Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Bocci's-Restaurant Review

Bocci's-Italian Restaurant-Market St. Charleston, SC

I was really wanting Italian food Monday night for dinner so when asked where I wanted to go I chose Bocci's. I had heard a few things about this place and all were good so naturally it was on my list of places to try.

I was unsure of the attire that was acceptable at this place, but was happy to find that casual dress is completely acceptable as most people there were dressed more casual than I was (in a denim skirt). This is Charleston afterall! The inside of the restaurant is comprised of what looks like an old four-room house in a square with three of the rooms meant for dining and one of the back rooms being the kitchen. It's a quaint place with an intimate feel yet very family-like at the same time. We arrived around 6:30 or so and despite the fact that it appeared to be packed, we were sat immediately.

Now, unfortunately the service wasn't great. It wasn't bad by any means, but not great. And as I type this I'm thinking our service that night was not a reflection on the overall restaurant or even on that waiter as a whole but rather a reflection on that waiter that evening. I think he was just a bit overwhelmed with his other tables. They must have been some high maintenance people! It took him a while to bring us bread and take our orders and he didn't do a good job of keeping our glasses filled, but again, I think more of a reflection of a bad evening for the waiter.

I was wanting seafood, so my eyes were immediately drawn to the sauteed scallops. There were a couple of dishes with scallops but it is my belief that if I'm going out specifically for Italian food, I'm going to get some sort of pasta. Strictly my belief, but one I like! So the yumminess that soon entered my mouth thereafter was a combination of fettuccine in a gorgonzola cream sauce with sundried tomatoes and artichokes and topped with seared scallops. And then that nice young gentleman topped off my dish with some freshly grated Parmesan. Did I say yum?! Yes, yum!

Three things stuck out to me in this dish:
1) The gorgonzola added into the cream sauce gave it a nice kick
2) The cream sauce was not too thick. There was obviously some sort of cooking wine and/or stock added to it, which was so nice!
3) The pasta was a nice al dente.

Oh and I can't forget dessert-cannoli's! This was only my second time having a cannoli and I wouldn't even consider my "1st" cannoli to be my 1st. I had a bite of someone else's one time and that was it. On this night, I got my very own cannoli, which I didn't eat all of but that's beside the point. Very good cannoli. I do realize that I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I sure did enjoy it. To me, it's a perfect dessert to end with after having a heavy meal of cream and pasta because the cannoli is a dessert that's not overly sweet. It's relatively light with just enough sugar to meet that sweet tooth right where it is.

Overall, I recommend Bocci's for a really good Italian meal downtown Charleston. Remember, it's casual so don't come in that tuxedo. I'll be headed back at some point for sure.

And a complete side note...leaving for China in 2 days!!!!!!!!!

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