Summertime and the Eating is Good

San Marino II Restaurant Review

Story and photo by Max Galanty

There were pounds of pasta, greasy garlicky rolls, simple salads, and monster mozzarella sticks. That was just an alliteration to grab your attention because unfortunately, you can’t include the heavenly scent of what’s cooking in San Marino II to get you to read on.

The first thing you might notice, before you even enter San Marino II, is that you almost don’t notice it. In other words, from the outside, San Marino doesn’t look like a fancy Italian restaurant as much as it looks like some pizza joint. However, when you push open the doors, you do get the feeling that Tony Soprano and his goons might be chowing down on some pasta and red sauce in the corner. The décor is traditional Italian red, green, and white.

Truthfully, on a Monday night at 7, the place is empty. Aside from the staff, there is one party of two in the spacious back room of San Marino II. There is one waiter at the front of the house to take care of the customers in the whole restaurant. He doesn’t seem too stressed because it is only two tables.

As quiet as it was in San Marino, I was delighted to see a twenty-something inch flat-screen television hanging up caddy corner between the front and side window, with the New York Knicks game on. One advantage of an empty restaurant is that you could seat yourself wherever you like. I chose to sit at a table in the front overlooking the fully stocked bar and the Knicks losing.

The waiter came over to my table and immediately poured me a glass of ice water and removed the second setting since I was dining by myself. He returned from the kitchen with a basket of two warm greasy garlic rolls topped with parmesan cheese. You would think that the bread at a restaurant isn’t really worth mentioning, but these rolls were so soft and warm that I could sleep on them on a cold night.

For an appetizer, I wanted something I had never tried before. I had to refrain from ordering the fried mozzarella that I knew I would love. Instead, I chose something that wasn’t too far off. I asked the waiter for the Spiedini, an $8 appetizer. When the appetizer came to me, I was in awe. I thought someone had taken my mozzarella sticks and splashed it with heaven. Atop the fried sticks of mozzarella cheese was mushrooms, chopped garlic, caper, thin slices of prociuto, and a blanket of Barola wine sauce.

While I was eating the dish, my waiter came with more bread and water and dropped off a bowl of grated parmesan cheese.

I ordered my entrée, only to be disappointed. Somehow, at 7:30, they had run out of lasagna. So I ordered Penne Siciliana. It just sounded good to me. It was basically a big bowl of penne in some kind of garlicky sauce, decorated with sausage, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and chopped garlic. The dish was beautiful; it carried the theme of Italian colors: green spinach, red sun dried tomatoes, and white pasta. The pasta was cooked al dente and the sausage was soft, and there was plenty of it. 

The entrée came with a salad, which had came out first. It was a regular chopped romaine salad. I asked for the house Italian dressing. I was not impressed by the dressing or the tiny salad.

My stomach was full half way through the penne. I had a nice portion to take home for my friends to try. About $30 was the damage done to my wallet. This made me remember something: a family friend who owns an Italian restaurant told me. He said, "It amazes me what people are willing to pay for pasta." It was definitely tasty food, but the reality is that $14 for a bowl of pasta is always a rip off.

What was the most you ever paid for pasta?