Review: Visaggio's Ristorante - Enola, PA

Visaggio’s Ristorante
6990 Wertzville Road || Enola, PA 17025
Monday – Saturday 5pm – 9pm
Reservations: 717-697-8082
Visaggio's Ristorante

Average Appetizer Price: $11.21
Average Soup Price: $7.50
Average Salad Price: $7.95
Average Entrée: $27.67
Average Dessert Price: $7.68
Cost for two: $85.36 (Price of an appetizer, two entrees and shared dessert -- excluding drinks and including a 15% tip)

Editor note: Beware pay per refill sodas/teas.

Upon first pulling into Visaggio’s, we weren’t 100% sure where to go next, as there wasn’t one clear entrance, since they also dabble in hotel and banquet services.

After finding the entrance, we found ourselves in a very drab olive green/gray room cluttered with all sorts of knickknacks and pink accents. It reminded me more of a Nashville funeral parlor than an upscale fine dining reception area. Greeting you at the reception desk (make sure to dodge the piano on your way there) is a gigantic portrait of Chefs Rosemary Visaggio-Lumadue and her two sons. Unfortunately the food that is splayed out in front of them in the portrait is a none-too appetizing glimpse of what’s to come.

After being left by the host out in the parlor for a few minutes, he finally comes back and takes us to our seat. The actual interior of the restaurant is different, but nice.

Once we’re inside and seated the rest of the service goes pretty well, aside from the astronomical prices and food. Which I guess is important to some customers. Our bill came to about $115.00 with drinks and a tip.

First off, they serve a complimentary spicy red pepper olive oil dipping sauce with bread which as far as complimentary dipping sauces go, was really tasty. It was quite spicy, very much harkening back to the Visaggio’s roots in Abruzzi, Italy – a region very accustomed to spicy dishes. The only problem with serving such a spicy complementary dish comes when you force your patrons to pay for refills on soda or tea. (I’m not 100% sure if this is disclosed on the menu – but it sure is on the bill. One time here, I spent about $15 on Mountain Dew, not knowing their pay-per-refill policy).

Upon looking at the menu one thing struck me as very odd. There are a high number (6) of Filet Mignon dishes and not one single lamb dish, which is strange considering Abruzzi is famous for its lamb dishes and is considered a mountainous, shepherd/fisherman town. As a side note, restaurants, please don't put advertisements for other businesses in your menu, even if your family owns them. Let us enjoy our dining experience.

So, what exactly DID we order?

Seafood Ravioli - $13.95
Crab imperial, shrimp and scallops encased in a thin pasta square ... served with a delicate sweet red pepper and white sauce
Bruschetta - $8.95
Our homemade Italian bread, topped with tomato basil sauce, portabella mushrooms napped with a cheese sauce
Italian Wedding Soup - 7.50
Chicken, tiny meatballs, cheeses, various seasonings in a perfect chicken broth
House Salad - included with entrée; Dry Bleu Cheese $2.25 extra
Elena Maria - 29.95
Medallions of prime filet mignon sautéed medium (please) and four jumbo shrimp in garlic butter. The filets and shrimp are then placed on a bed of linguine laced with garlic butter and topped with pecorino romano cheese
Arturo - 29.95
Jumbo shrimp and sea scallops and salmon with a sweet red pepper sauce served on a bed of linguine
Glass of house Chardonnay
Glass of Iced Tea

Expensive food is fine. Honestly. I know this blog is about gourmet food on the cheap, but I’m fine with paying $115 for a special occasion sort of dinner – provided the food is excellent. I’m not sure if Visaggio’s was having an off day… I did talk to one of the chefs prior to service and they had mentioned their Pasta Roller’s transmission was burnt out and they had to hand cut and roll the ravioli – but I have serious, serious doubts about taking another $115 gamble on this restaurant. I hope you seriously consider it as well.

So, starting off with the Bruschetta and Seafood Ravioli:

Bruschetta – to me, when I think of Bruschetta, I think of FRESH and VIBRANT ingredients that POP off of the bread. Their idea was a tomato based sauce. Sauce? Really? Along with Portabella mushrooms and a little bit of cheese sauce. None of this tasted fresh. The mushrooms actually stained the bread (not very appealing) and honestly the presentation of the bruschetta was atrocious. The portabella was cut into long pieces that made the bread awkward to eat. If you tried to move it or take it off, the rest of the ingredients would fall onto the plate.

SUCH a simple thing that was executed poorly.

Seafood Ravioli – I couldn’t stop eating this dish. Not because it was delicious. But because I was trying to figure out what was just plain off about it. I’m not sure if the crab was a little old or what the problem was, but it tasted overly fishy and lemony. The upside to this dish was the red pepper sauce, which was very tasty. Unfortunately the plate was also drowned in another white cream sauce.

Italian Wedding Soup – The soup was fairly standard wedding soup, although with a large amount of chicken. My portion of soup only had one miniature meatball. All in all though, coming off of the disappointing appetizers, I thought we were in an upswing.

House Salad – Very sad looking house salad… also came with several pieces of (obviously canned) citrus fruit. The citrus, which was very pale and sickly looking, really didn’t work with any element of the salad. We sent about 3/4ths of the salad back with the waitress.

Elena Maria – In the menu’s description, it begs us to order the filet medium at most. Very sad to see that the actual mignon medallions that came on my plate were Medium-Well Done. The shrimp were also overcooked and a bit tough. Aside from the overcooked beef and the shrimp losing a lot of their delicate flavor due to overcooking, the dish was fairly successful. Not $30 successful, but I would eat it if it were priced reasonably and cooked properly.

Arturo – Probably the most successful dish of the night, this pasta brought back the sweet red pepper sauce we liked from the seafood ravioli from before. Shrimp and Scallops seemed a touch overcooked, but probably because at this point our meal was so poor we were really analyzing everything put in front of us.

House Chardonnay- I feel a little strange reviewing a house chardonnay, but I was pretty disappointed with the lack of by the glass wines. Pretty much limited to their house selections.

Bottom line: Save your $100 and stay at home. Cook a family-style Italian dinner and invite a few of your friends for a lot less money and much more enjoyment. If you want to go out for a romantic Italian dinner with that special someone -- try Juliana’s, in Mechanicsburg, PA.

It will only take 115 of you to recover the money I wasted on this meal!