Return to Ravalia's Pasta Bar & Italian Rotisserie, Casselberry, Florida

"Once again I'm saved by the miracle of... lasagne!"

 - Garfield

Salutations and wishes of wellness to you!  May this day bring sunshine, warmth inside, and a smile upon your face.  It's your day and you steer the minutes my friend.

Ever have one of those wonderful nights when everything simply appears to go so well and every single piece falls into place?  Tiffany and I had this night when we elected to drop by Ravalia's Pasta Bar & Italian Rotisserie tonight.  After we got off of work we had to run some errands and wanted a quick and delicious dinner afterwards.  Hmm... I had a hankering for some fresh pasta and what better place to get some!  "Let's go to Ravalias!"

Veggie lasagna with breadstick

As with every customer who enters, we were warmly greeted upon our arrival.  Al Ravalia was working tonight and he was so excited to announce some recent menu additions.  Much to our surprise he clearly remembered that Tiffany and I are vegetarian.  Tonight's special just happened to be vegetable lasagne.  And then there is the newly offered pizza!  Ravalias now has flat bread and has changed gelato manufacturers.

This is one of the beautiful things that Ravalias is doing.  They're constantly evolving to meet customer's needs.  They were getting so many requests for pizza that Al felt compelled to offer it.  But, here is no ordinary run-of-the-mill pizzeria.  This is Ravalias and they're not ordinary... They're extraordinary.  If you want "bread circles" topped with overly processed tomato sauce and flavors disguised in fatty meats, you need to go to "Pizza Hoot" or "Doomenos".

From the pasta to the pasta sauces to the sandwiches to the pizza to the lasagna and to the flat bread, everything is made fresh.  Everything is made delicious.  Tiffany and I were telling Al tonight that neither of us can remember the last time that we bit into a slice of pizza and tasted the sweetness of something as simple as the onion slices.

The lasagna?  Absolutely incredible!  At first bite you are reminded that it's made with fresh pasta.  Another thing that immediately comes to my attention, this isn't American food.  Instead, it's Italian food and made authentically so.  Instead of the lasagna being laden with massive amounts of cheap fatty cheeses it screamed of flavor throughout.  Sweet fresh tomato sauce, incredible tasty eggplant with texture, succulent bell pepper, slices of fresh mushroom, and so on.  I could not help but notice that the delectable flavors of the ingredients shined through in every single bite.

Pizza (Neapolitan-style) now available!

Ours was a veggie pizza.

Tomato sauce, cheese, fresh tomato slices, basil, black olive and onion.

The pizza?  Incredible!  A healthy version of the norm.  It's not over bearing with bread.  I would venture to guess that our entire pizza contained less dough than the usual traditional slice pizza.  Instead it's warm, crunchy and chewy.  Again, it's not over-loaded with any one item or cheeses.  Each bite allows the full flavors of each ingredient to shine without any one item becoming over bearing.  "Think it looks delicious?"  "Ha!"  "Just wait until you are able to order one yourself and have a bite!"

Psst... Al let us try an upcoming dessert item tonight.  You simply have not lived until you have tried what could be described as a hot baked pizza crust spread with delicious creamy Nutella spread.  I thought is quite similar to a fresh gooey chocolate chip cookie eaten fresh from the oven.  Ha!  I just gained 10-calories recalling this desert treat!  But, this my friend is one of those special desserts worth every single calorie consumed.  It's just more time happily spent on the treadmill.

Hi-dee hi-dee some-places-are-simply-too-good-not-to-keep-returning-ho my friend.