CHEAP EATS: Pasta Patch staff friendly, but sauce a bit skimpy

By Eric E. Harrison (Contact)

LITTLE ROCK — You may be forgiven if at first glance you don’t notice much difference between Pasta Patch Italian Cafe and its predecessor, Fazoli’s, in the free-standing restaurant where Chenal Parkway meets West Markham Street.

Oval logo? Check. Red and green exterior? Check. Fastcasual Italian menu posted behind the counter? Check.

Drive-through window? Check.

Garlic-butter bread sticks with every pasta plate? Check.

But there are a few differences. Pasta Patch’s family owner-operators (Fazoli’s is a chain), who also have an outlet in Jonesboro, have opened up the decor slightly, added a little bit of bar seating around the central pillar. They have gone a little browner with the interior colors (accented with brightly colored paintings by artist Matt C. Miller, many with Italian themes) and are using real plates and silverware if you’re dining in.

And unlike Fazoli’s, you don’t get free refills on the bread sticks. They’re 50 cents apiecea la carte, $4.99 a dozen.

Those bread sticks are a larger part of Pasta Patch’s menu than would appear at first glance. They’re the basis for the cheese bread appetizer ($1.99), a couple split open with a somewhat miserly amount of mozzarella melted in the gap, served with a side of fairly rich marinara for dipping. They’re also the basis for the “Skinnies,” small-scale sandwiches.

There wasn’t a printed menu as of our most recent visit early this week (although management has been promising them “any day now” since the place opened just over a month ago).

So customers have to puzzle out the bifurcated posted menu (appetizers, sandwiches, salads and soups on the left side, pasta and pizza items on the right), which can hold up the order process.

We can recommend Pasta Patch’s Meat Balls With Marinara appetizer ($1.99), a halfdozen small, firm and tasty meatballs slathered in the same rich marinara sauce, and the Toasted Cheese Ravioli ($3.99), deep-fried actually, a half-dozen pasta pockets with a pleasant, tangy cheese filling with more marinara for dipping.

Atop the pasta choices are pick-your-own pasta plates, which give you a choice of spaghetti, bow tie, penne or fettuccine with choice of sauce (meat, marinara, garlic butter and Alfredo) and choice of toppings (grilled chicken, meatballs, Italian sausage, shrimp, vegetable medley).

Be a little careful ordering because the cost escalates depending on what you choose. It’s a basic $1.99 for undressed pasta;

sauces are an additional $2.29 to $2.49; toppings range from $1.99 for the sausage to $2.59 for shrimp, chicken or meatballs.

So taken all in all, our Spaghetti, Meat Sauce and Italian Sausage plate came to $6.47.

That’s not bad, about half of what it would cost at one of the fuller-service Italian restaurants in west Little Rock, and it was plentiful and delicious. The spaghetti - big, thick, ropy noodles, no chance of mistaking it for vermicelli or angel hair - was firm, surprisingly close to al dente. We didn’t get much of the meat sauce, but there was enough to coat, and we got plenty of sweet-and-sage-y sausage nuggets, the same stuff they put on their sausage pizzas.

Shortage of sauce was the main drawback to the Lasagna ($5.99), layers of firm pasta, plenty of cheese (mozzarella and ricotta), ground beef and, a bit of a surprise, more sausage nuggets. Aside from the sausage, there just wasn’t enough flavor;

adding the leftover marinara from our meatball appetizerhelped a lot.

The kitchen also skimped a little bit on the sauce atop the Ricotta-Herb Stuffed Shells ($5.99). And we would have liked just a smidge more sauce on our fair-to-middling 10-inch cheese pizza ($8.99), plenty of cheese atop a very thin crust that was firm through the main body of the slice and crackercrisp at the wide edge.

The sound system plays plenty of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney and pop tunes, mostly from the ’50s, mixed with actual Italian songs.

Food comes out of the kitchen very quickly; if it’s something that has to go through the conveyor-belt oven, like lasagna or pizza, it might take as long as five minutes.

The folks at Pasta Patch are certainly friendly - they all shout “Hi, welcome to Pasta Patch” when you walk through the door. Somebody comes by the table from time to time to make sure things are OK and to refill soft drinks (serve yourself first from the central beverage/ silverware/condiment bar) as needed.

Pasta Patch Italian Cafe Address: 12318 Chenal Parkway, Little Rock Hours: 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. daily (takeout window stays open until 10) Cuisine: Fast-casual Italian Credit cards: V, MC, AE, D Alcoholic beverages: No Reservations: No Wheelchair accessible: Yes Carryout: Yes (501) 227-4920

Weekend, Pages 71 on 07/04/2008