E'angelo

On a Chestnut street being overrun by local restaurant groups, E'angelo is doing its part to preserve the neighborly feel of the Marina. It starts with a warm welcome and a handshake from the thickly accented Maître d'. As you walk further in to the restaurant your nose will be bitch slapped by the smell of the delicacies that await. Our favorites are the burrata appetizer, caesar salad, eggplant parm, veal saltimboca, vongole....just very fresh, simple, honest food for a fair price.

The only downside is that the tables are packed in here and it can be tight when it is crowded.

3.5 stars

When every place in the Marina is packed to the gills on Sunday morning, you can count on E'angleo to be seated fairly quickly.

The basic Italian menu may seem lackluster compared to the new and happening restaurants in the neighborhood, but let me direct you to the generous serving of fluffy fritatta. Get the one with potatoes and leeks or sausage and peppers, but both will fill you up for sure. Order a french toast to share if you're craving something sweet like we were. The $8 mimosa was heavy on the prosecco which I LOVED.

If possible, grab seats outside on the sidewalk, because the interior is kinda bland. We also appreciate the fact that their menu is not overpriced. You can't deny the slooow service, but our waitress gave us a slice of complimentary tiramisu (which was divine!) We'll visit again for brunch when the opportnity arises, hopefully, the service would've improved by then.

While E'Angelo has a seemingly well priced menu...

The steamed mussels in tomato sauce: bad, really bad. As in rotten? I couldn't make myself eat more than two and I'm usually a fan.

My friend's ravioli- this was an entree-- arrived with 4-5 raviolis on a massive plate. The portion size of my pasta with pesto sauce was equally small. Really, because this place didn't seem all that fancy!

We heavily relied on the bread basket to get through this meal. Eh. Not a fan.

Desperately searching for food, and having been turned away due to major crowds, E'Angelo was like a sign from heaven calling us into its warm and sweet smelling though cramped space.

Fauzo, our wonderful server, was funny, friendly, and entertaining.

Words just can't describe how much we enjoyed our meal, so I've posted the photos instead.

Our Order:
Minestrone Soup (OMG)
Steamed Mussels with Tomato sauce and White Wine (Bliss)
Spaghetti Bolognese (Lovely)
Pizza with Salami and Mushrooms (decent)
Tube Pasta with Marinara Sauce (Tasty)
Spumone Ice cream cake (YUMMY!!!)

I'm so lucky to have this place down the street. Especially on these cold rainy nights. We needed late night carbs and protein for a race on Sunday and E'angelo delivered.

It's like eating at my grandparents house. And that is saying A LOT.

LOVE the service. We had the chef, owner and renaissance man of so many talents they are coating the walls (yes, all the paintings) Claudio playing the role of 'our waiter' all night long. It was amazing. I almost hugged him he reminded me of my great uncle Angelo so much. the other two waiters who hung out by our table were amazing too. Funny, knowledgeable, just like home.

The Spaghetti alla "chitarra" (four hour wild boar) was ridiculously good. And it's the year of the Paccheri, who knew! (it was also delicious but I barely got more than two bites of it).

Going back, no question. Maybe tonight or tomorrow since they offered to make us some special super secret off-menu items. (the suspense is killing me!).

Service - Very friendly on this most recent 4th visit (4 stars). less so on the 2nd visit.. maybe the waiter was stressed.. but they were very good with the water and in getting us a table in a friendly & convivial manner. Nicely done

Food - 4 stars -
Appetizers: Started with the Prosciutto with melon slices. Excellent Prosciutto.. super fresh and seasoned just right.. Not salty.. just lotsa good flavor. Melons were ripe.. My wife ordered the minestrone soup. Good stuff. Yum. The only thing that could top the Prosciutto with melon is when dates are in season.. Prosciutto with fresh dates is unbelievable.

For the main course, I ordered the Spaghetti Tuttomare (or whatever it is) special that comes with a healthy portion of clams, mussels, shrimp, scallops, calamari, salmon. Excellent marinara sauce.. sooo flavorful and full of interesting textures.

My wife had the Linguini Vongole (spaghetti noodles plus lots of clams in a seafoodey-marinara sauce) but for some reason her sauce seemed a bit too much on the salty side. Mine's was fine. Oh, for some reason they forgot our pizza order. Oh.. service.. right.. At least they apologized, so I gotta give them a point back here.

This was our second visit here.. The first one was awesome! Second one a bit less so, and third visit awesome again, but the tuttomare disappeared off the menu (if it ain't fresh, take it off, I guess) so we'll keep this place on our hit list as usual.

After a day at the horse races on Memorial Day Weekend, the boyfriend and I were ready for some filling, tasty food. Italian fit the bill, and E'Angelo's was our pick for dinner in the Marina!

We ordered:
Mussels - HUGE black mussels, so good, with great orange sauce that we demolished with our bread.
Red Snapper Special - Delicious, great presentation, with a side of potatoes and grilled veggies.
Spinach Pasta - My first time ordering this. It was good and I loved the green noodles against the red bolognese sauce it came with.

Too full for dessert, sadly!! Spinach Pasta leftovers the next day were good as well.

In a neighborhood such as the Marina, which is filled with plenty of new, trendy restaurants, it's nice to still have an old school Italian restaurant as an option for a nice dinner.

The staff was friendly and the owner even took the time to arrange our plate of mussels before I took my foodie picture. In my opinion, little details like this make all the difference in a dining experience.

I wouldn't call it my favorite, but if you're in the mood for some traditional, no-fuss Italian food, E'Angelo Trattoria is a great place to go.

Fausto the manager, very nice guy.

Lasagna was so cheesy and full of sauce. Hot fresh and delicious.

Proscuitto with figs - crazy awesome.

Great prices for great dishes!

We were trying to find a place that would seat us on a Saturday night, and ended up coming here because it didn't seem to be too busy. We were delighted with the service we received. Right when we walked in, the host attended to us and said "3 minutes" when we asked how long we would have to wait to be seated and we were seated very promptly. The host was FUNNY, even though we didn't understand half the things he said. The place seemed small, quaint, and all the waiters and the host had Italian accents. This seemed like a good sign.

Then, the PUMPKIN RAVIOLI came!!!!!!!!!!! 5/5 stars for that! YUMMMMYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! It was perfect. The amount was perfect - not too much and not too little. If they have pumpkin ravioli, I HIGHLY recommend you order this over anything else. We had Tiramisu for dessert, and that was OK. I've had better. That's why I'm giving it 4/5 stars.

Molto Buona!

Skinny:

Good food (yes bread is different from what I've had in other places but I will give them leeway to pick their own style of bread)

Ambiance is totally small Italian neighborhood feel - reminds me a bit of the North End in Boston where I'm from - I actually don't prefer such close seating but it is old world feeling!

having both servers on duty being from Italy made for nice conversation - Fausto was our server (I think that's his name)

Full review:

This review is way overdue since i went here in January.

We wandered into here by accident while checking out stores on Chestnut. We actually walked past it once but came back on a whim (it was empty inside but it was also wed night).

My pasta was very nice, the service was very nice as they brought more bread and water refills endlessly, and the servers were very helpful and friendly.

I am looking forward to going again - it's not super cheap but Italian food long ago graduated to the level of being able to charge too much for simple food - where Thai food just arrived in recent years and I'm sure where Vietnamese food will go eventually.

Also, the score is misleading because a number of people who gave this place 3 stars said that food was good and all - In this case 3 stars is good as it should be - I don't think I've handed out a 5th star to anywhere (waiting for some kind of amazing experience!)