La Romagnoli, Watertown

[drt28]

Drove by here last night and saw some lights & 3 people in there. Any ideas on how soon this is opening? I tried to look up some info but the Herald article is archieved and pay only. Thanks!

[bear]

A sign in the window said it was opening 10/14, so hopefully it's open now. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays, I think it said.

[drt28]

Thanks, I'll check it out again!

[okra]

OK, someone must've been by now.... reports?

[katzzz]

I was there about two weeks ago. It was....uh....interesting. There was a staff of about four busy making fresh pasta. The Romagnoli woman herself was overseeing and a woman behind the counter who was very friendly, offered me samples of several Italian (of course) cheeses, which were all on the expensive side, but no more than what you'd expect to pay at Formaggio. There were about a half dozen prepared foods for sale -- takeout only, it appears -- and I went for some grilled artichokes, prepared in a manner I'd never seen before: small artichoke with long stem intact, cut into halves. Quite good, and the entire thing is edible, including stem. A smattering of imported canned and bottled foods from Italy completed the picture (there may have been salamis that I'm forgetting). All in all, it seemed promising but a long way from being part of anyone's regular shopping rotation, mostly because of the limited selection. But maybe the shop is just in its early stages and will offer more soon. And one more thing -- I was overcharged six bucks and change by the friendly counterperson, which I didn't realize until after I walked out of the store and did the addition in my add (after first thinking, wow! that place is expensive!). I returned for my money, which came with an apology.

[Pia]

I've stopped by a few times. Fresh pasta is great and seems reasonably priced -- I think around $5/pound, but could be wrong. The prepared pastas and sauces in the freezer case also seem to have pretty reasonable prices, much more so than the prepared stuff behind the counter.

If you work in the area or are around on a Saturday (they're closed Sunday and Monday), they have panini and soup for lunch. I haven't gotten the soup, but the panini I tried (with provolone and grilled vegetables) had really high-quality ingredients.

My favorite thing in the store is the torroncini (little torrone) imported from Italy -- blows the torrone at Modern Pastry out of the water. I'm addicted to those things and am planning to buy a bunch to include with Christmas presents.