Intersection of US Highway 221 and NC Highway 181
Pineola, NC(828) 733-1401
Hours:
April 1st through October 31st:
11 AM -> 10 PM
November 1st through March 31st: 11 AM -> 9 PM
Closed Mondays
We ate supper at the Italian Restaurant one cold January night.
Ray: We started out with an appetizer of garlic cheese bread ($2.50). It was nice and fresh, with a good portion of melted mozzarella on each slice. My entree came with a salad, for which I chose the Italian dressing. The salad was good, with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and salad peppers. The dressing was outstanding, very tasty indeed.
Tom: I started with the Bean and Macaronis soup, which had white beans and tiny “micro-ronis” in a tomato base. Good but not outstanding. Also, I was given the soup without a spoon, only rectified a bit later.
Ray: For the main course I had the Sausage & Peppers Plate with Spaghetti ($10.75). This consisted of a large bowl of spaghetti with a generous covering of marinara sauce and a separate dish of sausage and green peppers, also in marinara, with mozzarella melted over the top. I also chose to have banana peppers added to the spaghetti dish. This combination was in a word, excellent. Tasty sausage, correctly cooked pasta, and marinara with the perfect consistency and spice. There was also a lot of it. So much so that I took about 1/3 of my meal home and had it for lunch the next day, and it was still every bit as good as it was the night before. I couldn’t have asked for a better meal. I washed all this down with a few glasses of sweet tea, which was likewise quite good.
Tom: I chose the ziti with sausage–a generous amount of sausage, rich marinara sauce and good ziti, not overdone. It was too much fore me as well, I took half mine home to nicely age for a later meal. And, they have the best takeout containers in the high country–aluminum with foil-sided paper lids that are crimped on. No charge, either–a nice touch.
Ray: The food here is served on nice but simple china, with standard restaurant grade stainless utensils. Unfortunately the menus and placemats were slathered with advertisements for local businesses.
Tom: Yes, and the inevitable red plastic Coca-Cola branded glasses.
Ray: The service here was good initially, but our waitress ended up with a table all the way across the restaurant near the end of our meal, which noticeably affected how long it took to get our check. All in all, though, the service was efficient and cheerful.
Tom: And, I wish they had made it clear at the door which way to go for non-smoking. We ended up in the smoking section, gagging on smoke from some diners near us (smoking before eating — yech!). I am strongly in favor of completely no-smoking restaurants.
Ray: The first thing that impressed me about the Italian Restaurant was “man, this place is *clean*”. It is one of the two or three cleanest restaurants we have dined at. Most restaurateurs could learn a thing or two from the proprietors of this restaurant. The interior consisted of nicely done dark paneling and brass rails, comfortable booths, and partially recessed pressed tin ceilings. There were wildlife prints on the walls, along with a gem display (a bit tacky for such a nice restaurant) from Gem Mountain. There was soft rock playing in the background, but not at such a volume as to be objectionable. There was even the mother of all ivy vines which has grown to amazing lengths. That and the open kitchen lent a welcome hominess to the atmosphere.
Tom: Well, if there were gems on display you would expect soft rock playing…
Ray: Yuck, yuck….
Tom: The wine bottles on display were nice too. Not quite a bar look but ok.
Ray: The Italian Restaurant was a very nice surprise. I had not expected it to be half as good as it was, and it was excellent in almost every way! The service with one exception was cheerful and fast, the food was tasty and served in quantity, and the atmosphere was comfortable.
I would not hesitate to recommend The Italian Restaurant to anyone traveling through Pineola. It’s easily good enough to justify the drive from Boone or even Blowing Rock.
Tom: Yes, it was nice. Sort of like Joe’s but a bit sterilized, and a bit less cozy. Worth the drive.
GPS Coordinates
Lat: 36° 1.68′
Lon: 81° 53.62′
Menu (prices may change)
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