Pasta House University City - Review from my Wife, Penny, Jan 2015

Our former favorite Italian restaurant, Pasta House in University City, seems to be on a downward spiral.  Just a few weeks ago, they stopped serving lunch on Saturdays, and so we inadvertently discovered that the Pasta House in Creve Coeur was nicer.  However, the location in University City is closer for us, so I took my mother there for lunch on a weekday.  I love their signature salad and my mother loves their salty Sicilian Grilled Pesce. We were rather disappointed.

It was more crowded than I've ever seen it.  Translation:  our server was so busy that we rarely saw her and even with the seating hostess filling in for her, we were still lucky to get what we needed. Slowly.

Those delicious Italian bread rolls have shrunk.  They gave us a plate of 12 spread containers for two minirolls.  I eventually managed to get a second, but it was overbrowned on top. They still tasted good though.

The salads have grown, however.  Instead of the small round plate, the salads came on a bigger oval plate.  Unfortunately, they were so heavy on the vinegar that it was almost painful to eat them.  And several artichokes were so tough that I almost had to spit them out after chewing on them for quite a while.

The main course, Sicilian Grilled Pesce, no longer comes with both a vegetable and a side pasta for lunch.  My mother chose the white pasta over the broccoli or roasted potatoes.  She ate and liked her pasta and shared her fish with me.  This usually delicious grouper was missing the salt in its breading.  My mother is a salt hound, which is why she loves this fish so much, but today's breading had very little salt in it.  It was bland and she didn't even finish her half of the fish.

The highlight of the meal was the iced tea, which we eventually managed to get refilled by the seating hostess rather than by our waitress. Even the seating left something to be desired.  Their limited booth seating with cushioned seats was full, so my mother, with her arthritic hip, had to fold up her coat to sit on it on the hard wooden chair.  This Pasta House location has become inconsistent and we may simply have to drive a little farther to the Creve Couer location the next time.