Chef Eugene Restaurant

I came here for lunch on a weekday with my wife. I was hoping this would be a good, cheap, mom and pop Italian place that we could come back to regularly. Unfortunately, it was none of these. I had the chicken marsala and she had the shrimp eugene’s special — the sauces were just off and not very good. Pasta came on the side with plain marinara sauce that was worse than what you can get out of a jar.
I feel bad writing this review because the waitress and chef were very friendly, but people must know!

I still love this place. Late walk-​in around 9:30pm on a Friday night, no one in the spot except my boyfriend and myself. We got served an excellent meal by Chef Eugene himself. Definitely our favorite restaurant in Hartford. Its quaint, the staff is nice, and the food is delicious.
Loved their house Chardonnay.

You MUST try this restaurant as soon as you can, you will not be sorry!
OMG, we went here again tonight, to try a couple of different things, and to make sure everything was just as wonderful.
If at all possible, it was even better than it was the other night! He uses only the finest ingredients and it shows!
We had the Eggplant Rollatini as an appetizer, they were kind enough to offer to do the lunch portion size to make it like an appetizer (it’s on the menu as an entrée only), so they offered and we excitedly accepted…
The rollatini was the finest I think i have ever had, the eggplant was wafer thin, not the slightest bit greasy, the ham and cheese were also so light, the whole thing including the marinara just had such a light, lovely taste. Which is not often the case with eggplant and a red sauce, can be so heavy sometimes!
Hubby went for the Chicken Ala Eugene, and can I tell you? We just about died and went to heaven, the sauce was so amazing (he is very generous with his sauces, but they are light feeling, and this one was like pure silk. The ala Eugene (he is very well known for the Veal ala Eugene as well) is serve with artichokes, hot peppers (which were not too hot, i don’t even like peppers and i was in love with the sauce!) cognac, cream and a touch of Marinara. As with our chicken from the other day, it was served pounded very thin, and so very tender, you could cut it with a fork!
I went for an old favorite of mine, Penne ala Vodka, and i do believe his is the BEST i have ever had!
We once again had Cheryl for a waitress, and got to talk to Eugene… I did find out this time, he has been in business here for 13 yrs…
The waitress let us in on a lil secret, since he is so generous with the sauces, she sd ppl bring home the leftover sauce even if their entrée is finished, then they use it the next day to top off some fresh pasta at home… the sauces are THAT GOOD people!
ps…Hubby is not one to rave on and on about food the way I do… But he must’ve said at least 10 times how amazing his dinner was! (and thankfully kept offering me bites LOL) and he loved my ala vodka, which is not something he usually cares for, but he really liked it!