Venice Pizza & Italian Cuisine, Orange Park, Florida

Venice Pizza & Italian Cuisine
Fleming Plaza
1605 County Road 220
Orange Park, FL 32003

904-269-7900

As I've mentioned before, I tend to stash restaurant coupons and bring them out when the family gets bored. Today was definitely another "please, not the same old hangout" day. So we drove out to Venice Pizza in Fleming Island, next to Player's Grille.

When I stepped through the door, I was struck by the mediocrity of the decor. I had expected to see either the candle lit, romantic decor of an Italian restaurant or a laid back, bright pizzeria. What I saw was darkly lit, with bland artwork that blended into the background and no music playing. That should've been a red flag to me.

Let me take your through our menu choices:

Soup of the day (limited quantities)

I understand that (1)We're in Florida and soup isn't in high demand and (2)sometimes items just run out. But it's not a good sign when "limited quantities" is on a menu. When I asked what soups were available, the waitress replied "we don't have any soup."


Pizza by the slice (when available)
I know many restaurants only have pizza by the slice at certain times. That's fine. However, I would've preferred Venice Pizza put on the menu "available after 5 PM" or "Monday through Thursday only." Our waitress just said "we don't have it right now." I still don't know what day(s) or times their slices are available.

Veggie Pizza: Onions, Mushrooms, Olive, Green Peppers, Spinach, Broccoli, Fresh Tomatoes, Extra Cheese
The toppings on this pizza were good. It was a little skimpy on the mushrooms, but otherwise fine. The tomato sauce was thin and unremarkable. The crust was unremarkable as well.


White Pizza: Our homemade white sauce, mozzarella cheese, spices, fresh tomatoes
The toppings on the white pizza were outstanding and had a nice garlic flavor.


Eggplant Parmesan sub

I had to choose between an eggplant sub and the eggplant dinner. The dinner would've included tossed salad, homemade garlic bread and a side of spaghetti. However, I think it was a good idea I didn't order the dinner. I say that because my dining companions received garlic bread with their dinners, consisting of buttered, toasted sub rolls mysteriously missing garlic. My sub came with the same bread. The slices of fried eggplant inside were crispy but void of flavor. The bread and sauce had nothing interesting for the palate.

Lasagna: A tasty homemade combination of beef, ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese

The lasagna set before us was a burrito of sorts. It was a big noodle wrapped around beef and covered with tomato sauce. There was a bit of cheese sprinkled on top, but mostly covered by sauce. I don't know about the ricotta being in the lasagna. After leaving the restaurant, I said to everyone "Did that lasagna have ricotta or cottage cheese or anything like that ? I didn't see any." Not one of us remembered tasting or seeing ricotta. And that was before I whipped out the take-away menu to double check. All of us found the lasagna semi-soggy, under spiced and terribly disappointing. I've had better lasagna in school cafeterias : P

Tiramisu

The tiramisu was rich, creamy and delicious. It was a bright spot in an otherwise half-hearted presentation.

Would I return to Venice Pizza ? Probably not. This restaurant lacked the personality, warmth and charm that make for an outstanding dining experience.

Turkish Ramadan Pide / Ramazan Pidesi

Yesterday, someone on a website I frequent mentioned Ramadan bread. That got me interested, so I set off in search of a recipe. I came across Binnur's recipe for Ramadan Pide at Turkish Cookbook. What a delicious bread it made ! My family loved it.

Clink on the link in the title to check out her yummy recipes. I can't wait to try more of them.

Source: "Turkish Ramadan Pide (Ramazan Pidesi)", Binnur's Turkish Cookbook blog, September 19, 2006

Quaker True Delights: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond

Previously I reviewed the banana & macadamia version of Quaker Delights. This week I tasted the dark chocolate, raspberry & almond variety.

The box of raspberry bars promises "whole,sweet, Heritage raspberries...crunchy toasted almonds and chunks of 45% cacao premium dark chocolate." The bars indeed had lots of delicious chocolate pieces. The raspberry flavor of the granola was natural tasting and subtle. However, the actual raspberries were minuscule. Most of the bars had just one or two almonds, or none at all.

I am on the fence whether I'd buy this product again.

Quaker Taste Test

Thank you to Peter and his family for being my taste testers recently:

Quaker Granola Bites: Chocolate Flavor

the granola bites had a crunchy bite,the taste of it was just ok

Quaker Mini Delights: Chocolatey Mint, 90 Calorie Packs

the Quaker chocolate mint cookies had a horrible taste

Quaker Cinnamon Life

the life cinnamon cereal we all liked even my aunt tried them she loved them lol

Quaker Simple Harvest: Honey Roasted Nut Bars
Quaker Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars

the granola bars i don't like peanut butter or any type of nuts in it,but my dad liked them very much

Kristin's On The River, Jacksonville, Florida

Kristin's On The River
2511 Blanding Blvd [Blanding and Lake Shore Blvd]
Jacksonville, Florida
(904)425-6003

Open Tuesday through Sunday

I first heard about Kristin's in a local coupon magazine a few months ago. I clipped out the ad and left it in my purse. I forgot about it until last weekend, when the AMW family became bored with the usual restaurant choices. So off to Kristin's we went.

The first thing we noticed was a sort of hole at the front entrance. There was a big chunk of rock missing in that area. We each sidestepped that to get inside.

Upon entering, we were greeted by a friendly hostess. She seated us indoors, which proved problematic due to the thick smell of plastic and fresh paint. Also, the interior boasted garishly bright colors. Both proved too much for the three of us and we moved to the outdoor seating. The outdoor tables were much better, with cooling fans, high tables and a good view of Cedar River. But then we noticed the windows behind our table us had big cracks, which seemed unsafe.

One of us ordered the 2 Jamaican Jerk pork chops from the Hearty Portions selections. Two of us ordered the 2 crab cakes from the Light Portions side. Each entree came with a salad, vegetable of the day and mashed potatoes or rice pilaf.

One person found the pork chops to be thick, juicy and delicious. The other two thought they were too tough and that the seasoning was too sausagey. Also, the chops lacked any spicy heat.

The crab cakes got a thumbs up from all three. Two for each person was more than enough, even for hearty eaters. The crab cakes were neatly cut in high, thick circles and lightly breaded.

One person had the vegetable of the day, which was steamed broccoli. The other two asked the waitress if anything else was available. She offered fried eggplant and we took that option. The thing about eggplant is that most people make it mushy, thick and unpalatable. What was brought to our table was pure heaven, though. Each plate received three large disks, lightly breaded, thinly sliced and golden brown. So good ! The person who ordered broccoli was made fun of ; )

One person had rice pilaf. The other two had the mashed potatoes. Those were really good mashed potatoes, in fact. There were thick and creamy. Yum !

As for dessert ? Well, Kristin's dessert menu was not that large. It listed cheesecake, carrot cake, something with chocolate mousse and maybe 2 other items. When asked about dessert, our waitress replied "We're out of everything today, except butter pecan cheesecake. And brownies. Maybe brownies. I'd have to check and see if we have any left." We respectfully suggest Kristin's amp up their dessert menu. Those really good entrees were just begging to be paired up with super yummy desserts.


Hopefully Kristin's will fix their walkway, windows and dessert menu soon. We would definitely like to eat at this restaurant again.