Domenico Silver Lake - wow. not in a good way.

Went to Domenico really wanting to like it - we had heard good things about the pasta, sauces, fish, etc. and were down to have an experience!!
The interior is clean and sharp - dress of staff is also polished - seems to echo the high aesthetic standard of Lamill across the street.

We had one app - Caprese, two pastas(primi), two meats(secondi) and dessert. We byob'd as well.

Gotta start with the pasta, which was found wanting - my wife's was toasted on the outside, followed by lukewarm, almost cold in the middle, like it had been tossed in the broiler and not heated thru...not awesome. My pasta was just OK - our server was raving about the ragu, but I found it lumpy and not at all the "rich" ragu I was sold on. The Caprese "surprise" was one of the least appealing versions of this dish I had ever had. I believe the buffala was domestic...much stringier than I have had recently...gamey as well...additionally, fried tomato skins accompanying?! I found the flavors to be significantly lacking cohesiveness in this dish.

One note about the service. Basically - it is a small environment/dining room with a small patio. There are TONS of servers/bussers/assistants and a hostess. Our bottle was left unopened for at leat 10-15 min. before being slowly uncorked. I believe our app arrived at the table BEFORE our bottle was opened. In addition, a feeling of smothering or swarming comes to mind of the staff around the dining room, again, not a feeling one wants to experience in an Italian setting, which I feel should be the epitomy of joyful, free dining experience. Oh, as an addition, someone who I think is the owner is constantly barraging the dining room looking for approving comments about the dishes. It's a small place...those things stand out like a thumb that just got smacked with a ball-peen hammer.

Dessert was the bright spot - simple, authentic and just proportioned right.

I doubt we'll be back, but I hope there are improvements in the future, since it has only been open a month or so.

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