A Voce – "don't waste your time or money"
As soon as I walked into A Voce I was welcomed by classic Tuscan scents and a soothing sense of tranquility. The modern style has an earthy feel; especially with the hanging wood chips in the back of the restaurant to the unsophisticated color schemes of the tables. Unfortunately, it would be all down hill from here.
APPETIZERS:
Duck meatballs in a sweet sauce
Still raving about the spicy duck meatballs at Perilla from last week, I felt obligated to try another chef's take on one of my new favorite dishes. Lesson learned: I should have quit while I was still ahead. The consistency of the meatball was nice, but the sauce lacked in the "flare" department; it just didn't WOW me at all. Also, the dish was drenched in sauce and it took away from the flavor of the meat. The actual meatballs didn't taste anything like duck, but rather, ground beef.
Caprese Salad with fresh tomato and pesto
The presentation was impressive, but at that price, would it kill them to add some more tomatoes and mozzarella? The flavors were on point; the tomatoes (they just happen to be in season) had a full red color and were bursting with flavors. The mozzarella was garnished with seasoning and had a nice bodied flavor. Again, I really loved the dish, well all two bites of it.
Crostini alla Toscana with chicken liver, foie gras, moscatod'asti
This was probably one of the best dishes we had all night. It was served with four big pieces of toasted rustic Italian bread alongside a spread of foie gras. The foie gras had a nice thick texture; it was salty, but not too salty and was the ideal spread for the toasted crostini. I highly recommend this dish as it's perfect for sharing around the table. The two previous dishes were not great for sharing appetizers.
ENTREES:
Seared Diver Scallops with an orange citrus and lentils
I don't know what the chef was smoking back there, but this just didn't do it for me. The overpowering flavors of the dull lentils took away from the already flavorless scallops. The citrus flavors were nowhere to be found and didn't add any pizzazz to the meal. In my opinion, when you add lentils to any dish, you are killing any potential for it to be great. They have such rich tastes that it's hard to mix with another ingredient, in particular, scallops which were not very strong in flavor. I realize lentils are healthy and a great source of protein, but COME ON!
Homemade farfalle with sweet corn, bacon and pesto
Do not be fooled by the ingredients here! I don't even know where to begin this one so ill just start right at the root.
The pasta was undercooked and hard….not exactly what I was expecting from HOMEMADE farfalle. My old roommate Wod (Worst of day) Mike used to make it all the time out of the box and it tasted much better than last night. The pesto was buried under the small portion of pasta and was tasteless. The consistency of the pesto was too oily and didn't go well at all with the hard pasta. I don't even recall tasting any corn, yet it was listed on the menu. Ah, and now to the bacon. Personally, I am not a bacon person, but I will try the occasional salad with bacon bits. To my dismay, the bacon was not crispy enough and was also sparingly scattered throughout the dish. The flavors of this dish had potential but were poorly executed.
Mezzi Rigatoni- lamb, cippola rossa, aged pecorino toscano
I cannot fully review this dish because I did not taste, but can assure you another member at the table loved it.
DESSERT:
If it wasn't for the great company I was with, I may have considered walking out on the bill for this place because the service and food were just awful. But I am glad I stuck around for one more round and boy was it worth it.
Bomboloni alla Toscana – Tuscan doughnuts with chocolate sauce
A gourmet doughnut is like a 100 little orgasms packed into one tasty treat. That's exactly what this was, heavenly. There were four doughnuts on the platter (perfect for sharing) alongside a chocolate dipping sauce, which was warm and gooey. The doughnuts were creamed filled, and no, not that crappy cream filling from Dunkin Donut's; it was the real deal.
In closing, A Voce was quite the dining experience, but be glad you have a friend like me to steer you clear of a place that will really put a hole in your wallet.
| Restaurant Review Rating Scale | ||||
| Total Points Available | ||||
| Food | 6 | 10 | ||
| Service | 6 | 10 | ||
| Ambiance | 8.5 | 10 | ||
| Bang for the Buck | 5 | 10 | ||
| Overall | 6.5 | 10 | ||
| 32 | 50 | |||
A VOCE
