We took a chance at Tomasso since it was recommended by a friend. Dimly lit, clean, well decorated, and packed, Tomasso’s looked the part, but then the food came, and it was one disaster after another.

First, the bread and olive oil that came to the table was bland. It was such a boring bread, olive oil combination that I didn’t even finish a piece. I was just waiting for the pizza to come.

The pizza Margarita then came and yes the pizza had a soft, chewy crust, but two red flags: 1) it had a slight burnt charred taste that was very off-putting and 2) the sauce was bland and didn’t taste fresh; in fact anything that came with tomato sauce at this establishment tasted like jar sauce; no chunks in the tomato sauce but more of a pureed consistency that lacked depth in flavor and salt! All dishes that would come were under-salted.

Now for the main courses. My Crespelle Piedmontese red wine braised porcini mushrooms, wild boar ragu, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano for $18 was horrible and I had to take it back. Crespelles are thin pancakes and you’d think they should have been warm, soft and filled with a flavorful mushroom and boar mixture; instead the pancakes were blackened, burnt and crispy. When the waitress asked if I wanted another order, I declined and asked her to get me something else because frankly even a non-burnt pancake wouldn’t save this dish. When the waitress brought back another dish, this time the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese traditional meat sauce for $16, it was so boring!! It lacked flavor, but I got to give credit where credit is due; at least the tagliatelle was actually al dente!! yeah!!! they got one thing finally right.! But the meat sauce? It was a joke! it was bland and you couldn’t tell if it was made of meat or tofu!

My wife’s Ravioletti braised veal and swiss chard ravioli, spicy tomato ragu for $18 should have been good. It looked good on paper! Have you had braised veal when it’s done right? A well executed braised veal melts in your mouth with a flavor explosion! Instead, the ravioli’s were way undercooked, in fact they were hard and had the consistency of hockey pucks! And then the filling, again, was bland. You couldn’t even tell it was veal inside of the raviolis.

The service was ok but the waitress forgot our wine for our pasta dishes so we just told her not to bring it. She said, “sorry, but the bar is really slow right now!”. Yeah, the bartender probably quit because he realized that he was selling his soul working at a place that “claims” to be an Italian restaurant.

Believe me, I’ve been to Italy. Both the Amalfi Coast and to Tuscany. I know Italian food. My wife is Italian. Seriously guys, I was craving Papa Gino’s after this meal!!

The silver lining for my experience at Tomasso’s is at least I didn’t get sick like at Watertown’s Grappa. But Tomasso’s was the most bland tasting food I’ve ever had. I was amazed to see that the restaurant was packed and I told my wife that 1000 Frenchmen CAN be wrong. I felt like I was punked the whole night; Tomasso’s was one poorly executed dish after another. The chefs should all be fired because they don’t even know how to cook Ravioli for goodness sake!

My wife said it best when she said Tomasso is a name you’d never hear a Death Row inmate request for his last meal!