Piccola Venezia Boston...just so so....

My husband and I ventured in to Boston's North End this afternoon for a lunch date. We wandered down Hanover Street until we found a place that wasn't expensive, but looked decent. This was Piccola Venezia. The prices were unbeatable with entrees running about $9.00. We started with arancini which were advertised as rice balls with meat and fontina cheese. They were okay. The portions were generous, but they were kind of bland. The crispy coating was too hard for my liking although my husband liked it. The fontina was good, but the meat tasted like nothing really.

My husband had a cappuccino that he really liked. The steamed milk was billowing over the top of the cup like a marshmallow and it had sugar and cocoa sprinkled on top.

For lunch I ordered the gnocchi with meat sauce while my husband had chicken marsala. The portions were huge, but the food was, well, average. The chicken was a little overcooked and the whole plate of marsala with spaghetti was pretty gray. My gnocchi was about as good as you can get from the frozen food department at the grocery store and the sauce was pretty basic. Maybe just a little step about Ragu.

Despite all that, we were very happy. Our location was perfect for people watching because they put us right in the window seat. The day was beautiful and we were happy to be out and about in Boston.

Do I recommend this restaurant for a great meal; absolutely not. Do I recommend this restaurant for anything at all; probably not. But we were looking for a reasonably priced lunch in the North End and we got it.

Visit them at:  http://www.piccolaveneziaboston.com/