Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008
Scatori's serves tasty food with friendly service
Scatori's pizzaria & italian restaurant
By Ashley Morris
For Weekly Surge
setting the table
Pie places are a slice a dozen at the beach. But we eat them up, despite their tiny dining rooms decked out in the Italian flag color trio and those standard red plastic booths. We’re usually just stopping in to order takeout or calling in for delivery, after all.
But Scatori’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant isn’t your cookie-cutter pie place. It’s a pizza restaurant with style that makes you want to stay a while. Its kicks are in the fairly new Shoppes at South Strand Commons (next to Lowes Foods and behind Ruby Tuesday on S.C. 544). Enter through Scatori’s front glass doors and turn left for more of the pizza shop atmosphere; turn right for the restaurant ambiance complete with gold sheer window drapes, ceramic tiled floor, black leather-backed booths and tables, and a full bar with terracotta-tinged ceiling lamps.
On our visit, the weather outside was frightful-cold and the thermostat inside seemed to be set for Jack Frost, too. But, luckily, our friendly server bumped up the heat and we could soon take off our jackets.
down the hatch
Mom, my toddler and I were seated at a long booth near the front window for lunch. A friendly server took our drink order of Diet Pepsi and sweet tea for me while we flipped through the pages of menu options. We were later shown an additional, less-formal menu from Scatori’s pizzeria side (more subs and appetizers) to really confirm our indecisiveness. Drink straws, by the way (little extras make big impressions on me week after week), were capped with the straw paper, then rolled in a thin ribbon and creatively curled around the top a la origami.
We both decided on a cup of the soup du jour ($3.99), which today was a tomato-based vegetable soup. This was one of the best, fresh, homemade soups I’ve slurped in a long time. The slightly spiced tomato base nicely embraced the chunks of vegetables – not your usual celery chunks, but broccoli tips and Roma tomatoes. It was such a well-balanced broth compilation and a confident preview of the culinary quality to be presented in our main course.
I finally settled on the Caprese Panini ($8.99), a veggie version layered with fresh Roma tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil, baby field greens and balsamic aioli between Italian flat bread. I was so impressed by the pressed package, but after the soup could only manage to finish half of the sandwich. The side helping of homemade garlic Parmesan potato chips was a nice touch, too.
Mom loves her antipasto, so she tried a half-portion of Scatori’s Antipasto Salad ($6.99). The square plate was artistically divided into quadrants of Genoa salami, imported Italian pepperoni, buffalo mozzarella and provolone cheese cubes, bells of peppercini, marinated artichokes, kalamata olives, and shaved Parmesan. That, drizzled with the house vinaigrette, was more than just pretty; it was refreshing and delicious.
For my son, I ordered from the pizzeria menu chicken tenders with honey barbecue sauce ($6.99), expecting nothing out of the ordinary, to be honest. But the batter was so light and chicken so tender that I couldn’t help but to help myself to a couple bites. (I’m lucky I can still get away with stealing his food at his age.)
check, please
The only two missteps of our lunch I must mention was the slow arrival of our main course from the kitchen to the table. There were only two other small tables of patrons in the dining room that arrived after we ordered. Plus, we didn’t order intensely intricate entrees. But, on the other hand, I did truly appreciate the lovely flavors of our selections that were so carefully prepared. The other was from our server, who brought a cardboard container of French fries to the table, then tooketh them away, saying she mistakenly thought they were part of our order because the container sat beside our ready-to-be-served plates in the kitchen window. Weird. We had already munched on a couple of those fries, so what was she planning to do with that order? Maybe she was embarrassed by the faux pas cardboard container on the restaurant side of Scatori’s.
Regardless, my overall impression of Scatori’s was overwhelmingly favorable and we enjoyed our lunch visit on a cold winter’s day. I look forward, too, to using Scatori’s as a pizza delivery option after so many others have been so-so.
Scatori’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant is located at 1399 South Commons Drive (The Shoppes at South Strand Commons next to Lowes Foods), Myrtle Beach. Hours are 11 a.m.-until, daily. For delivery or takeout orders, call 843-650-3370.
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