, though - because my dad stole them off my plate! Really, if I liked crust, it would be magnificent! For dessert, we had cannolis. It was good that they did not have pistachios in them, because I brother is allergic to nuts. Instead of pistachios, they put chocolate chips - which my brother likes. Sam really liked the cannolis! I loved them, too. The decor is cool because they had three TVs and they have DirceTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket. They have a poster of a special kind of Italian wine that we have in a frame at our house! All of the posters are pretty awesome. They had a really cool bar and the tables in the back are neat because you get to see a lot of cool posters and if was a hot day, it would be good because you are right under the air conditioning. They have a Bocce court outside. Bocce is a popular game from Italy. It is kind of like a combination of bowling and horseshoes. My family plays it a lot at my papa’s house in Hiawassee, Georgia. He has a real Bocce court, too! My dad had a bocce court in his backyard when he was a boy. Papa built it with his dad. Siracusa’s is a small restaurant but very worth going to! The food is awesome and it is a really cool place! Sam: The cannoli was so good. I really liked it! The bathrooms are in the back of the restaurant, if you don’t know. Ivy Walk in Vinings | 1675 Cumberland Pkwy | Ivy Walk Unit #415 | Smyrna, GA 30080 We reviewed this place back in June, based on multiple visits. So, this is not a review. But, our parents didn't take pictures before and we went there for dinner again tonight. We got the BBQ Chicken Pizza. It was AWESOME!
4 out of 5 Stars (August 9th, 2013)Paul: We just went to our school’s open house and met our new teachers. To celebrate, because we were happy that we got great teachers, we decided to eat out. We went to to Figo’s, which Sam and I had not been to before - but mom and dad had. For our appetizer, we got the Figo Bruschetta. It was very flavorful. The tomatoes were super fresh and their were a lot of them. It was loaded! For my meal, I had the Lasagna di Figo - adult size. There were two sizes: kids and adults. It was very good. The tomato sauce was great. The lasagna was perfectly cooked. I had leftovers. Mom and I had the Peanut Butter Pie for dessert. It had a crust made from Oreos, peanut butter filling and chocolate “ganache”. It also had raspberry sauce all over the plate. It was very good. It wasn't that big....but that was good because we were stuffed to the rafters! (See the picture of my brother all tired and full.) You order at the counter and you get a huge salt and pepper shaker with salt and pepper in it - but it’s also decorated so they know where to bring your food. The service was very good. The food came quick. I recommend Figo Pasta. The only thing is that it’s small and they don’t have the most comfortable chairs and tables. The decor was not too special. Sam: I got the Fusilli Pasta with Cheese Sauce. I really liked the cheese sauce. For desert, I go the Tiramisu. I liked that, too! Click on a picture below for a larger view.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS (June 15th, 2013)Paul: We took my dad to Taverna Fiorentina for a Fathers Day dinner on Saturday night (instead of Sunday, so it wouldn’t be so crowded). The decor was very dark. It was cool because it had a bar and two dining rooms. They had wine bottles on the wall. The two rooms were separated by a curtain and steps. It was an open kitchen so you could see what different people were ordering when the waiters took it out. The only kids were Sam and me. We got two appetizers for our table. We got the eggplant parmesan and the caprese. (I love caprese!) The caprese was stacked like a tower. I said it was the “Leaning Tower of Caprese” because it slightly leaned. The mozzarella on the caprese was awesome! The eggplant came out super-hot, but it cooled down pretty quick. I loved it. I ordered the Gnocchi di Ricotta. It was very good! It had gnocchi, shrimp, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes. The zucchini was fresh and tasty. The shrimp was very big and tender. The gnocchi was light for a gnocchi, which is normally pretty heavy. I loved it! I would recommend getting it; although, there are many other great options on the menu. (And don’t forget to look at the specials, because they are very tasty. My dad got the special lamb and said it was awesome.) The server’s name was “Joe”, which is my dad’s name! He gave really good recommendations. He told my dad a really good wine to get with his lamb. There was a bar code on the wine bottle and he let my dad scan it with his iPhone. It told him where he could buy it in the future. He came back on a regular basis to check on us and see if we were OK. Joe was great. I almost forgot about dessert. Me, Sam, and mom got the chocolate mousse. It was creamy and very thick. I liked it. It was very good. I recommend this restaurant. Sam: I really liked my spaghetti and meatballs. I almost had my whole thing but I didn’t because it was too much. I wanted to have it for leftovers because it was really good and I wanted it again. I really liked the bread. I liked my chocolate mousse dessert, too. Click on the pictures for a bigger view.
Ivy Walk in Vinings | 1675 Cumberland Pkwy | Ivy Walk Unit #415 | Smyrna, GA 30080 4 1/2 out of 5 Stars (Multiple Visits)Paul: I like to order the Chicken Sausage Pizza. It has sausage made from chicken. It also has tomato sauce, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and fontina cheese. All the flavors burst into your mouth! It is really filling, but light at the same time. I would recommend it, although Little Azio's has a lot of other good choices. My mom likes to order the Hummus Wrap. She says it is a healthier option.
The decor is just alright. Not the worst in the world. Most of the time, it is very clean. You can choose between sitting outside or inside. It can sometimes be cold in the restaurant, but that is a good thing during the summer. The booths are HUGE! I've seen eight people stuffed in one booth before! They have two TVs that are always on sports, which I like. Sam. I usually get the kids' Cheese Pizza. I like it a lot. It is why I get excited when we go there. 3 3/4 out of 5 Stars (May 24th, 2013)Paul: Mezza Luna just opened about a month ago. It’s on the right track for getting to be a very good restaurant. It is a very small restaurant. The two servers that were there were good. The décor is like an Italian ocean coast. It has a lot of blue color, shells hanging on the walls, and anchors. The big screen TV showed views of Italy. For my appetizer I had bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and fried calamari with marinara sauce. These were very good. Normally, calamari is really chewy, but here it was not so chewy – but just chewy enough! The calamari was also a good presentation. The Seafood Ravioli (What Paul Ordered) My entrée was Seafood Ravioli with Marinara Sauce. The seafood in the ravioli was good. The ravioli was thin instead of thick. I recommend getting this. For dessert, I had the chocolate mousse. I tell you, it was out-of-this-world awesome! It was very airy like a good mousse. My whole family loved it. Sam: I ordered the cannolis for dessert. “Bleh.” Because they were not sweet. (Although my dad liked them.) Chocolate Mousse was much better. |
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