- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Pellino's Ristorante and Bar
- Nearest Transit:
-
Pleasant St @ Anderson St (441, 442, 448, 449)
Pleasant St Opp Anderson St (441, 442, 448, 449)
Pleasant St @ Spring St (441, 442, 448, 449)
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 5 pm - 9:30 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Quiet
- Ambience:
- Romantic
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
9 reviews for Pellino's Ristorante and Bar
9 reviews in English
-
Review from leah r.
Middleton, MA
7/19/2011
I would definitely recommend this restaurant. It's a very pretty and romantic Italian restaurant that was recommended to us by friends in the area. The food was excellent. We started with a grilled calamari that was tender, moist and had a slightly nutty flavor. We had the
mussels in a wine sauce that were very fresh and cooked perfectly, just enough sauce left to dip the housemade bread in..yum!! I ordered the fresh cod and it was fantastic. It was in a light white wine sauce
with capers and olives.. cooked fresh and to order. My friend had the fresh tagliatelle (spelling?) pasta with roasted corn and pancetta and she loved it. We didn't order the desert, although we were tempted. There seems to be many regular customers here and I can see why. We will certainly return. -
Review from Anna W.
1/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
Yes! I am definitely a fan. I always love it when I can find great restaurants up here on the North Shore. It saves me the trek into Boston!
Pellino's is a solid choice for Italian food. We came upon this place pretty much by accident -- wanted to go to 5 Corners restaurant because we had heard so many good things about it, but it turns out they were closed for vacation or something, so we ended up here instead (it's right down the street).
The restaurant is located inside what looks like a renovated home. It is very quaint and cute. Inside, there's a bar with seating, and then tables and booths all around. There are lots of tables by the floor-to-ceiling windows, so you can sit there and look outside as well. The interior is romantic, with tablecloths and candles at each table. We called on a Saturday night to make a reservation for a party of six, and they were able to accommodate us. Keep in mind that they close kind of early (10pm), even on a weekend, so plan accordingly.
Our server, though sweet, was inexperienced and probably somewhat new. He did his best, bless his heart, so I can't hold that against him. He did drop a plate, and he told us they didn't have Moscato on the wine menu (when in fact, they had two different kinds). Anyway, service flaws aside, they were still very good. Attentive servers, quick to bring us our drinks and appetizers, and quick with refills, which I always appreciate.
The food here was stellar. The menu offered variety and the prices were decent ($15-$20 per entree). For our appetizers, we got the calamari (cooked perfectly and delicious) and some eggplant dish (very good, although I enjoyed the calamari better).
The pasta here is homemade, which is always a good thing, and incredibly fresh. The red sauce was sweet, but not overpowering. The meatballs are huge and they give you like, five of them (as opposed to other places, where I've only gotten three or so). We all enjoyed our meal, with the exception of my cousin, who got some veal dish that was good, but not great. He was unimpressed with the quality of the meat.
The molten chocolate cake that they serve for dessert here is AMAZING. You *must* try it. It takes a while to cook, so order it at the same time you order your entree. The five of us split one, but it was so yummy and delicious that we probably each could have finished our own.
We'll definitely come here again, and hopefully soon. -
Review from Jonathan K.
Marblehead, MA
3/24/2011
I lived down the street and have known this place since it opened. They rode the wave of the trend towards turning basic Italian peasant cooking into haute cuisine- and charge accordingly. I can't say that the meal made me ill, but i certainly don't think it was worth the money. The appetizer (sliced tomato/mozzarella & tablespoon of tapenade) was tasty, but once again, a bit of a ripoff. The pasta entree was Ok- but not exactly flavorful. The best part of the meal was the volcano cake at the end...but I can get that at Trader Joe's for a couple bucks.
I guess this might be like the North End experience in that you get charged way too much money for basic pasta. It's a disturbing trend that hopefully will get exposed. if you're in the North Shore area, try Paollina's in Swampscott. It's a cute little family place in a strip mall. Home made pasta, not an ounce of pretention, and it's BYO. -
Review from Andrea Q.
Milford, NH
4/5/2008
I'm rather torn on how to rate this place. Something about it made me really want to like it, but ultimately I was underwhelmed. I'm giving it 2.5 stars.
The boy and I were staying at a B&B in Marlbhead for the weekend and after looking around at reviews online and from a few recommendations from family that lives there we decided to head to Pellino's for dinner our first night. We also came across a coupon for 30% off our total bill online, so I really couldn't pass up going.
First off, it's a really small place, but it's cute and dark. I love my restaurants dark. We were seated by the windows in the corner of the room and the tables were all really close to each other which should have been awkward with other patrons sitting at them, but it wasn't.
