“Auntie Pasto’s”; Auntie Past…No!!!!! (Restaurant Review)

Post by The Grumpy One

Auntie Pasto's Restaurant

1099 S. Beretania St.

Honolulu, HI 96814

So “The Tattooed One” invited me and “The Pretty One” to join him for lunch again. He didn’t really invite us as much as we decided to go to our favorite Mexican place for lunch (I will review it next time we go there,) and he decided that instead we should go somewhere else. Once again, he told us he knows of a good “hole in the wall” place that serves Italian food. I figured since I lost so much weight at the last place he recommended (from the multiple bathroom trips afterwards) that either he would redeem himself, or I would continue my weight loss journey.

When we walked up I was a little optimistic.

It looked O.K. on the outside, and the inside also looked clean and quaint.



But it was all downhill from there.

First off the restaurant was fighting a hard battle since “tattoo” sold me on going there when I asked “how is the lasagna?” and he said “good.” (I don’t know if that is the exact conversation, but in my head that is spot on, so I will continue.)…. HOW CAN IT BE “GOOD” WHEN THEY DON’T SERVE LASAGNA??? Which is then my second question, how can you be an Italian place that makes some of their own noodles, and they don’t serve lasagna?

Now is the point when the “Pretty One” will probably step in and say, yeah but they do serve “Lasagna Rolls.” To which I respond with, “Next time you go to a pizza place and want pizza, it will be ok for me to instead walk over to the gas station, get a box of pizza rolls from the frozen section, throw them in the microwave, and Viola, SAME THING, NOW PAY ME 25 DOLLARS AND TIP THE WAITRESS!!!!!” (Sorry for the rant, I take my food seriously, and when the tummy wants Lasagna, and gets told it is going to get Lasagna, it gets very angry when he doesn’t get it.)

So with the big disappointment, I decided on the Chicken Parmesan Panini. I am one that believes that if you want to be known for your pasta (a form of the word pasta is even in the name of the restaurant) and you offer something other than pasta on the menu, it better be good, or else why would you offer it?

So the food came…

Nope, flavorless, soggy lettuce, (which why was there lettuce in it anyway?) and even the marinara dipping sauce had very little flavor.

The only good thing about the place was the waitress (the receipt says her name is Sarah) was the kind of waitress I like. She was not pushy; she gave you your space to talk to each other as a group without interrupting, yet was watching the table close enough to bring drink refills before we even noticed we needed one.

So final verdict… If you are not looking for Lasagna, and don't order the Panini, (the salad and house dressing was good) then it would probably be a good place, but for today...Nope, oh, and  “Tatoo” is banned from picking the restaurant for a while.