now Treno

[khtonka]

Has anyone been to the revised Kitchen 233?

[khtonka]

was Kitchen 233 in Westmont, now renamed Treno has anyone been yet?

[mschow]

just drove by there on the weekend and did not see a name change. But it appears that Kitchen 233 is no longer. Now it's a pizza/pasta place...
http://www.trenopizzabar.com/

[The Megadon]

I didn't realize they were changing their entire theme - the husband and I often go there for happy hour during the week, get wine and a snack, and the last time we were there (last week) they had done a bit of renovation (added booths in the bar area; changed some of the wall coverings, etc.) and were passing around samples of their brick oven pizza at the bar. It was definitely NOT explained that they were changing the scope of the restaurant - they said they were just adding the pizza to the menu. I haven't been there yet, so we'll have to see...initially I'm not enthusiastic. How many more pizza places can one township have.

[mschow]

Exactly what the area DOESN'T need. Another Italian restaurant, not run by Italians even! It's not like there aren't good Italian options...within 3 miles of this place there must be at least 3 dozen Italian restaurants.

[cpg]

anyone know if they have a happy hour? that was the best part about 233 - those bar snacks and $4 wines.

[The Megadon]

Ugh. I went last night. I'll keep it brief.
They have valet parking now and were sure to park the Bentley and yellow Porsche right up front. Parked across the street.
Went in, they knocked out the wall between the bar and the dining room - put in some tall tables and booths, warmed up the room with paint.
The place was about 1/3 full w/plenty of room at the bar.
No more happy hour. They have wines that are $5 (2 offerings), $7 (like 8 offerings), $9 (like 6 offerings). No more extensive, amazing wine list.
The menu has been COMPLETELY GUTTED. This is a completely different restaurant. They have about 10 "small plates", 10 "gourmet pizzas" and eight pasta dishes with four large plates.
The small plates go from $4.50 to about $8.50 - the gourmet pizzas that feed two people go from $8 to $10 and and the pasta dishes have a small and large option, small being about $9, large being $14 - $16.
These are rough, so don't quote me.
Sigh.
Ordered the crostini which came with four garlic toast points, a small pile of mushrooms in some kind of ricotta coating, roasted red peppers, and home made whipped ricotta with lemon oil. The whipped ricotta was the highlight. Fed two for $7.99. It was okay.
Got the home made salami pizza...the salami smelled strange and only tasted good when it was crispy.
We're pretty regular at Kitchen, so the staff was quite honest with us - they have gotten a bit busier, but they are working twice as hard and getting 1/2 the tips because the price tag on the food has plummeted.
Oh, and they put the servers in these gross brown baggy shirts and jeans and were playing The Stones "Paint It Black" and followed it up by Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas."
Very underwhelmed. I could have been at Bertucci's.
I'm not sure what management was thinking - my husband had a good point - why not just revamp one of your PJ's establishments if you wanted to try a lower price range pizza place?
And the parking of the Porsche and Bentley was just bizarre - this is no longer a classy, quiet establishment with $25 - $40 entrees.

[njrider]

Agree with all the posts. The best part of our dinner was the meat and cheese plate. The Pizza was not as good as something you might make at home.

[khtonka]

Agree with the post above, was also a reqular customer and staff has shared the same information. I really miss the happy hour and great wine list, they would have done better to revamp the established menu with lower priced items. It's also a disgrace that they have closed off the beautiful back room, It would be nice this time of year to sit near the fire. They must have lost a fortune in holiday parties. You can have a pizza party just about anywhere for less $$