Vito’s Seafood & Pasta House

Several months ago, a reader sent me an e-mail about an Italian restaurant, which opened on the Oregon Avenue site of Tony Luke’s Casa di Pasta. She said the food was delicious, but the owners were going to change the name and add a few dishes.

A week later, I drove by and chatted with a woman who told me the owners were going to put Spanish dishes on the menu. I was happy to hear this because I am still waiting for a Spanish restaurant to open in the city. Unfortunately, the owners never had a chance to offer a new menu. They sold the restaurant back to Tony Luke, who calls the place Vito’s Seafood & Pasta House.

My husband Edward, my mom Berthe and I arrived for dinner and were greeted by a smiling waitress who showed us to a roomy table. The main dining room has an open kitchen; the smaller one is cozier and just right for conversation. Our server opened our wine and brought us a loaf of cottony Italian-style sesame seed-topped bread.

The menu is typical, dated Italian-American fare. None of the appetizers were enticing and few were Italian. Coconut shrimp, shrimp wrapped in bacon, stuffed mushrooms and buffalo shrimp made up the starters, although the usual mussels red or white were on the list, too.

We ordered broccoli rabe ($5.50), but our server advised us the kitchen was out. We decided to try the mushrooms stuffed with crabmeat ($7.95), which were so-so. Four small, run-of-the-mill white-button mushrooms sitting in a pool of melted butter arrived in a 1950s-style shallow oval baking dish. The mushrooms were hot and the filling was smooth and cheesy, but lacked the sweet flavor of crab. Crimini or portobello mushrooms would have added flavor.

A choice of soup or salad comes with dinner. The soup of the day was spinach egg drop, where the eggs are scrambled into hot chicken stock before spinach is added. The broth was salty and the soup lacked richness.

The house salad of iceberg lettuce, sliced carrots and a piece of cucumber was inedible. The dressing looked like thin, pale chocolate syrup and tasted like cheap balsamic vinegar thinned with oil.

We sampled three entrées: stuffed flounder ($18.95), fruitti di mare red or white ($19.95) and fried seafood combination ($18.95).

Berthe likes flounder stuffed with crabmeat, but we all found Vito’s version lackluster. Two fillets of flounder were cooked just right and plated to form a ring. The crabmeat stuffing was piled into the center. It lacked seasoning, was creamy in texture and could have been better if good quality crabmeat were used. Mom had a choice of a side of pasta, a baked potato or vegetable of the day, which was broccoli. I found this unusual. Every restaurant I know offers a starch and vegetable with an entrée. The baked potato was just that – a baked potato. Potatoes sautéed in olive oil with garlic and rosemary would have been a nice Italian touch.

I’ve eaten assorted seafood on a bed of pasta in various Italian restaurants. When the fish is top quality and the sauce packs a delicious punch, this dish can be most satisfying. Unfortunately, Vito’s version was not so good. The mussels were tiny, scrawny, dry and overcooked, as were two shrimp. The latter was also tough and salty. There were two scallops in the dish and, although they were not overcooked, they tasted watery. Several tasty and meaty cherrystone clams in their shells completed the entrée. To combat the dryness, the seafood should have been tossed with some sauce before it hit the pasta. There was not a hint of fresh garlic, minced parsley or red-pepper flakes in the white sauce.

The fried seafood combination fared better. The batter-dipped seafood was coated in panko breadcrumbs before it was deep fried to a grease-free golden-brown crispness. Panko are crisp, dried Japanese breadcrumbs and I was surprised they were used in this dish. The platter was good sized and included scallops, shrimp, a crab cake and some flounder. Steamed broccoli, without garlic or olive oil, came with the platter.

Service was fine, but the waitresses – there were two – could use bus help.

The quality of ingredients at Vito’s Seafood & Pasta House could be kicked up several notches while more care should be taken in the kitchen. Much of the food lacked flavor and eye appeal.

One tip of the toque to Vito’s Seafood & Pasta House.

Vito’s Seafood & Pasta House
40 E. Oregon Ave.
215-339-1090
Credit cards accepted
Wheelchair-accessible
Children’s menu available
BYOB