Riccardi's Italian Restaurant - New Bedford, MA

It was a cold and rainy evening and I really wanted some warm comfort food to get the chill out of my body.  We don’t often go out for Italian but I thought that some pasta would do the trick.  The closest Italian restaurant was Riccardi’s in New Bedford.  I haven’t been to Riccardi’s in several years so we thought we would give it a try. 

Pizza Pager

We arrived at 6:25 p.m. and were told that there was a 20-25 minute wait.  Since we decided we would wait, we were given a “slice of pizza” pager and exited the main dining room to go to the take out/café area to wait.  The take out area had two booths, two small tables and counter seating for four.  This area seemed to be a good place for casual dining or for having a quick lunch.  The décor was designed to mimic an Italian café with tile floors and yellow walls that were painted to look like stucco with areas of exposed brick.  While we were waiting, lots of people came in and out picking up their take-out orders.  The distinct smell of pizza coming from the kitchen was making me very hungry and I couldn’t wait for our “pizza” to start buzzing so we could be seating in the dining room.

Our “pizza” went off at 6:45 p.m. and we were brought to our table in the main dining room. It was much warmer in this area of the restaurant, mainly due to the fireplace that was in the center.  The dining room at Riccardi’s was relatively small with only about 12 booths and six tables available for seating.  The décor was a bit outdated with several artificial hanging plants hanging from the ceiling and a carpet that was a bit dirty and dingy.  The overall atmosphere was very rustic with knotty pine cathedral ceilings and exposed wooden beams. Regardless, the restaurant was crowded so I was expecting the food to be good.

I was a bit disappointed that they don’t have a full bar and only offer beer and wine for alcoholic beverage selections.  Since I don’t drink beer or wine, I ordered a glass of iced water. My husband ordered a Sam’s Seasonal Summer Ale ($2.95).


The menu was filled with traditional Italian dinners, pizzas and sandwiches.  Since I was having difficulty deciding what to order, I decided to choose one of the “Italian Feasts”.  The Naples Feast included lasagna with linguini pesto, a homemade meatball and a dinner salad for only $9.95.  This seemed like a great value and would allow me to try a variety of different items. 

My husband chose the Chicken Parmigiana ($11.95), which was baked with two cheeses and tomato sauce. His meal was served with soup (minestrone was the only choice) or salad and choice of pasta.  He chose the salad and spaghetti for his pasta.  For the salad, the only dressing choice given was Italian but they did bring some extra oil and vinegar on the side.



Dinner Salad

When our salads arrived, the waitress also brought a basket of warm wheat bread with butter.  Before we even finished our salads, our meals arrived.



Naples Feast
 

While I had three different items in my “feast”, the serving sizes were small enough, making it just the right size for a meal.  The linguine pesto was smothered in olives, mushrooms and roasted red peppers.  Luckily this was served in its own dish because there was lots of olive oil that seeped to the bottom of the dish.  The lasagna was tasty, but there wasn’t anything “special” about it.  The red sauce was the same sauce that was on my meatball and the same sauce that was on both of my husband’s plates. 

Chicken Parmigiana

The Chicken Parmigiana that my husband ordered was covered with cheese and baked in that same tomato sauce.  A spoonful of the sauce and a few sprigs of parsley garnished the dish.  His spaghetti was served in a separate dish on the side.  The portion size was just enough and my husband finished his entire meal.

Overall, I would say that our meal at Riccardi’s was reasonably good and reasonably priced.  There was a large selection of basic Italian dishes to choose from and the dishes that I was able to try in my “feast” provided me with the Italian comfort food experience that I was looking for.  Since I didn’t have an alcoholic beverage, our total bill was relatively low at $26.56 including tax.  Riccardi’s gave us a decent meal for a decent price.