Rufino’s Ristorante Italiano

9 Reviews on “Rufino’s Ristorante Italiano”

• Phil Doyle

  Awesome simple home style Italian. Budget cheap and cheerful. Been there forever apparently and I can see why. Little faded and rough around the edges in a tacky dining room but who cares – it adds to the experience of a family business doing what they know exactly right. Marinara sauce was a perfect blend of tomato pepper and chilli. I gotta say if this place was in my hometown I’d be in here every week. Lasagne was sensational. Gnocchi was excellent and the pizza was very good.

  October 1, 2016, 1:55 pm

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• Passepartout-Too-Too

  I guess every large suburban area hosts an Italian restaurant of this vintage and character, a sort of Norma Desmond of the restaurant world: been around for years, probably run by the same family, old family recipes, faded glory, &c &c. Most, like this one, are still pretty good. They eschew recent trends in food service, they stick to what made ’em the best in their day.The place is clean and comfortable. It’s a little frayed around the edges, but only enough to give you the sense of tradition and permanence. The booth benches could use some new covers, maybe, and surely when a new generation moves into the boss’s office, he or she will want to rip out all the old stuff and put in the contemporary version of dcor. Purists and regular customers will wail and gnash their teeth, but the business will go on or not independent of the look. More likely the eventual higher prices will have more genuine effect.The simple side salad served with each entre is the giveaway to the restaurant’s lack of desire to be thought trendy and hip. The food is, for the most part, good in a traditional way. I chose the lasagne, which I always say is the only pasta dish I couldn’t do better at home. This lasagne is very much in a siciliano style, the mix of beef and ricotta cheese a little on the dry side. Other than that, no complaints. I also tried my friend’s chicken Marsala, which I thought was well made in a very straightforward way. Presentation of both dishes was very traditional as well. A very good foccacia accompanies the meals as well. If there were sins to atone for (and I’m not saying there were), that bread would go a long way.I was in an expansive mood, so I finished off the meal with a canolli. Canolli are getting harder and harder to find, because they have such a short shelf life. But even a canolli in a slightly stale shell, if stuffed with a good sweet ricotta mix, is its own reward. That’s what I got here.The Curmudgeon’s Ratings:FOOD: 3 chili peppers (out of 5)SERVICE: 3 chili peppersAMBIENCE: 2 1/2 chili peppersVALUE: 2 1/2 chili peppersBefore you argue with me about the ratings, check out what they mean on my blog.

  September 3, 2016, 4:25 am

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