The bubbling sauce simmering for hours, the warm and friendly service and the generous portions make it feel as though you’ve entered the Angotti family’s home. Located a little more than a mile from campus, and just past Erie Boulevard, Angotti’s Family Restaurant serves up substantial Italian classics.

Every home is different. Some have been renovated and feature new equipment and furniture. Others appear aged and could use a facelift.

Unfortunately, Angotti’s falls into the latter. The scenery is sparse, with only a few worn buildings and a highway to look at. A weathered brown brick exterior had the name of the restaurant slapped across the front. The parking lot was a mess of pavement, puddles and grass.

Inside, the decor was abundant, though eccentric. Newspaper clippings and articles were sporadically hanging next to old Syracuse sports schedules. Large murals of famous Italian monuments were painted across every wall in the dining room. Even the chairs and table felt out of place, like they belonged in a hotel conference room rather than a restaurant.

But these quirks give Angotti’s its charm and character. What really makes the restaurant memorable is the food. The menu itself has Italian classics such as lasagna, fresh pizza, eggplant parmigiana and specialty pastas, such as gnocchi. They also have a varied selection of calzones and hot or cold sandwiches. The prices make anything ordered a good deal, with most entrees under $10. Hungry and ambitious, I ordered a variety of appetizers and entrees.

I started out with a few slices of garlic bread, a handful of mozzarella sticks and an antipasto salad.

The garlic bread was warm and buttery, with a good amount of garlic on each slice. It was also fresh, presumably because the garlic tasted like real garlic, and not as if garlic powder had been rubbed overpoweringly on it. The bread also wasn’t soggy, which would have been a disgrace to such a simple dish.

The mozzarella sticks were also delicious and crispy. The breading on the outside remained warm and crunchy, protecting the melting cheese buried inside. Homemade marinara sauce couldn’t have been a better compliment to the sticks.

However, the antipasto salad fell a little flat. In my mind, I was hoping for cured meats, olives, fresh olive oil and maybe some acidity from red wine vinegar. But the salad was nothing more than bland romaine leaves mixed with a boiled egg, some olives and ham scattered around. The dressing fell to the bottom of the bowl, so some leaves still weren’t covered after mixing. The ham and olives were lackluster but didn’t add much to the dish except for some saltiness.

For the main course, I decided on the veal parmigiana and the baked ziti with meat and mozzarella.

The ziti was covered with a mound of cheese, layered half an inch thick, served steaming and bubbly. The pasta, which I eventually found underneath, was cooked perfectly with the housemade marinara sauce. The sauce wasn’t overly acidic, but had a touch of sweetness to it. Crumbled sausage added a nice spice and saltiness to the dish. It was delicious overall, as each bite had a little bit of everything in it.

The veal was equally as tasty, and was also smothered underneath a mound of cheese. The two cutlets were piping hot, and had a crunchy breading that kept all the moisture in the meat. Each bite was seasoned well and was tender and juicy. The veal was served with a side of spaghetti, which was cooked well, but was unmemorable except for the homemade sauce it was served with. A take out box was certainly needed.

Angotti’s isn’t a fancy restaurant by any means. It’s hard to pinpoint what type of place Angotti’s is exactly. You come here for a friendly smile and a warm plate of food in a humbling atmosphere; you come here to be satisfied. You come here to feel at home.

Published on October 13, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Rohan: rythakor@syr.edu