Molly Jean's Cuisine: The Il' Litini Experience

Saturday May 21, 2011

Tonight Erica, Becca, Liz, and I decided to try Il Litini, which was recommended by Liz’s Aunt. When we arrived we noticed a crowd waiting outside for tables. We went in to see how long the wait is and to put our name on the list, or so we thought that was what you are supposed to do. They told to wait outside and they would remember us. This is something that American’s are not used to. We always put our name in and our given a buzzer or pager to let us know what your table is ready. While here in Italy, I have truly appreciated the remarkable memory of the Italians.

During our wait a hostess served us the house white wine and parmesan cheese on the house. The hostess eventually sat us are our table where the four of us became even more confused and disoriented. We were used to the other Italian restaurants having menus in English, as well as Italian. We were also used to the waiters knowing how to speak English, somewhat.

The waiter came over to ask if we liked wine and which color. We said we wanted white. He left without questioning what kind and brought us a bottle of the house wine. Looking around at other tables, we saw huge bottles of wine. We were fearful in that we were getting the same bottle and did not want to pay or drink that much amount of wine.

After he served us our wine he listed off appetizers to bring to us, without handing us the menu. We were confused if we were supposed to order a full course dinner or not. I kindly asked for a menu. Once the menu arrived we did not understand what the words meant. We asked our waiter, who was extremely busy. We also asked the Australians sitting next to us. They were very helpful in explaining the menu to us!

Finally we decided on Farro Soup and the pasta sampler, which came with a pasta verdue (vegetable pasta), Ravioli filled with spinach and ricotta, and penne with meat sauce. We topped our farro soup with olive oil and parmesan cheese (just like we learned in class!) and shared the pastas. All were well worth the confusion!!

At the end the waiter brought us complimentary glasses of Muscato. We figured he either liked us, or just felt bad for us! Either way the service and food was fantastic, once we figured everything out!

Then came the bill. Our waiter walked over with a man with a pad of paper, mumbled something in Italian and placed the bill on our table. There were two scribbles on the bill- one at the top and one at the bottom. We weren’t sure if the total said 40 euro or 90 euro. We ended up asking another waiter that worked there and he said “It’s 40! Good price, huh?” We were shocked and confused as to how small the bill was.