June 3, 1999
MARCHETTI'S

Good food is big at Marchetti's

By MERIDITH FORD
Journal Restaurant Reviewer

CRANSTON -- Waiting on tables was my living for a brief time in New York, and the experience taught me some important things about life. First, people are very picky about two things: food and money. Second, I never want to wait on tables again.

Let's face it: Eating out is a social phenomenon. But some facts are simple enough -- if you serve good food in large portions for small bucks, it won't be much of a phenomenon when people flock in droves to your restaurant.

Such is the case with Marchetti's. I had heard that it was popular, but honestly, nothing could've prepared me for my experience there.

I wanted a place that I could take my 2-year-old and not feel like a social outcast. No problem for Marchetti's. Along with the over-50 crowd, this place has seen its share of toddlers.

Early on a weekday evening I ventured with my family to eat there; we were sure that the day of the week coupled with the early hour would ensure no waiting.

Think again.

I was so surprised I checked to see if there was some sort of special running that evening that would attract a larger-than-normal crowd. No; just an average Tuesday night.

We didn't wait long, though, and as we were escorted to our table, I began to realize one of the reasons for the restaurant's appeal. On every table there were huge portions of pasta and lasagna, their garlicky smell drifting all the way out to the parking lot.

We started with the calamari ala mama -- a house specialty of fried calamari with hot cherry peppers tossed in a thick sauce of hot peppers, white wine, garlic and butter. The sauce made the calamari a little soggy, but also gave it a pleasingly sharp, peppery flavor. There was enough on the plate for four people.

Marchetti's has a terrific children's menu, with various pastas with red sauce and meatballs, ravioli and chicken and veal parmigiana. Don't expect children's portions, though. My daughter will be eating leftover chicken parmigiana for a week.

There are lots of standard Italian-American offerings such as lasagna, manicotti and veal and chicken parmigiana. The chicken parmigiana is moist and tender, rich with melted mozzarella cheese and laden with a thick, garlicky red sauce. Ditto for the enormous plates of pasta, minus the cheese. This is heavy fare, folks.

The menu also offers a lot of just as standard but less heavy specialty items, such as chicken marsala and veal zingarella. As a matter of fact, there are no less than 13 veal specialties, 15 seafood specialties, 12 chicken specialties, plus a dozen selections of grilled steak or fish.

I recommend sticking with the pasta and parmigianas, which are delectable. My chicken marsala was smothered in a thick, tasteless sauce; my husband's veal zingarella was the same, and the veal cut was thick and tough. Entrees are served with a huge (is there any other size?) salad and a choice of pasta or vegetable.

Marchetti's has a surprisingly large wine list. Varied Californian and Italian selections are between $12 and $19. They even offer champagne for between $16 and $45.

As for service, I could've used some tips from these folks back in my waitressing days. It was fast and courteous, although nobody I ran into is going to win a congeniality award.

With all the food we had eaten, we had difficulty mustering the courage to try dessert. But duty called, and we shared what Marchetti's calls a "chocolate thunder cake" -- a dense, moist cocoa cake filled with a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting.

My husband and I tried to remember where we'd had this very same, very delicious cake before, but we couldn't come up with the restaurant. Something tells me Marchetti's doesn't make this dessert in-house. Who cares? It was fabulous.

A lot of people ordered from Marchetti's ample selection of Italian-style sandwiches, particularly the meatball and steak sandwiches, all for between $3 and $3.50.

Appetizers are between $3 and $7. The enormous selection of entrees are anywhere between $7 and $9 for pasta selections to around $10 and $15 for veal, seafood and chicken specialties. Desserts are all $3.25. Children's menu selections are between $4 and $5.50.

And then there are the lunch specials that run every Tuesday through Saturday: Six specials a day, from swordfish to steak, for between $3.75 and $5.75, with 99-cent martinis, Manhattans and house chablis, rose and Burgundy.

There's an old joke I'm often reminded of. Two women are arguing over where to eat. One suggests a certain restaurant, to which the other replies, "But the food there is bad -- and it comes in such small portions."

The joke is an example of what certain people expect from a restaurant. Marchetti's doesn't disappoint because -- for the most part, anyway -- the food there is good, and it comes in such big portions.