Besides our neighbors south of the border, Italians may have the best food anywhere in the world.
Whenever I eat Italian food, I become akin to a hungry child who can’t wait to sit down and chow down. Italians seem to have innate cooking skills, and a good cook is flexible with ingredients.
Recently, my travels led me to Argiero’s Italian Restaurant in Ann Arbor.
Located at 300 Detroit Street in Kerrytown, Argiero’s does its absolute best to maintain the spirit of Italy while at the same time offering quality Italian dishes at competitive prices. One out of two isn’t bad.
I’ll give you the good news first. If you’re a stickler for quality service, Argiero’s is a place for you. My waiter, Brian, was almost over-attentive, always quick to refill a glass of Coke, bring extra napkins or just give some healthy conversation. At one point during the meal, I dropped my fork on the floor, and I wasn’t sure if he saw it. Nevertheless, there was a new fork at my table three minutes later. I give the service an A-.
Now, the bad news. The first thing I noticed was the décor. The outside of the building is old and dilapidated, much as the inside. The neon sign outside the door is strip club-esque. The inside of the restaurant was not much more appealing. The red-checkered tablecloths were not modern in the least. The chairs fall victim to the same fate, and the ambiance was just overall tired. The music of Sinatra blared through the speakers, but it just seemed forced. I would give the décor and ambience a D .
I started things off with a Coke, and an appetizer of bruschetta ($5.95). To their credit, the bruschetta wasn’t bad – hot, fresh bread toasted with mozzarella and tomatoes on top with fresh basil and olive oil.
Next was the entrée of lasagna with meat sauce, which comes with your choice of soup or salad as well as bread. I ordered a salad, because Argiero’s only offered one kind of soup, minestrone. The house salad with mixed greens looked like the bag salad you would get at your local grocery, which was uninspiring to say the least.
The lasagna arrived approximately 25-30 minutes after I sat down which was fine. I thought a dish of that magnitude would take a long time to cook anyways, so I was not fazed. However, after cooking for that long, one would think that the pasta at Argiero’s would contain a little more punch to it.
Let’s be clear, the food at Argiero’s is nothing special. Mediocre pasta, with a wait staff that can’t wait to get off work, tripled with overpriced entrees on a menu that could use an overhaul. But the staff is friendly, and if you’re a parent who doesn’t feel like cooking and you want someplace to take the kids for dinner? Argiero’s is an option, but not the only option.
Grade: C-
