LaSumma?

[CocoDan]

Has anyone had any recent experience at LaSumma. I've been getting very mixed reviews. Visiting friends insist we should dine there during their upcoming visit. Need info. Thanks in advance.
Merry Christmas to all Hounds!
CocoDan

[mwk]

Hi,

I've only eaten there once, but the food was good, the atmosphere was pleasant, and the service was excellent. Also, I didn't feel outraged at the prices. Overall, I can think of a lot worse places I've been in the North End than this one.

[jpcat]

La Summa has been my only Chow disappointment to date. I ordered the pasta with eggplant and couldn't finish it. The sauce was completely bland - as if it had been frozen for a long time. The bread and oil were less than average, and the wine tasted like it had been watered down! (Sorry, don't remember which red I ordered.) As others have mentioned, the staff were very nice. Probably the worst meal I've had in the NE.

[hiddenboston]

I like La Summa, but I think I'm outvoted on this one. I really like their Pappardelle E Melanzane (homemade noodles with eggplant, basil, and garlic), and their arancini is very good, too, IMO. Prices are decent, and it's usually not too tough to get a table there, in part because it's off the main drag.

Merry Christmas to you, too! And here's hoping that we all find more great restaurants in 2008. :-)

[CocoDan]

Thanks MC and hb. I had a feeling that this was where this would go. I'm very up in the air whether to go or not. I just don't want to disappoint my guests. Maybe what I'll do is just drink a lot of wine and let someone else drive. Oy!
CocoDan

[Pegmeister]

Guess I'll chime in. I was there a few months ago and while the food was just ok, the staff was very nice and it made for a pleasant evening. You could do worse.

[BillieJean]

My favorite La Summa story from a number of years ago (probably 15 -oh gawd!): At the bottom of the menu, it said something like: "Introduce yourself as an attorney and get the respect you deserve." I was with an attorney friend and she said she was a lawyer. At the end of the meal she got a free dessert-I think it was spumoni! I love that.

[MC Slim JB]

I haven't been in years, but I'll wager that my last experience still holds up: it's one of those stereotypical red-sauce Italian-American holes in the wall that the North End is famous / notorious for. It's the kind of place that serves baked manicotti.

My North End native buddy identifies it as a place favored by locals, but to my taste, that's not always an endorsement (Joe Tecce's is also on that list). I've had better food at similar places like Pagliuca's and Massimino's. But at least the food is fresh-tasting: you could do much, much worse in the North End.