Labellas Italian Piatto and Pizzeria

So usually when a restaurant that thrives off of word-of-mouth is almost completely packed on a Wednesday night, it is a good sign. So when I walked into Labellas Italian Piatto and Pizzeria the other night, and there were only one or two open tables, I was pretty excited.

For those of you who are wondering, much like I was when I sat down in the Italian eatery, what Piatto means, it is Italian for plate. As I looked around, I discovered that the dinner "Piattos" were what most of the customers in the restaurant came to indulge in. However, my boyfriend and I love to sample and critique pizza so that is exactly what we did.

After starting off with an antipasto salad, which was pretty much what you would expect and not much more, we had a pizza with mushrooms and sausage, extra crispy.

Unfortunately, I cannot say that the pizza was spectacular. It was Okay. The sauce was actually pretty bland, like no salt or seasoning had been added. That means a lot coming from me, because I have a pretty low tolerance for salt. Also, I like the spicy Italian sausage and this sausage was nothing more than mild. The best part was probably the crust, which was slightly above average quality.

Maybe pizza isn't their specialty. Maybe, judging by what the other guests were eating, I should have tried one of their dinner dishes. I think the next time I visit I will try the lasagna. You can tell a lot about an Italian restaurant by the caliber of the lasagna.

Anyways, the night ended spectacularly, with some of the best Cannoli I have had in a LONG time. These crispy, pastry tubes filled with sweet, creamy, ricotta heaven were twice the size of your average Cannoli. Needless to say, this Sicilian treat made the night for me, and helped me make the decision that I will give the restaurant another shot.

If you don't like something the first time, I feel you should always try it at least one more time, especially when it is a local restaurant maintaining in a difficult economy. And that is exactly what I intend to do.