Penne Pomodoro

This is my first of 52 reviews for new restaurants I have never been to in 2016. The sour dough bread starter was average. The pumpkin ravioli was very good as was the chicken risotto according to my spouse. The brocolli was good as well.

This has become our «go to» place when we want great Italian Food and great service. It’s getting increasingly difficult to find an Italian restaurant that is really Italian, and Penne Pomodoro is part of the Lombardi restaurant group that has been well known in the area for decades. We have been here many, many times and have never been disappointed. They have a half price wine special early in the week. We have made special requests with some customized dishes and they have always tried to please.

I’m having difficulty understanding why this place was so packed when we left.
Started off with bruschetta. Tomatoes tasted old, like maybe it had been prepped days prior. Toasted bread was good.
I had a caesar salad. It was fine, but not memorable. At least the lettuce seemed fresh and no wilted/​brown pieces.
I ordered the lasagna. I figured you can’t really mess up lasagna so it would be a safe bet. WRONG. The noodles were way overcooked, just mush. Texturally, I could not differentiate between the noodle layers and the ricotta cheese layers. The cheese on top wasn’t slightly charred or anything so it was just a big ol’ pile of mush with some meat thrown in. Not much flavor to it. Very disappointing. And I get that an Italian place is going to make a big lasagna in advance and then warm up individual servings as they are ordered, but I still feel like the center of my lasagna should not be cold.
My husband had carbonara pasta and really enjoyed it, so that’s a plus. He also ordered rum and cokes that were so strong he couldn’t finish the second one, so depending on your preference, that’s either a plus or a minus.
We each ordered dessert: the tuxedo mousse cake was fine, but the cake layers were very dry… again, maybe it was made several days ago? Who knows. The Nutella cheesecake gave no hint of Nutella flavor, it just tasted like plain cheesecake.
We may return, mainly since my husband liked his dish so much, but I would recommend avoiding the lasagna at all costs! The pizza looked promising. They also seemed to happily accommodate larger parties (6 – 8 people) despite the overall small dining area. Plenty of kids there, too (again, this could be a plus or a minus depending on your views, but for this neighborhood being kid friendly is probably important!).

The food is great… The service is good most of the time, but why would you get rid of chocolate soufflé. It used to be the main reason I go here.): I’ll still come back, but they’re missing out on the dessert sale.

This is a casual dining place with excellent food and great service. You must have the pumpkin ravioli with brown butter sage. So amazing. I’ve eaten here maybe 30 times and I’ve never had a bad experience. Gets crowded for brunch and there are no reservations but come in a little early or late on the weekend and enjoy it. Good people/​good times. Mangiare!

Good Italian food. The pasta with mushroom sauce is very good. A little stingy on the sauce. My friends had brunch and ordered a side of Appplewood smoked bacon. It was clearly not Applewood smoked bacon. It was very thin and over cooked but the manager insisted it was Applewood smoked bacon. We have ordered the same bacon at other locations and it is better quality. The service is great. I am giving 3 stars because of the bacon switcharoo.

Decided to try this place, as it was close to where I live. I brought some friends here from out of town. I had the create and omelet with all the ingredients except ham (replaced with bacon). Delicious!
They also have $ 1 mimosas. They were strong and fresh tasting.
Staff is friendly, I love that is was quiet and not crowded. We went around 12:30.
I will definitely come back here!

This place was in a strip mall which had me hesitant. I was pleasantly surprised by the service and food. We started with the sampler appetizer which was good. I had the pasta special for dinner. Spaghetti with bay scallops, mussels, spinach, tomato and lemon cream sauce. To die for. The seafood was fresh and perfectly cooked. My date had the fish special which was slightly salty but still tasty. Portions were very large. Picture posted was ½ eaten. Stop by this place if u are in the area.

so good but there pizza is a little burnt

Meh, food was edible but nothing to write home about. However, the Sunday day drinking is why we came-​cheap mimosas, bellinis, and bloody Mary’s.
I had the savory waffle and my friend ordered the breakfast pizza. Neither of us finished our food because the serving size was large. The bloody Mary’s weren’t the tastiest but they were strong & cheap so I can’t complain. My friend and I each had a couple drinks.
Would I come back? For the cheap boozy brunch-​you betcha! Plus, free and plentiful lot parking is always a bonus.

We just called in a to-​go order, and were quoted 10 – 15 minutes. When we showed up to pick it up they hadn’t even put in the order. We waited another 20 minutes only to come home with half the food. The chicken parmigiana we did bring home was so salty it was inedible. Worst experience! Customers who order take-​out are paying patrons and deserve as much attention to food as those who dine-​in.

