Great Italian food in Framingham, MA - La Cantina Italiana Ristorante
Written: Nov 11 '09
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Pros: Good food, Good service, Large portions
Cons: Can get very crowded, Long waits for table, Loud dining room
The Bottom Line: When we're looking for an Italian meal with friends in the Framingham area, we almost always consider La Cantina.
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| jps246's Full Review: La Cantina Italiana Ristortante |
Located along Route 135 in Framingham, Massachusetts, La Cantina Italiana Ristortante is a nice place to have a good Italian meal. The menu is quite large and contains all the typical Italian-American favorites so just about anyone can find something. In addition, the salads are all served with Fanny's salad dressing, which is one of the best Italian style dressings I've had.
I wouldn't say La Cantina is fine dining, but it is consistently good, priced well and a great place to go with friends and family. Not only that, but it's almost always crowded, which speaks to how much people enjoy it.
Getting There
Located on Waverly Street (Route 135) in Framingham, there's parking available both adjacent to the restaurant and across the street from La Cantina. On some nights valet parking is available. It does tend to get crowded, so somethings it may be hard to find a parking spot.
Restaurant Basics
La Cantina is a pretty simple restaurant. Once you come in there's an open waiting area that's adjacent to the bar that's located in the front of the restaurant. In back of the bar area is the dining room, which is a single, wide open room where the tables are. The tables are kind of close together so you won't exactly have a private table since you'll have neighbors most likely an arm's reach away. It also can get kind of noisy when the restaurant is packed since it is one big room. We generally go with a larger group so we get seated at the booth seats that allow up to 6 people at a table. They can accommodate larger groups, but it might take a while.
Menu Basics
There's something for everyone on this Italian-American style menu. All the traditional favorites like chicken parm, penne with broccoli and chicken, and veal marsala to name just a few. The menu tends to skew towards what I'd consider Italian inspired meals. There's plenty of seafood, chicken and beef (veal and steak) dishes that you'd never find in a true Italian restaurant, but that are still quite good and are made with something of an Italian flourish.
The entrees, whether they be the fish, steak, chicken or pasta, all come with a garden salad that generally comes with Fanny's dressing unless you ask for something else. I wouldn't ask for something else if you like Italian dressing at all though, since this is really good dressing.
There are quite a number of different appetizers available including standbys like buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders. There are also a number of seafood appetizers (not really my thing) and some Italian style appetizers like bruschetta. Soups and salads are also available.
There's a full-service bar available and I've never heard any complaints from my husband or anyone else about the drinks that they serve.
Prices on the appetizers range from about $4 to $10, while entrees range from $10 to $20 with pasta dishes being the cheapest and steaks being the most expensive. We generally end up spending about $20 to $25 a person on a meal depending on how many alcoholic drinks there are.
Dining Experiences
I generally get the penne with broccoli and chicken when I'm at La Cantina. I like the way that they keep it simple with a garlic olive oil sauce and you get a whole lot of food for what you pay. I almost always end up bringing enough home for another meal the next day. I've also enjoyed the chicken parm and my friend likes the shrimp scampi that they have.
My favorite part of the meal is at the end when they bring out the dessert tray and I can wonder which one I want. They almost always have a cheesecake and tiramasu along with several other desserts that seem to cycle around. I always go for whatever has the most chocolate along with a cup of hot coffee.
Sometimes we do have to wait quite a while to get a table, especially on a Friday or Saturday night. I think the longest we've waited is about 45 minutes.
I'm not a huge fan of the close seating either, if only because it gets so noisy that it's sometimes hard for me to hear the conversation at our table.
I've never had bad service at La Cantina. The waiters and waitresses have always been helpful and nice and the flow of the meal has always been good with appetizers and salads coming out and meals following shortly afterwards.
Final Thoughts
When we're looking for an Italian meal with friends in the Framingham area, we almost always consider La Cantina. It's decently priced, has good food and good service. The only real downside is how crowded the place sometimes gets and how long you have to wait for a table.
Nitty Gritty...
La Cantina Italiana Ristortante
911 Waverly Street, Route 135
Framingham, MA 01702
(508) 879-7874
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Try to go on a quieter evening so there isn''t such a long wait for a table
Best Suited For: Friends
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