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Dining review: Italian Kitchen dishes up authenticity

Staff photo by JIM REED

The authentic menu at Riverview's Italian Kitchen Grill & Cafe includes calamari and lasagna.

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By SHANNON BEHNKEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2009

RIVERVIEW - From the outside, it's difficult to imagine that there's an authentic Italian restaurant among a tanning salon, a dry cleaner, take-out Chinese and a supermarket.

Once inside the Italian Kitchen Grill & Café, though, you'll be so charmed by the Old World décor you just may forget where you are.

The ordinary strip plaza off U.S. 301 South isn't where you would expect to find a fancy, romantic meal. But one look at the menu and you'll be impressed. It's packed with everything from seafood and traditional Italian dishes to Cubans and Paninis.

We started with Bruschetta. It came with six oversized pieces of garlic toast, piled high with tomatoes, onions and an herb sauce.

We liked the Bruschetta so much we ordered the Chicken Bruschetta entrée. It was equally good. The grilled chicken was served with roasted bruschetta vinaigrette over spaghetti with mozzarella cheese. What set it apart from similar dishes elsewhere was the hot sauce on top. It added just enough kick.

We liked our entrées so much that we couldn't agree on which was best. The Italian Café Ultimate Pasta had plump shrimp, grilled chicken and Italian sausage. It was served with linguine pasta and a homemade Alfredo sauce. The sausage was especially good and turned what could have been ordinary Alfredo into something memorable.

On another visit, we tried the Chicken Rustica and Sunday brunch buffet.

The sauce on the Rustica was similar to the Ultimate Pasta dish, but had roasted red peppers, artichokes and penne pasta.

Other entrées included Sausage Florentine, Pasta Bolognese and Beef Scallopini. There were also oven-baked pastas that included Baked Ziti, Cheese Ravioli and Manicotti.

The buffet looked too interesting to pass up. For $10.95 (or $5.95 for kids), one can sample several of the menu items, plus other dishes. Our favorite was the fresh lasagna. Other patrons must have agreed because each time the chef brought a dish out, it was gobbled up quickly.

The buffet also included fresh fruit, bagels and fresh made-to-order waffles.

The service, particularly on our first visit, was excellent. Both servers were very attentive and gave good suggestions. Our server boxed up our leftovers for us, a nice touch, and we had plenty to cover dinner the next day.

The dessert suggestion may have been the best of all.

The dessert menu is impressive enough to warrant a visit dedicated to only dessert and cappuccino. The cannoli, chocolate cake, tiramisu and Italian rum cake caught our eye. But our waitress suggested the tuxedo brownie mousse. We ordered the cheesecake supreme, too.

The brownie mousse was by far our favorite, although we liked the cheesecake. As stuffed as we were from our entrees, we managed to eat every bite of dessert. It was too good to leave behind.

We visited for lunch both times and were surprised not to find a lunch menu. The full menu is available all of the time, which surprised us since it offers so many options.

Another plus was the pricing. You can spend a lot, but we found prices very reasonable. For about the same amount as chain restaurants, Italian Kitchen offers a diverse menu with homemade taste.

The food was so authentic that we're sure to be back to try other dishes.

DINING REVIEW

Italian Kitchen Grill & Cafe

BOTTOM LINE: A diverse menu of authentic Italian dishes at reasonable prices

WHERE: 6915 U.S. 301 S.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

CREDIT CARDS: All major

RESERVATIONS: Yes

CHILDREN'S MENU: Yes

ALCOHOL: Wine and beer

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Yes

PRICES: $4.99 to $15.99

CALL: (813) 671-0953

Tribune reviewers eat anonymously. Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804.

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