The Original Antonio's Restaurant

Rule number one when dining at Antonio's Restaurant in Woodbridge; if it's a weekend evening, make a reservation. This place is popular! Walk-ins can wait from 20 minutes to an hour.  We arrived on a Saturday night with reservations for three at 7:45pm. It was a quiet night for Antonio's as only two others parties were waiting in the queue to be seated ("It'll be half an hour to 45 minutes before a table is available. Would you like to wait at the bar?")

Rule number two; come hungry as this place is popular for a reason! Within minutes, a half-loaf of warm Italian bread is brought to your table, accompanied by cured olives, pepperoncini and a ramekin of delicious white bean hummus for dipping.  

We ordered a bottle of Blackstone Merlot, reasonable at $27, and attacked the bread. We've had the salads at Antonio's before, all very fresh and delicious, so we decided for the sake of the review to order something different. Something called A Beggar's Purse caught my husband's eye, probably because it's a dish of dumplings, which he can't refuse. Stuffed with pear and gorgonzola cheese, they arrived nice and HOT, something that makes me very happy. The soft, chewy texture of the dumplings made everyone else happy, as did the roasted garlic Alfredo sauce. Split by three people, this was a divine appetizer, but it could easily be meal if accompanied by a salad.

When at Antonio's, it is important to try the pasta entrees; they rock. My husband ordered the Bucatini with wild mushrooms, asparagus, roasted garlic and oven dried tomatoes topped with goat cheese. As always, the presentation was beautiful and the pasta was al dente. I expected the wild mushrooms and garlic to dominate and shine, but the surprise ingredient here was the asparagus, whose flavor was amplified by being combined with the above ingredients. It was a tiny bit salty by my standards (I prefer to add my own), but my husband was thrilled (he would sprinkle salt tablets his breakfast cereal if it was an option.)

Sarah had the Rigatoni Napoletano with Sweet Italian sausage, plum tomatoes, roasted garlic and sweet basil. She declared it a, "good red sauce, well-balanced flavor, and a very nice mildly-spiced Italian sausage."  A classic dish done well. She would order it again.

I went out on a limb and ordered a pizza since I saw so many other tables had done the same. I opted to try something completely different, which was The Torino with carmelized onions, black olives, roasted eggplant and a lemon cream sauce. You could ladle carmelized onions on cardboard and I'd eat it; obviously, this was far better. The sweetness of the onions was balanced by the saltiness of the olives, and the eggplant was beautifully crisp, a rare treat as far too many places serve limp eggplant on their pizza. The sauce offered only a hint of lemon, but it all worked together beautifully.

We were all too stuffed to eat dessert, but we ordered one anyway. The three of us split the Toasted Almond Martini, a tiramisu style concoction served in a martini glass. It was light and tasty and just enough to balance the robust flavors of our meals.  

We had the leftovers boxed up; the servings aren't oversized, but they are generous. You won't feed a family of four with a serving of their pasta (thank goodness!) but you may have enough left over for a light lunch the next day, especially after filling up on warm bread and hummus to start.

Antonio's is charming and tasteful, yet casual. Expect to see your neighbors, and their children, dining at the next table. You can order "up" and make it an elegant meal with Salmone al Forno or Chilean Sea Bass and a bottle of Whitehaven Sauvignon Blanc, or cozy up with an eggplant or meatball grinder and a Bud or a Mike's Hard Lemonade. The ambiance of any meal at Antonio's is totally up to you, so come dressed casually or to kill; you'll see a mix of both.

The prices for a very nice evening out will vary dramatically depending on which section of the menu you order from. For us, three very sarisfied people who split a bottle of wine, it came to $94.29 plus tip, and we ordered from the middle range of the menu.

The "make it to order" philosophy of Antonio's makes it easy to be a vegetarian as the chef can hold any ingredient you don't want or won't eat. Meat eaters will flip over steak, chicken and seafood items. Can't eat gluten? Don't want white pasta? For $1.95 more you can get whole wheat penne or gluten free pasta

All of this adds up to two thumbs up from this mixed bag of eaters. Enjoy!

The Original Antonio's
208 Amity Rd, Woodbridge, CT 06525
 203-397-8882
www.theoriginalantonios.​com
Fax: 203-397-8885
Hours: Sun, 1pm - 9pm; Tue - Thu, 11am - 9:30pm; Fri, Sat, 11am - 10pm; Mon, closed