Rita & Joe’s is a restaurant people may drive by every once in a while and wonder what it’s like inside. Well let us tell you, it’s not what you would expect from such a small fancy place.

It’s not a restaurant you should be so excited about, either.

Glancing over the menu, we predicted that Rita & Joe’s was more of a fancy mature restaurant by the variety of dishes they had available. The menu consisted of things like pasta, salads, hot and cold appetizers, and its own special page for coffee.

Through eye contact we signaled an anonymous waiter over to take our orders. We ordered baked ziti, a 6” personal pizza and water for a beverage. 

Seconds later we received the water followed with bread, olive oil, vinegar, and butter as well as Parmesan cheese. We didn’t ask for it, so we assumed that it was free.

Waiting for our food, we looked around and realized how deserted the place was. All we saw were nicely decorated tables and dimmed lights that brought character to the room, but hardly any people. After fifteen minutes past and our food came out looking cheesy and delicious; however, looks can be deceiving.

After taking a bite of our food, the word delicious was not what came to mind. The baked ziti was hard and had no flavor. The cheese on the pizza wasn’t melted enough. Because our food was so bad, we didn’t finish it and waited until the bill arrived.

A different waiter came over, saw that we were done and asked if we wanted to wrap the food up. We refused and asked for the check. The bill came to $17.00. The baked ziti was $8.95 while the pizza was $6.95. The cost was very decent for a party of two, but that was the only thing that was.

We suggest that Rita & Joes’s, located on Broadway Ave, is an environment for a more mature crowd. Many teenagers wouldn’t find this small, peaceful restaurant too exciting.

The setting of the restaurant was beautiful but that didn’t match the service or the food served to us. If you were planning to visit Rita & Joe’s, don’t waste your time. It is a restaurant that will leave you disappointed, just like it left us.