I am a HUGE fan of Italian food! I enjoy it almost as much as I enjoy a burger, so when I was visiting my dad recently we were trying to figure out a nice place to eat. I mentioned Italian food and he recommended we try Puccini's Pizzeria. He lives on Vilano Beach in St. Augustine and this restaurant is the only Italian joint around so we figured why not give it a shot.
The atmosphere was quite nice. There was live music outside and it was not too loud and added some good ambiance to the restaurant. They have the menu items that would expect from your average pizzeria, Pizza, Subs, Calzones, and a range of different Pastas. I ended up going with the medium size Calzone, and let me tell you there is nothing medium about this thing! It took up my entire plate and was more than I could personally eat myself. You can add toppings to the inside of it. I would usually go for toppings such as bacon, pepperoni, or sausage but I decided to try something new and ordered it with eggplant on the inside. This is where my only complaint with this place comes. For some reason I was expecting some sort of breaded eggplant or seasoned eggplant but it was literally just cut up pieces of eggplant in my Calzone. It didn't have any flavor and actually took away from what could have been a great Calzone.
The atmosphere was quite nice. There was live music outside and it was not too loud and added some good ambiance to the restaurant. They have the menu items that would expect from your average pizzeria, Pizza, Subs, Calzones, and a range of different Pastas. I ended up going with the medium size Calzone, and let me tell you there is nothing medium about this thing! It took up my entire plate and was more than I could personally eat myself. You can add toppings to the inside of it. I would usually go for toppings such as bacon, pepperoni, or sausage but I decided to try something new and ordered it with eggplant on the inside. This is where my only complaint with this place comes. For some reason I was expecting some sort of breaded eggplant or seasoned eggplant but it was literally just cut up pieces of eggplant in my Calzone. It didn't have any flavor and actually took away from what could have been a great Calzone.
But besides this one small detail the Calzone was ok. Luckily the size of the Calzone made up for the lack of flavor.
Conclusion: Puccini's is a "meh" Italian place. It's worth a try if you're in the area and craving some Italian food, but don't expect much. It's a chain restaurant so don't expect it to blow you away with new flavors either. If you're looking for something new and exciting then this isn't the place to go. There's a Carabas about 20 min away.
Conclusion: Puccini's is a "meh" Italian place. It's worth a try if you're in the area and craving some Italian food, but don't expect much. It's a chain restaurant so don't expect it to blow you away with new flavors either. If you're looking for something new and exciting then this isn't the place to go. There's a Carabas about 20 min away.
Rating:
Taste - 5/10
Freshness - 5/10
Price - $$/$$$$$
Taste - 5/10
Freshness - 5/10
Price - $$/$$$$$