Angelo's (Monona)

In a word: When in Monona, Angelo's is a good bet.

The specs: #0008
Address, hours & details via Isthmus; reviews at WiSJ, Madison Fish Fry, Wisconsin Fish Fry Reviews, Ruppert Food Blog,

Latest Angelo's news and reviews

JM ate the beef ravioli in marinara and a salad with a lemonade and worked the August 1981 Atlantic Monthly cryptic crossword.
Nichole ate the chicken caesar salad and a cup of chicken pot pie soup (when the menu turned out to be wrong about the split pea soup) with a Coke.
The bill was $25, or $12.50/person, plus tip.
JM gave Angelo's an A-; Nichole gave Angelo's an A (see our grading rubric).

The atmosphere is friendly and the Chianti bottles on the walls, decorated by diners, are cute. The women's room is the pinkest bathroom EVAR. Even smells pink.

The music could have come right off of JM's iPod. Close to three-fourths of the tunes were top tens from the 60s to the 80s. We overheard the waitress saying to the hostess, "This music is a bit much, isn't it? From jazz to rock..."

The waitress was really friendly, and it seemed like we were her first table of the evening after a day of "puttering in the garden," as she said. When the chicken Caesar came without the chicken, she came back around with a dish of slightly crispy chicken strips just moments later and said that she'd taken off before the chef could put them on the salad. The salad itself was a little soggy with too-tangy dressing and boring croutons. But the pizzas served on pedestals always add points, and the pasta's excellent.

Comments

[B^2]

H and I went to Angelo's on Monona today, your positive review being the deciding factor. I agree 100% with your rating -- it may not be fancy, but it's good, unpretentious Italian food, at very reasonable prices. We had the fried grouper sandwich and baked mostaccioli with the bread sampler (garlic bread, cheese bread, breadsticks). Everything was terrific, especially the tomato sauce. (The only off note was the blah tartar sauce that came with the sandwich.) Service was good, too. I especially appreciated that, when I ordered the sub (which comes with chips and a pickle) with a side order of fries, they automatically substituted the fries for the chips and took half off the price of the fries.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the more upscale Italian places like Biaggi's, too, but sometimes all you want is a really good plate of pasta without a lot of fanfare. I will definitely be going back to Angelo's soon.

[MTT]

My husband and I make special trips to go to Angelo's (we live near DT Madison). Never had a bad meal there. They have good portion sizes...we usually end up with more food than we can eat. Love their unpretentious, local-yokel atmosphere. Seems like a real "neighborhood" place.

Also, madisondiscounts.com usually has good gift certificate deals for Angelo's.