Paolo Lombardi's not so great

My girlfriend and I went on a meetup.com event to Paolo Lombardi's in Wyantskill.  map

The restaurant is very impressive from the outside.  The interior of the restaurant is very impressive as well, though a little cramped.  The main dining room has very large windows and feels very Italian.  The walls were decorared with garland for the holidays. 

Things started off great.  The bread was right out of the oven and absolutely delicious.  It came with butter and olive oil.  The bread was out of this world!  Our salads were also above average.  Oddly, Paolo Lombardi's only has two salad dressings -- house and blue cheese.  I got the house, which was very good.  So far, Paolo Lombardi's made a good impression on me.

I got a simple dish, chicken parm ($15.00), and I was not too impressed with it.  The portion was big which was good.  I was not a big fan of the sauce.  Perhaps I am not the best judge, because I am not a huge fan of Italian food to begin with, but I did not like the taste of the sauce.  The thing that hit me was the pasta.  It was cold and dried out.  There was a little meat sauce poured on it, but that did not mask its coldness and dryness.  I did not see anyone at the table finish their pasta.  Everyone else at the table liked their meals.  Everyone's portions did look very impressive.  However, I did not have the best experience. 

We were a large crowd, so oftentimes, we face slow service.  However, Paolo Lombardi's was overly slow.  The dinner was 2.5 hours from start to finish.  It took us an hour just to get our salads.  Paolo Lombardi's was not especially eager to do separate checks for the table.  They ended up doing separate totals, and that suited us just fine.  One of the waitresses was particularly unpleasant.  She told us that she is retiring this week and is glad to be hanging up her apron.  She said she just doesn't care any more.  Overall, the service was slow and not very friendly. 

Paolo Lombardi's gets a thumbs down from me, but, remember that there were many other people eating there and they seemed to like their meals.  My meal;  however, was average at best.  The bread was excellent though, and the atmosphere was very nice.

Little Anthony's

To finish out my Public Speaking course at Hudson Valley, my professor ordered pizza from Little Anthony's on 1095 Central Avenue in Albany.

Little Anthony's makes a delicious pizza. I tried a piece of the 24-cut sicillian. It was absolutely delicious. It was doughy and cheesy and just really good. It was not too greasy either. I tried to restrain myself, as I had eaten poorly for lunch; however, I had to have a second slice. I was uncomfortably full later on, but it was worth it. ;-)

Paesan's used to be my favorite pizza place in the area, but now my favorite pizza place in the area is Little Anthony's.

Laney's

I had dinner at Laney's on Albany-Shaker Road and I must say I like that place a lot. Besides the fact that they have great food, they have huge portions. Huge portions always do it for me.

Laney's has a little bit of everything -- American food, Italian food and sandwiches. The atmosphere is casual but cozy. The restaurant feels like it has some history to it. The parking lot is always crowded, so come early.

I had a dinner entree, which came with pasta and the salad bar. The salad bar does not have as much variety as Ruby Tuesday's, but the ingredients are of higher quality. I do like how they have romaine lettuce, homemade bread and fresh butter. Most salad bars offer only iceberg lettuce and store bought bread.

My entree was breaded cod. I was impressed that the fillet was over a pound. I find that few restaurants give a large portion of something expensive like fish. The pasta was also excellent. The marinara sauce was fresh, and I ended up putting the excess sauce on the fish. Pasta is usually not one of my favorites, but I gobbled it down pretty quickly.

Overall, I really like this place. My dinner was $18.95, which is more than I usually like to spend, however, I felt it was worth it. I got a nice heart-healthy piece of fish. Plus, I dined in a place that was not a chain. I will definitely visit Laney's again.