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I don't think we have Canno's in the east, in northern NJ I prefer some of the many little mom & pop holes in the wall for good, everyday Italian style cooking.
Robertos II Ristorante in Edgewater is very, very good. Have you tried it? Casa Dante in Jersey City is also excellent.
Which do you prefer, Olive Garden or Johnny Carino's? We have both here and I have to say JC still beats Olive Garden hands down! OG will nickel and dime you for stuff that is automatic at JC, not to mention you get more food and better quality at Johnny Carino's.
Um...neither? No better than Chef Boyardee, in my opinion. Buy a cookbook (Marcella Hazan) and make it yourself. Don't waste your money on this yucky pseudo Italian stuff. It's an insult to real Italian food....not to mention loaded with fat, sodium and preservatives...
Which do you prefer, Olive Garden or Johnny Carino's? We have both here and I have to say JC still beats Olive Garden hands down! OG will nickel and dime you for stuff that is automatic at JC, not to mention you get more food and better quality at Johnny Carino's.
I hate ALL chain Italian places. I only eat them in a pinch or if other people want to go. The OG has the lowest quality Italian food I have ever tasted. The breadstick is the best thing there.
Long live family owned places for Italian dining.
Amen to this. I suppose not everyone has access to hundreds of family owned Italian restaurants, but I do. I don't patronize Italian chain restaurants. I went to Olive Garden once close to 20 years ago for lunch with a girl from work and have never been back. I'm sure the food is fresh and consistant, as is the case for most chain restaurants. But it's Americanized and not near as good as you'll get at a family owned place, with Italians cooking the food and using tried and true family recipes. If anyone not from Chicago, NYC, Philly, New Jersey or Boston visits these areas, you must try some Italian food.
As long as it's clean, the decor is ok. My point was that there are a lot of small restaurants that aren't very good. I don't have a way of knowing what their standards are unless someone else has recommended them to me. In this case, or if I see during busy times that they have quite a following, i would try them.
That's what Chowhound, Menupages (in big cities), etc. are for And of course its always worth giving a local place a try. It's not THAT much of a tragedy if you don't get what you demanded for your $15
I personally prefer local places. Here in Duluth we have one full-service Italian chain restaurant (Olive Garden) and three local places. One of the local places is expensive, the other recently raised their prices, and the third, I haven't been there in a long time. So yeah, not the best situation in Duluth. But we don't have many Italians out here.
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And of course its always worth giving a local place a try. It's not THAT much of a tragedy if you don't get what you demanded for your $15 
