I have been holding back on this review because I have needed time to think about my experience. Ryan and I enjoy eating out and trying new restaurants and one of the things we were most excited about was knowing we were going to be in an area where food options were greater.
I heard about Pronto from our neighbors several months ago when we first moved so I checked out their website. The only GOOD Italian restaurant we had in Michigan was Olive Garden just because we lived in a college town so finding a good Italian place seemed important.
I ended up finding out that Pronto was asking their customers to vote for them to be listed in Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Wow, I then thought this place must be excellent especially for a gourmet Italian drive-thru.
I contacted the owners and set up a time to meet in order to find out more about their company. They agreed to let me review some of their popular dishes. Let me tell you something funny though, the night before I was going to pick up our meals from them our neighbors had us over and they served us food from Pronto. Whoa! Who knew!
They ordered the Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti marinara, a vegetarian penne pasta, and two different kinds of salads; their chopped classico salad and their caprese salad. While the company was nice the meal left us hanging a bit. While the salads were fresh they hardly had enough toppings for the price. The Caprese salad had greens and tomatoes and four TINY THIN slices of mozzarella. The salad was 9 bucks which I could make at home for 2 bucks. Atrocious.
Anyway, Ryan and I were not impressed with their pastas either but we thought we would give them a second chance seeing we were going to be tasting some other items the following evening,
Pronto has an option where you choose your pasta, (they offer a gluten-free pasta and a whole wheat pasta too), then you choose your topping, like meatballs, sausage, chicken, shrimp, wild mushroom blend and broccoli and then you choose your sauce, like tomato, marinara, alfredo, arrabbiata, blush, or garlic and oil.
I chose to go with their most popular spaghetti and meatballs with their marinara. I was planning on splitting the pasta with Ryan so I was shocked that I only got two meatballs and a ton of pasta. I did not ask but additional meatballs cost 0.75 each.
The other dish we got was the Pronto favorite called the Porchetta, which is a slow-roasted pork topped with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone. I ordered this more for Ryan since he likes pork. I, on the other hand do not. I took one bite just to be able to review and the broccoli rabe was VERY bitter. I waited for Ryan to take a bite. He thought it was gross and therefore removed the broccoli from the sub. The sandwich itself was priced at 7.99 and was huge. It was priced well.
The spaghetti and meatballs was tasty only because the marinara was good but the meatballs were nothing to rave about. The salads that came with our meal were VERY fresh and I have to say that these were our favorite. The balsamic vinaigrette and their house Italian are all homemade and were very tasty.
I had not planned on getting dessert but since the meals were on the house I decided to buy some desserts to complete my review. I ordered their tiramisu and cannoli, which does not happen to be on their paper menu. Both desserts were 3.99 each and again, they were really nothing to rave about. I liked the cannoli shell but the filling was just creamy and gross. The tiramisu lacked flavor and required more coffee and liquor in my opinion.
I have to say for QUICK gourmet food it is decent for a night of the week with no dinner plans but I have to say anyone can through some pasta and sauce together and it taste better. It was a little on the pricey especially for the portions.
I know Pronto just opened their second location in Thorndale so they seem to be popular. They also do a lot of catering as well. When it comes to busy professionals, this seems to be the place to go but for me, they are definitely not Guy Fieri-worthy. While this restaurant is run by 2 brothers, their parents own restaurants in Thorndale called Ruffini’s restaurant, Cafe’ Gap and piazza Deli. Maybe I will try one one those places but in the meantime, I will still search for a great Italian restaurant in our area.
