Serafina

Serafina
Forks: 5
Price: $$

130 S. 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA

Tonight was a night of CELEBRATION. Recently I've been living on the down low, in my own little world if you will, and tonight it was time to celebrate my newfound freedom. Ali, who has been living like this with me, wanted to go to her favorite place on earth, Serafina. Honestly, I was skeptical.  I had been before and I wasn't in love, but to appease her begging and pleading I gave in. About 11 of us headed over to a nicely set up round table and within the first 5 minutes, I wanted to hug the staff. Why? Well, here at JewPenn most of us are celebrating Passover, and to accommodate us the wait staff brought us matzah along with the bread. I mean seriously, can you be more thoughtful?!? Major points for being considerate, #serafinalovesjews.

Eating at an Italian restaurant on Passover is really tough because pizza, pasta, and anything breaded must be avoided which is REALLY hard especially when chicken parm is on the menu. To start I had the minestrone soup. It was hearty, and had a great broth-vegetable ratio, but was a little salty and over seasoned.

 For my entrée I had the Vegetarian Plate: spaghetti squash with grilled vegetables with a house made tomato sauce. The sauce was smooth in texture and tasted delicious but was a little cold. The spaghetti squash was a little undercooked but the vegetables were grilled perfectly and held their own on the plate.

 Half the table went with the Chicken Paillard, a thinly pounded piece of grilled chicken topped with a salad. It was simple and tasty, with a lemony bite that was welcomed and fresh.

Nix got the Chicken Parmesan and it was so hard for me to resist reaching across the table and breaking Passover because it looked soooo good. It was thinly pounded and lightly breaded, covered in a chunky tomato sauce and topped with oozing melted cheese. I might have to come back and taste test when my religion permits...

 Ripka went with the Chicken Salad, *salad 4 ripka, TOOO classic*. The Chicken Salad featured grilled chicken breast, romaine & mesclun, sun dried tomatoes, raisins, pine nuts, and pesto dressing. It was a good salad because every single bite was full of a million things, but it wasn't anything special. Ali's Penne Vodka was calling my name, it looked creamy and warm and saucy and yummy and was beyond tantalizing. Janie went with the Rigatoni Bolognese and while I couldn't try the pasta, I did try the sauce and it was pretty good. It had a strong flavor and it tasted homey and comforting.

Overall, it was eh. I'll come back when forced by Ali but by no means will it be a suggestion by me. LOVE the friendly matzah though, that really won me over. 

hungree 4 passovers end

xoxo

hungreegirl.