There were only seven Romeos able to make this lunch date and they were
John Tweedie, Joe Pignatiello, Paul Girard, Mike Zapantis, Mark Ryan, Ed
Deschuytner and Joe Lapiana. You can see some photos at the link …..
It is usually hard finding a parking space in Somerville
but it was even more difficult this day due to the street repair and
construction. I drove around a few times
until I found a metered spot a few blocks away. You could only put $2.00 worth
of quarters in the meter for a max of two hours. I waited until almost 12 noon so
I could stay until 2 PM before refilling the meter. Fortunately lunch was over
before then. You can see a picture of the meter in the photos (Ha Ha).
Vinny’s Superette has a deli counter at the entrance
to pick up takeout and tables down back for the restaurant patrons. It is truly
a neighborhood fixture and caters to the locals. It’s like eating in an Italian
kitchen.
We were all seated along the right side wall at a
long table. Directly across at another long table were seated a group of locals
with the owner Vinny, having a great time chatting and eating. The waitress soon filled our water glasses and
added fresh bread to the table. We were all hungry and quickly began munching
on the bread. Drink orders were than taken and beers and wines were quickly
brought to the table. Paul asked for a white wine by name and to his surprize
they had it in stock. Vinny soon sent over a complimentary platter of tasty
pizza slices which were delicious.
We then looked at the menu and the specials written
on a chalk board. Joe P. said the
seafood was their specialty and he comes here often. We then placed our orders which consisted of Pasta
Fagoli Soup, Pasta Forno, Shrimp Fra Diavlo, Chicken Picatta, Scallops, Shrimp
Scampi and Pasta with Little Neck Clams.
The meals came quickly and were hot with giant
portions. Everyone dug into their plates and ate every last morsel. The Shrimp
Fra Diavlo was in a red sauce with angel hair pasta and several large shrimp.
The red sauce was very spicy and a bit too hot for my taste. Later we had coffee (no cappuccino) and one
dessert to share. The dessert was a Lemonelo ice cream with coconut sprinkles
and was very good.
At the suggestion of the Romeo group last time, I
made up a restaurant rating sheet that I passed around the table so we could
take the survey while it was fresh in our memories. Several of the group filled
out the survey and return it to me before leaving.
I tallied the surveys and then wrote a short
restaurant review that I posted on Google Reviews next to the name of Vinny’s
Broadway when you do a Google search. There were 143 other reviews for Vinny’s
when I posted it. You can see it at the
link ……
You can see a copy of the review below.
Mark
Ryan reviewed in the last week
Rating
………… Food 2 / 3 Decor 2 / 3 Service 3 / 3
I
had lunch today with my Romeo friends (Retired Old Men Eating Out). We meet
each month at a new restaurant and share camaraderie and current events. I
started off with a Pasta Fagoli soup that was delicious. I then had the Shrimp
Fra Diavlo (8/10) with big portions and spicy red sauce. The waitress was very
attentive and brought bread, drinks and meals to the table quickly. This is a
friendly neighborhood Italian restaurant in the rear of a deli takeout counter.
The others in the group had mixed reviews and ordered Chicken Picatta (10/10),
Pasta and Littlenecks (6/10), Shrimp Scampi (6/10), Shrimp Fra Diavlo (10/10).
We also had a good selection of beers and wines (8/10). Although we ordered hot
meals off the menu you could also select items from a cold antipasti buffet
table. The average price of entrees was $13.95 but drinks, dessert, coffee and
tip added to the final cost of $35.00 per person. There is limited meter
parking on Broadway due to street construction.
The conversation continued during and after lunch and included the
regular topics of sports, travel, current events and politics. Paul brought up
the 47 percent gaff made by Mitt Romney. Republicans are in a minority at the
lunch table and were hard pressed to defend Romney’s statements that “a
majority of Americans are too dependent on government and don’t pay taxes”.
Joe P., Paul and Mike talked about making wine this year. Joe decided he would make a full barrel and
gave Mike a letter about prices for half barrels. They also learned that Bob Siggens
was still interested and they would have to finalize their plans soon and send
in a deposit.
Joe P. talked with Joe L. about a possible trip to Portugal. He also
read in the paper about some offers for $1000 including airfare, transportation
and hotels in Europe.
Ed talked with Paul about a teacher they know who got a grant to teach
other teachers about Mathematics using Photoshop. She also got another grant to
teach the math involved in quilting using Photoshop to make Power Point
presentations.
We then talked about where to go next month for lunch and Joe P. suggested trying some Ethnic Restaurants. Joe L. said there were a lot in Lowell and he would find a few choices.
As always, the waitress gave the bill to Ed and he calculated the per
person cost to be $35 including the tip. It was now about 1:40 PM and we were all
worried about the parking meter running out and getting a ticket.
Comments Always Welcome ….. markryan@comcast.net
