Checked out the new iPhone at the Apple store right after work. Very sleek and thin depth-wise but maybe even a little too thin on the width, especially after having the Evo for almost 2 years now. Gonna check out the GS3, but that's gonna be too big I'm pretty sure. Looks like the iPhone is gonna win out.
Restaurant review: Started off Friday at the new Sorrento's in Sheffield. They recently moved from just across from LCCC and I wanted to check them out. They used to have decent Italian food. Not any more.
The new place is very nice compared to the old location which was dated and tacky. We grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered water and a glass of Chianti. We got the water but the wine was another story. The bottle at the bar was empty so they asked someone to grab another. That was 15 minutes. Our calamari was almost gone before we got wine. The calamari was excellent. Fresh, lightly breaded, great marinara sauce with small chinks of tomato. Off to a decent start food-wise, but that's the best it got.
My salad was fairly fresh but the tomato was one of those plastic, dull red/orange wedges devoid of any flavor whatsoever. Shame on them. Around here, in September, local gardens are overflowing with delicious, ripe, usually organic tomatoes that will knock your socks off. I ordered their vinaigrette dressing. I got plain vinegar and oil. Zero herbs in the dressing. Strike...4? I go to wipe my mouth, and notice my napkin has old tomato sauce caked all around one of the corners. Nasty!
Meanwhile, behind the small bar, 3 people are bumping into each other trying to either serve drinks or stock the bar. We'd been there 20-25 minutes and already we'd heard glass breaking twice. The 2nd time, the bartender broke glass right into the ice and STILL SERVED DRINKS WITH IT!!! Although she did check to see if there was glass in the bin when she broke the wine glass, she didn't catch it. Another bartender did a few minutes later after some glasses of water had gone out to the dining room.
Time for the entrees. I ordered sausage, peppers, and onions with rigatoni. Caprice got the linguini and white clam sauce. I could immediately tell I wasn't going to love my entree. See the pic. The pasta was all broken up (a sign of cheap and/or overcooked pasta. In this case I think it was cheap pasta), the sausage looked like it had been boiled with no brown skin at all, and there was very little sauce. Caprice's dish had almost no flavor at all. No garlic, no wine, no lemon, not even salt. Looked like all it had was canned clams in juice, a little dried basil/oregano, and some dried parsley. I make pretty good clam sauce, and fresh garlic, basil, and parsley are an absolute MUST for a good sauce. You can get by without the wine or by adding cheaper bottled lemon juice, but you have to have the fresh herbs.
We didn't get bread with our entrees which isn't unusual but so many Italian restaurants pride themselves on their bread these days. If you want to stand out, make your own bread.
The staff, from what I could tell, were friendly and attentive, but with any new restaurant, some seemed like they were still trying to find their groove in new surroundings. Prices were on par with the old location and with similar restaurants, and possibly even lower. Cheaper than Olive Garden, but when it comes to quality, I'll go to Olive Garden next time. Sorry Sorrento's, you struck out several times on a single visit. No chance I'll be back. I'll go here
Saturday...got up at 8:00, loaded up bikes, gear, and an overnight bag for our trip to PA. Took us just over 3 hours to get to New Stanton where we were staying. It's about a half hour southeast of PIT on the PA turnpike. Most of PA reeks of urine, vomit, Keystone Light, chewing tobacco, and halitosis due to the glut of Steelers fans, but this area was quite nice. It's in the Laurel Highlands and reminds me a bit of western NC. It rained on/off most of the way and was a little chilly, but we were hoping for the best. Checked into the hotel just after noon, then grabbed some lunch at Wendy's. I was a bit disappointed that most of the local mom-and-pop places were either shut down or looked too run down to eat at. We ate at Bob Evans for dinner. Managed to find a local greasy spoon in Connellsville, which is where we jumped onto the bike trail. Nice little town.
The bike trail was fantastic despite the rain. We only did 20 miles but saw some great scenery. Definitely going back either later this fall or next summer. Possibly even some hiking in the area this winter.
So after dinner on Saturday we decided to hit a movie. I thought we were further from PIT than we actually were, or we may have hit up the casino. Not much else going on locally. Would have been cool to catch some live music. Anyway we decided to see End of Watch. Pretty good movie. Lots of action, although it paralleled Colors in many parts. Movie theater was old and at an abandoned mall on the outskirts of town. Popcorn tasted like it had been popped in really old oil. Ewww.
Sunday, we toured Fallingwater. Amazing house. Wouldn't let us take pics inside, so Google them yourself, but enjoy the pics from outside. Pretty mind-blowing though, and not huge either. I could clean it in a few hours.
Rode home checking the score on the Browns game. My Sundays are free once again. Nothing to see here.
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