This place has really great food and the waiter was fabulous! (: the one downfall to this place is the manager the fifty some year old female with short blonde hair. Completely unprofessional and rude! I ordered fettuccine Alfredo and asked if mushrooms could be added. The waiter said it was not a problem. The lady came to the take table «check on us» held a death stare at my pasta for a minute or so and went straight to our waiter, and said those are not for pasta their for salad only. Right by the table we could hear everything!
Great experience until the manager came over.

First time to visit. Side salad good. Ordered Penne Arrabiatta. Sauce was extremely salty and had no spice/​heat. Was very disappointed.

Mimosas were more champagne then juice… darn! Food was well above what we expected. The Mrs. Really liked the Benedict. I had the penne hash and was really surprised at the flavor. Definitely worth a return trip!

How in the world have I not reviewed this place? I have been here a bajillion times. It’s truly fantastic and the brunch is scrumptious and mimosa filled! Weekends are always packed but hit em up after about 1 on Sunday and the crowd starts to thin out. On a nice day the patio is very relaxing. There are a few things they have down to a T. I’ve had the breakfast pizza, eggs benny, all of the salads. The spinach and goat cheese salad with grilled chicken and candied walnuts is a nice choice! Service is always attentive and there are a couple of tvs in there if you need to catch the game. I am forever a fan!

A lovely spot that turns out reliable Italian fare. The food is well executed and tasty. They color within the lines. You’ll recognize everything on the menu as «Italian.»
Freshly made. Cheerful staff. Good for a weeknight dinner.

Penne Pomodoro is definitely one of my favorite brunch spots, if only for the $ 1 mimosas and belinis and $ 2 bloddy marys!
Be careful, because in my experience the mimosas are mixed with a generous amount of champagne! At $ 1 each during brunch it’s easy to keep them coming but they catch up to you really fast!
I love love love the breakfast pizza from here and the savory waffle. For dinner I love the pumpkin ravioli. I usually just stick to my favorites but I’ve had bites of my husband’s food. I can’t recall what all he’s ordered but it’s always been tasty.
My friends that we like to have brunch with love this location for the patio. She loves to bring her small dog everywhere and I’ve *heard* that they allow them on the sidewalk/​patio, however I have yet to try this so I can’t say for sure as the last time we brunched here the weather was too lousy to bring her dog.
Service is always great, I’ve yet to have a bad experience.
And now for my obligatory handicap accessibility comments! They’ve always been very accommodating, seating us in wheelchair-​friendly places that aren’t terrible, like near a door that’s constantly opening. The sidewalks and most of the restaurant are accessible, although I am not sure if there is an adequate wheelchair path to the restrooms. Parking is fine, there is ample accessible parking throughout the strip center that Penne Pomodoro is located it. We have yet to have an issue parking here.
Overall I’d recommend it as a great brunch or dinner spot, bonus points for the VERY cheap drinks!

This is a decent little Italian place. Their portion sizes are very good, they make their own desserts and the service was also pretty good. The reason for my 3 star rating is because we didn’t taste anything that was really unique. I ordered the pizza with proscuitto and spinach, the hubby ordered a 4 cheese pizza, shared calamari for an appetizer.
Everything tasted fine, just missing that extra zing! Since we live in Plano, i doubt we’ll be making the hike down to Dallas for this place again.

Hey everyone, Olive Garden & Applebee’s had a baby! They named it Penne Pomodoro.
Good lord what an astronomically sub-​average dinner. While I’m glad big league chew found a secondary market selling pizza crust, I don’t like blowing bubbles with my pizza. It was warm, at best, too.
Mussels sucked. Ziti sucked. Service was ridiculously pathetic. I like jenga as much as the next guy, but why play a game on our table with the dishes?
We had to bus our own table in desperation.
Repeat after me. Say «Penne Pomodoro is» then close your eyes an start a string of curse words… And now say «average».

Um, oh yeah!
Stopped in with my BF for dinner and just loved the place. They appear to attract a lot of large families with kids, and our server was swamped, but she kept up and kept a great attitude the entire time.
I love a place that offers rotating specials, and I REALLY love a place that offers a whole wheat pasta option. So many delicious entrees on the menu, I forsee I’ll be making this a regular lunch spot since I work very nearby.
Monday and Tuesday are half off bottles of wine. When did I go? Wednesday. Now I know better…
Yum!