I Expected More
Villa Tronco is a historic restaurant
in the heart of South Carolina's historic capital city. Situated
behind an unprepossessing facade on Blanding Street between Main and
Sumter, the eatery boasts of being the oldest continuously operating
restaurant in South Carolina, the first Italian restaurant in
Columbia, and it claims to be responsible for introducing pizza to
the capital city's curious denizens. Beginning as a fruit store in
1930, Villa Tronco is the legacy of James and Sadie (Carnaggio)
Tronco, now owned and operated by the third generation of the Tronco
family and still employing, it is said, “Mama” Tronco's original
recipes for dishes that delighted homesick Northern soldiers of
Italian descent stationed at nearby Fort Jackson during WWII.
It was based upon this amazing heritage
and upon mostly positive online reviews that I chose Villa Tronco as
our family vacation dining destination on a sultry Saturday evening
in June. Frankly, I expected more.
Anybody who has read anything I've
published in the last dozen or so years will recognize that my wife
and I have something more than a passing knowledge of and
appreciation for Italian food. My son and daughter-in-law, both
world-traveled military veterans, were our dining companions on this
evening. My son recently spent several years living in Italy, so
perhaps, taken as a whole, we were a bit of a tough crowd.
Starting on a positive note, everything
I read about the ambiance of Villa Tronco was dead on. With lots of
dark wood, exposed brick, and subtle lighting there was a definite
“old world” vibe to the place that, along with tasteful décor
and substantial but comfortable furnishings made for an interesting
and pleasant dining atmosphere. A lot of modern restaurants try very
hard to achieve what this charming and venerable old spot generates
easily and naturally. Kudos to the current generation of Troncos for
beautifully balancing old and new.
The service was prompt, friendly, and
efficient. Our hostess seated us quickly, our waitress was attentive
without being obtrusive, and my water glass never got below
half-full. Villa Tronco has a full
bar and an expansive wine list from which both my wife and my
“Italian wine snob” son partook.
Alas, though, the food was not on the
same level as the atmosphere and the wine. Right from the start,
temperature seemed to be a problem.
We ordered antipasti of
fried calamari and fried mozzarella. The mozzarella arrived on a nice
warm plate, but was itself barely above room temperature. Unless
served piping hot, mozzarella fritta tends
to be rather dense and chewy, as was the case here. And the thin red
sauce in which it was served was a harbinger of things to come.
My
daughter-in-law's entree of cheese ravioli was stone cold upon
arrival. Again, the plate was warm as was the sauce, but the ripieno,
the rich filling of ricotta and
Parmesan, had obviously spent too much time in the freezer or the
walk in and not enough time in the pot. We sent the dish back. I
don't know if Chef Mike (restaurant-speak for a microwave) fixed it
or what, but it came back a few minutes later at the proper temp.
My
wife had no real complaints about her linguine in meat sauce other
than the fact that the sauce lacked what she called “zing,”
something I found to be true about all the tomato-based sauces we
were served. They weren't bad
per se, they were just.......unremarkable.
My son soldiered
through his “combo piatto,” an oddly named sampling of lasagna,
cheese ravioli, and Fettuccine Tronco (which looked suspiciously like
Alfredo) all on one plate. He finished with neither complaint nor
compliment, but I got the general impression of his being politely
unimpressed.
I figured to try
the famous pizza which “Mama” Tronco introduced to Columbia. “The
crust is still rolled by hand,” the literature proclaims, “and
cut into squares so that you know it's handmade.” Again the
temperature bug bit. The serving pan was toasty warm but the pizza
was barely so.
Okay, I used to rag
on my cooks about warming plates. Warm food is better on a warm
serving plate. But I swear I never had to instruct them to make sure
the food was at least as warm as the plate on which it was served. I
don't know what was happening here, but it certainly marred the
experience.
Anyway,
the pizza was.......unremarkable. You can tell the crust was “rolled”
rather than tossed or stretched by hand because it was dense and
lifeless. Rolling and compressing pizza dough does that. That's why
vero pizzaioli always
toss or stretch the dough by hand. The sauce was thin, rather sweet,
and, as my wife said, lacking in “zing.” The cheese was the
typical “pizza cheese” sold by Sysco, US Foods, and other
restaurant industry food purveyors. Granted, I've had worse pizza out
of convenience store microwaves, but I've also had far better at
places with far less vaunted reputations. In the restaurant's history
it is recorded that “Mama” Tronco had to give pizza away at first
because people didn't know what it was. Bless her sainted memory, if
what I was served was an example, I can relate.
Look,
I seldom bash a restaurant because I've been in the business and I
know how hard it can be. I generally allow acres for benefit of the
doubt. And despite my apparent negativity here, I'm not really trying
to bash Tronco's. As a very typical, very average, very
Italian-AMERICAN restaurant, it stands as an adequate representative
of the genre. I'm just reiterating that, based on the build up, I
expected more. The online “reviewers” who trumpet things like
“highly recommended for anyone looking for a great Italian meal”
and “one of the best Italian restaurants I have dined at in years”
obviously don't know diddly squat about Italian food or Italian
restaurants. Everything on the menu is the type of food I would
expect to find anywhere in Rome. Georgia, that is. It is decent
enough Italian-American fare, but there is very little by way of
anything outstandingly Italian. Chicken Parm? A butter, cream, and
cheese sauced fettuccine dish? Linguine with meatballs? Maryland
Crab Cakes? Uffa! Mi dispiace, mama. Un stella o due per
l'atmosfera, ma no stelle per il cibo.
Bottom line: Villa Tronco is a good, if
somewhat pedestrian, Italian-American red-sauce joint. If you're
looking for a nice Italian-ish place for a date night or for a family
gathering and you're not really particular about authentic or
high-end Italian food, it's perfect. It's not super-cheap but also
not super-expensive. We had an app, two entrees, and a glass of wine
on our ticket for fifty bucks. I mean, go soak up the atmosphere if
nothing else. That said, I doubt we'll make it a regular stop on our
occasional trips through the area. Which is probably good since I'm
sure the locals and the faithful are already plucking chickens and
heating up tar in anticipation of my return. But it is what it is.
And what it is is just Olive Garden in classier digs.
Located at 1213 Blanding Street, Villa
Tronco is open 11 to 3 and 5 to 10 Monday through Friday and 5 to 10
only on Saturday. They're closed on Sunday. Dress is casual,
reservations are accepted but not required, and parking is metered
on-street that is free after 6 pm. Call them at 803.256.7677 or find
them online at villatronco.com.
Horrible food the worst
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