A Dish and A Dis, Two Restaurant Reviews

Ate at Seven on Prospect last night, again. Good stuff. Always. I had the "Magnificent Seven" which is essentially every seafood known to man gathered in a tasty roma tomato sauce and slathered over pasta. My mouth waters at the memory.

Last night's dinner almost, but not quite, made up for the rather sorry dining experience I had earlier in the week at the new Basta Pasta also located on Prospect, and owned by the same folks who never fail to please me at Seven.

Basta Pasta blew. It blew chunks. I ordered the Greggio Pasta dish, which was supposed to be tenderloin served over fresh pasta served with a unique zesty sauce. In reality it was a very dry, overcooked and overpriced piece of meat propped up on a mound of overcooked bow tie noodles covered in a luke warm sauce I swear came out of a French's salad dressing bottle.

Any restaurant can have an off night. Normally I wouldn't be so harsh. My Significant Other ordered the Basta Pasta, which was as spicy and tasty as it was at the former location. However, the serving size was approximately a third of what it used to be. When I pointed out the new serving size my S.O.-who fears cardiac arrest- muttered, "Thank God." S.O. saw things my way when I pointed out that we were paying just as much for the petite portion as we paid for the former vat 'o pasta portion.

All would be forgiven except for the snooty policy of Basta. Our nieces, ages 6 and 10 joined us for dinner. Both adore any type of noodle -have yet to meet a kid who doesn't- and were looking forward to trying out the "New Basta" as they both really liked the "Old Basta." New Basta is trying to pose a haute Manhattan boutique restaurant, complete with a curt "Well behaved children welcome" posted on the menu. There is no children's menu, which is fine, the girls were happy to split an entree of spaghetti and meatballs. We were fined an eight dollar "plate fee" to do so. SNOBS. We specifically asked our waitress if this policy applied when well behaved children were involved. Our experience has been that even snotty Manhattan restaurants don't charge plating fees when kids are involved. Our waitress rolled her eyes and sighed, "Yes." Hey! Basta! You are located in PEORIA HEIGHTS. This is the Mid West, NOT Manhattan. You are a pasta joint, NOT an uppity French Restaurant. BTW, French Toast doesn't charge plating fees. Corking fee, yes. Plating fee, no.

It's back to Paparrazzi for Italian. Bruce Brown knows how to make a killer eggplant parmesan and is always nice to kids - well behaved or not!