John and I each had a really hard time deciding what to order, there were a lot of things on the menu that sounded delicious (Butternut squash stuffed Tortelloni in a sage brown butter sauce, Porcini Ravioli, Veal Siciliano, Salmon Agrodolce etc). We finally settled on mixed green salads with balsamic vinaigrette to start; John got the Gnocchi Amatriciana and I got the Lobster Ravioli in a mascarpone veloute.
The balsamic vinaigrette was good and the greens were fresh but there was a ton of salt on the greens. Yuck! It's fine to season homemade dressings but there shouldn't be visible salt on every leaf.
I ordered a greygoose martini and since green olives are the only reason I really started to drink martini's, I asked for some extra. The martini was good but the olives were not. They were almost spicy but not in a good way. Again, Yuck.
John's Gnocchi dish was basically fresh gnocchi with a homemade marinara sauce and smoked mozzarella and pancetta. The gnocchi themselves had great texture. And the overall taste of the dish wasn't bad, but there was too much cheese and not a whole lot of anything else going on.
My Lobster Ravioli themselves were pretty tasty. The pasta was obviously freshly made, and they were generously filled with fresh lobster. But the rich, creamy mascarpone veloute that I expected to dress my ravioli left a lot to be desired. Like John's meal, the sauce didn't taste bad, but it was mostly stock and very little seasoning. It could have used a little starch for thickening and perhaps a little of the mascarpone cheese that the item description contained. Granted it was probably a healthy dish in this watered down version, but it wasn't what I wanted.
The best part of the night: We had been prompted to order dessert when we ordered our meals. They had two specials that night, a cranberry bread pudding and a molten chocolate cake and the reason we were being asked to order them so early is because they take a half hour to make. We got the molten chocolate cake. I blurted it out without even asking John which he preferred. He wanted the other dessert. Oops. The molten chocolate cake turned out to be awesome! It was warm, gooey, rich and soooooo satisfying. The coffee was good too.
What Pellino's does right: personable, efficient waitstaff (one even took my coat which was sweet), a warm, cozy (some may say cramped but I say cozy!) atmosphere, fast service, great location (right downtown), yummy dessert, and the use of fresh ingredients.
I would be willing to give Pellino's another shot, but I will make sure to try one of their Entrees instead of their pastas. I'm hoping the reason for our disappointment is because they have a new Saucier who just needs a little more time to perfect his dishes. But . . . probably not the case. If I do make it there again I'll be sure to update this review. -
Review from kathy l.
Marblehead, MA
1/9/2011
Good Fresh pastas with friendly waitstaff. It's very pretty and the booths are so romantic. I had a chicken with capers, red roasted peppers and a wine sauce which was very good. It came with roasted zucchini and potatoes which was a very nice touch. The bread and eggplant dip that they give you at the beginning of the meal was fantastic.
-
Review from bruce k.
Nahant, MA
1/22/2011
i see pellino's was visited by a tv gourmet, but we must of had different experiences. The service seemed very lacklustre. Even though they have a parking lot, it was quite tiny (and full). Everyone else in my party thought the food was "just ok", but my risotto tasted like glue. The server WAS aware of this (actually, he said it was his favorite ) but offered no apology. We will not return.
-
Review from William Christina G.
Salem, MA
8/21/2009
I take it all back, that was 3 years ago! The last time I went to this place, the food tasted like it was left open in the refrigerator for weeks before cooked. Horrible combinations, like thin pork that was overcooked and dry with a wine sauce, horrible! Waaaay overpriced, and I didn't believe when I saw a sign saying they have a cooking school available at that place!! Is this a joke? Now, if you don't know what real Italian food tastes like, or you never been to a real Italian restaurant, this will probably satisfy you, but if you know about good food like I do, you will be having nightmares about this place!
-
Review from ken w.
Lynnfield, MA
3/27/2011
Food was very good, but for the amount of food you get it is overpriced. We had a party of six, were sat promptly at reservation time, very friendly waitress. Everything is on the expensive side especially when size is taken into account. Even the Martini's were over $10 for a maybe 6 oz drink, could have actually been 4 oz.. Cup of Coffee $3.50, come on it's coffee. For this type of place I would have expected all dinners served within a couple minutes of each other but instead 3 plates came out first, then 2 plates about 5 minutes later, and finally maybe 10 minutes later the final plate. Everyone's plate was completely cleaned but a few were wondering where the closest McDonalds was to get more food, they were that skimpy. My plate had maybe 6- 8 potato cubes about 1/2" square and 3- 4 tiny broccoli florets. At least fill the plate with veggies if your charging $20-22 per plate. I found it strange that on a clear but cool Saturday night that the place was never more than 1/2 full. Guess lots of other have had similar experience. Bottom line food was very tasty but overpriced when considering portions, we won't be going back, sorry to say.
-
Review from Mon T.
Boston, MA
7/17/2009
Fantastic... it's a small local restaurant, but wait staffs are friendly. Everything we have tried ... from appetizer to veal... pasta to wine.... was delicious!
