Pasta's revisited: New menu and prices to match

Lunch date #60 July 25, 2014

I wanted to take Mom to a "nice" lunch to thank her for all of the house sitting she had been doing for us this summer while we were traipsing around England and then South Carolina…so where to go? I remembered she loved the burger at Pasta's, and we hadn't been there in quite a while. After two years, we figured it was worth a revisit to Pasta's Trattoria: 540 Main St., P-town.

Updated review:

No change in location (5 points) and last time we rated ambiance as 5 points (really?) so this time we give it a 4 (no reason, just more savvy now).  We were rather late for lunch and they were willing to stay open for us, which was nice (service would have been 4-5, but see below... making it a 3 which is the same as 2012).  It was a hot summer afternoon, and though it was my choice to sit outside-it was a bit toasty, even in the shade. We were quickly served iced-tea and bread with dipping oil, making us pretty happy at the start. Then…we looked at the menu. I was surprised to see that the $10 burger we raved about in 2012 was now $14, quite an increase!!! Actually, everything was much higher than our previous review, even the turkey sandwich that Emily, our guest diner for the day, ordered was $13. I went with the $10 arugula and peach salad---no, not because I'm cheap, but because I was hot and it was refreshing. The entire menu was quite different form our 2012 experience, but had several choices keeping with the unchanged score of 4. So how was the $14 burger you ask? Well, it was pretty good, quite large, and packed with meat, such that Mom had not one, but several meals to look forward to from her take-home left- overs this time—which made her pretty happy! My salad was fair and Em's turkey also OK, but 

Mom with her giant "left-over" bag

 really not any better than the $9 roasted turkey-cranberry at Café Main next door. (Food score 4 points, last time 5 points). Our only criticism: Mom did order fries, but was served the pasta salad. I'm sure the cooks were quite done with the deep fryer for the afternoon, and the pasta salad was probably a healthier choice anyway. Value for the meal: 4 points. Our final review of Pasta's revisited: 4 points (last time 4.5 points): : clearly higher-end dining for downtown P-town, even at lunch. All in all, still a great place, but no longer such a great deal.