Marcella’s

I ate dinner at Marcella’s last night and somehow I forgot how fancy it is. Like, they serve you bread before the meal and there are table clothes.  It’s a pinky up kind of place. I should expect no less from a Cameron Mitchell restaurant.

Last time I was there was probably a year ago, and I think it was with Alaina when she was in town. I remember we enjoyed the sangria and pizza.

Last night, it was a typical busy evening so we had to wait fifteen minutes. We grabbed a drink at the bar. I think my taste buds have changed since I first began drinking because now I prefer an IPA over a glass of Chardonnay. I  used to default to a glass of the house white wine but just wasn’t in the mood for wine yesterday. I ordered a Rhinegeist beer (I think it was Cougar) and thought it was pretty neutral. There weren’t any flavors that stood out to me. It was an easy to drink beer. I tried Nate’s beer (Oskar Blues Old Chub Scottish Ale) and it reminded me of a nice smooth Guiness. I liked it a lot.

I learned that when you order a drink at the bar before your meal, you are supposed to close out your tab there. For some reason I thought I could take the receipt with me to the table and pay the waitress for our bar tab. Nah, doesn’t work that way.

We sat at a granite tabletop next to the window facing High St. so it was fun to watch all the people pass by. There was a yoga class going on at the Joseph hotel so that was unique to watch a yoga class while eating dinner.

I ordered the Tortellini Alla Manzo and thought the beef, mushrooms and tortellini was delicious but I wish there was more of it. For what I paid, I expected an Olive Garden-esque portion and enough that I could take some home for lunch the next day. There were maybe six tortellini pieces in total.

Nate ordered the Linguine and Clams. The pasta had a really nice flavor. This was my first time trying clams and I would definitely order them again. It was neat having to dig the meat out of the clam.

I still like Marcella’s but I’m not sure if it’s still one of my favorite Short North restaurants. Perhaps I should try it again at happy hour (4pm to 6pm)