Saturday night was a chance to enjoy a nice leisurely dinner out after a busy day of working out, errand running, 2 winery visits and just lots going on. I was really looking forward to spending some time walking downtown Stillwater, enjoying the people watching and just having a great dinner. Unfortunately this plan failed 
Downtown Stillwater was so crazy busy we didn’t have time to walk around since we spent 15 minutes looking for a parking spot, the people watching was a bit limited since we were in such a rush to get to dinner and the food just wasn’t what we were looking for.
Now I know that not every restaurant meal will be fantastic but I expect it to at least be decent. Our experience at Luna Rossa on Saturday night? Meh. Not bad, not good but I will not be rushing to get back there anytime soon. Luna Rossa has been touted as a great date night dinner with a good ambiance and an even better food and wine selection. My thoughts? Meh. The ambiance was ok, I liked the interior but we had two big group tables near us and that kind of put a damper on a nice quiet dinner. The wine list was decent but there could have been a few more Italian selections. Italian food is the specialty and while I do enjoy a good pasta or pizza I don’t find it all that special and the offerings were typical Italian fare of bruschetta, capresese, caesar salad, pizza, lasagna, fettuccine, gnocchi and risotto.
We had a 7:30 reservation and were seated right away but waited for the big group table to get served before we even had our beverage order taken and were informed that they were out of the Risotto as well. Wine and food were ordered right away since we were both really hungry. I opted for a Caprese salad and the Mia Maniera Pizza and the s.o. had a caesar salad to go with the Mostacholi. The caprese was ok, edible but nothing special. Good tomatoes are a bit hard to come by this time of the year and they were a bit bland but the mozzarella was fresh and the balsamic was nice and thick. My one complaint? Instead of the lettuce they could have put one more layer of tomato, mozzarella and basil.
The wine choice of the weekend was a Lamura Nero D’Avola Rosso, a really nice wine. Lots of cherry flavors and it paired well with the pizza and pasta. This was my favorite part of the meal. Granted, it is hard to mess up wine!
When I read wood fired pizza I think of a nice roasted flavor with a crispy crust. This pizza? Meh. Kind of soggy, no roasted flavor to be found. It kind of reminded me of a frozen pizza. Ok, ouch I said it. It was not a horrible meal by any means it just wasn’t fantastic.
It was an average caesar salad and unfortunately the waitress misheard what was ordered and ended up bring out the chicken parmesan instead of the mostacholi. Not quite sure how you mistake that one… she left the side of pasta so he at least had something to nibble on while waiting for the correct entree to be brought out.
Our waitress did bring us a peace offering of chocolate gelato. Meh. Not real gelato but it was ok chocolate ice cream.
Maybe it was the crowds of the holiday weekend or our server was just having an off night. She was nice and it was a minor mistake but the food was less than stellar. It didn’t help that we had a table in the middle of the side room and were surrounded by some loud tables, not much for a romantic atmosphere. I don’t think I would go back to Luna Rossa. There are so many other interesting places to try.
