The Grub Spouse and I had passed Lenoir City some times in the current months and saved noticing Joe’s Italian Cuisine on U.S. 321 (aka the principal drag). After seeing some decent purchaser evaluations, we idea we’d branch out geographically a little bit, so we headed to the restaurant on cause closing week. It became a nice early night when we arrived. We should have seated ourselves in one of the cubicles on the front sidewalk, one of the tables in the aspect patio vicinity, or within the important dining room. We went with the last choice, choosing a comfy two-top near the bar (even though we didn’t order alcoholic beverages that night).
Our server gave us a while with the menu, which covers many Italian-cuisine bases without presenting an amazing range of alternatives. The bulk of the fare may be found in the Joe’s Famous Pasta category, whilst steak and seafood, stone-fired pizzas and calzones, wraps, burgers, and sandwiches round out the selection. I categorically dominated the steak, seafood, burger, and sandwich options out of the gate; however, for the record, objects in that realm consist of a ten-ounce rib-eye, crab desserts, a couple of subtypes, a trio of burgers, and a lamb gyro.
The Spouse waded through almost 20 pasta picks, including Pasta Milano, Penne Rustica, spinach ravioli, Chicken Pomodoro, lasagna, and Chicken Parmesan. Finally, the Spouse settled on the first listing within the category, Pasta Joe ($13.99) – grilled bird, shrimp, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and bow tie pasta tossed in a tomato-cream sauce.
I became initially inclined to strive considered one of their nine pizza recipes — Napoli, veggie, barbecue chicken, margarita, and pesto chicken are a number of the picks — but I wound up ordering a calzone to change up my recurring order. In this case, I ordered Joe’s Rustica calzone ($8.99), filled with sausage, chicken, onions, sauce, and (presumably) mozzarella and ricotta cheeses.
Early on, I noticed some provider weirdness from the young woman looking after our desk. The first incident occurred while she requested if I needed water fill up. I said, “No, thank you. I’m excellent.” However, she got here at once, returned with a tumbler, and crowned my glass off. Of course, I might in no way whinge approximately getting too many water refills. However, it becomes a tip-off that perhaps her awareness wasn’t completely engaged.
No proceedings about the food, however. The Joe’s Pasta dish turned out incredible, taking advantage of beneficiant allotments of chicken and shrimp and a deliciously tangy cream sauce. The accompanying facet of garlic toast turned into an exquisite buttery, and the pasta portion itself necessitated a to-go field for The Spouse. I additionally have kudos for the huge calzone that was set in front of me on a wooden pizza board.
It changed into cooked to just the proper level, shy of being scorched using the oven. Inside, the mixture of elements became effervescent hot, growing a delectable cocooned combination of textures and flavors. Of course, the most effective factor I don’t care for with any calzone is that lifeless chunk of dough on every cease with hardly any substances. But that’s just the character of the beast.
We asked for 2 to-go bins, but our server kept forgetting them and neglecting to clear our plates. Even after we ordered dessert, the situation remained equal — slices of self-made tiramisu ($5.99) and coconut cake ($4.99). (Also, the server advised us none of the desserts had been self-made; however, once we endorsed her to verify this, it became our understanding that everyone, however two of them, had been made on site.) When our cakes had been served, we were eventually given the to-go bins. However, we still had to manipulate a juggling act on our small table as we tried to transfer leftovers to the bins, stack up our grimy dishes, and locate room for the tiramisu and coconut cake plates.
At least the desserts have been pretty properly. I liked the tiramisu better. However, I normally set the bar pretty high for any restaurant’s coconut cake. My slice was average to decent, but the sudden scoop of ice cream surely didn’t hurt anything. I’m no longer certain absolutely everyone east of Farragut could justify the power to Joe’s, but diners dwelling within a few miles’ radius of this Italian eatery might probably discover the food, the service, and the pricing to be worth the ride. And here’s hoping the provider enjoys one that could receive could be more regular than ours turned out to be.
