5. Mama Disalvo's Ristorante

This place was awful. The food is over-priced, and the quality is that of a microwave TV dinner. It came highly recommended but didn't deliver. A super disappointment.

I must agree with "resumedr"...the place stinks. I have eaten in Italian kitchens coast to coast and went to Disalvo's with a business group. The service was awful (Ok, it was a big group) many of us were forgotten, drinks ran dry, partial orders came out, etc. This restaurant to spoken of with reverance in Dayton. From what I experienced it is based entirely on reputation or unpicky palates. The food, spot on mediocre bordering on downright bad. And certainly not a value.

The food is what passed for Italian food in the 1950's in this country: heavy red sauced pasta thrown at the diner with screeches of "everythin' goin'OK here, need anythin'else?" masquerading for service. The lasagna looked like a flattened out flame-singed miasma of red and yellow thickened puddles, and was at best mediocre. ($14.95) The Canneloni Special was slightly better, but 2 cannelloni with some ziti on the side with same red sauce and cheese encrusted on top for $14.50 was an outrage at that price! The begining soup, the pastina, was an overly salted chicken broth with pasta and parmesan in the bottom. Not a great beginning by any means. We drove 40 miles to come to this restaurant based on reviews on various websites. I guess superlative reviews can also be misleading or most people are taken in by what they call the Italian family atmosphere (noisy, brawly racket!!!OK if the food is great). But MEDIOCRE food for HIGH PRICES, an affront to Southern Italian Cuisines.