This bustling pizzeria and full service restaurant in Yardville delivers charming ambience and solidly good Italian-American food in super-sized portions.
By: Faith Bahadurian
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Villaggio Trattoria |
I enjoyed my first visit to Villggio Trattoria in Yard ville a few years ago so much that I was almost afraid to return, in case the magic was gone. But this bustling spot, with a pizzeria on one side and a full service restaurant on the other, still delivers charming ambience and solidly good Italian-American food.
The décor here still wins me over. Once inside, artistically crumbling brick walls, murals and wrought iron accents create the feeling of a seaside village in Sicily, the birthplace of owners Giovanni and Phyllis Balsamo, who create the restaurant’s popular dishes. Giovanni heads up the kitchen, with the front of the house capably overseen on my visits by daughter Christina, who also manages the family’s thriving off-premises catering business. With several sons also standing by, this should be an enduring family enterprise.
We were promptly seated when we arrived for our reservation, and our wine opened. The tables are nicely set, and cloth linens slightly offset a noise level that rises precipitously when the evening reaches full tilt.
A basket of good warm bread (more than one kind) with olive oil for dipping assuaged our hunger as we read the extensive menu. The menu is somewhat more upscale now, and although one can still easily dine at quite moderate even inexpensive prices, there are also top-
quality steaks available. There is a "create your own pasta" section on the menu, where for between $7.99 and $12.99, you may choose from several shapes of pasta (or cavatelli, tortellini or gnocchi), and several sauces, including white clam and mussels fradiavolo. This is a great feature for families with young children.
Although specials were recited without prices, they were in the moderate range. When I couldn’t remember the details moments after she finished, our capable server, Laurie, let me have her own printed slip with detailed descriptions and prices. Her service throughout dinner was exemplary.
We started with crab cakes ($12) and Portobello melanzana ($10) from the regular menu. Either one of these would easily suffice for an entrée, so be prepared to share dishes or take leftovers home. Two large, flattish crabcakes had been fried until quite crispy, and contained a mix of crabmeat and breadcrumbs (and seasonings, of course) that left the good crab flavor intact. The Portobello appetizer was composed of several stacks of grilled mushroom, eggplant, and Fontina cheese, strewn with almost too many pieces of artichoke hearts, if that is possible. It would have been worth the price at half the portion.
Dinners come with a small house salad, and even though we only allowed one to be brought to the table (basic lettuce with shredded carrot), we barely picked at it, knowing yet more gargantuan portions were on their way.
The stuffed pork chop ($17) off the regular menu was delicious. A double thick chop was stuffed with broccoli rabe, sundried tomatoes and Fontina cheese, and served with Marsala demiglace. The pork was still slightly pink (fine by me), tender and moist.
Our other entrée, spaghetti topped with seafood in lemon garlic sauce ($23) from the specials list, was also quite good. While I might have liked the pasta cooked a little less, the seafood included generous chunks of lobster, crabmeat and shrimp along with asparagus, all properly cooked. The lemon, olive, oil and garlic sauce was the perfect complement.
Desserts are from a local bakery, and the portions are the biggest I’ve ever seen. While I’m not so sure that’s a good thing, we dug into double chocolate cake and cannoli cream cake that tasted just like cannoli filling, along with good coffee.
The Balsamos are the epitome of a hard-working restaurant family, and their close attention to running their restaurant pays off in legions of loyal customers. There is a smaller room, dubbed "Café Iccara" above the door, off the main dining room that always seems to have a large party of revelers in it. The night of our visit we heard strains of "Happy Birthday" at the long table.
So go join the party at Villaggio Trattoria, and be prepared for super-sized portions and tasty leftovers to take home, as it is surely one of the best dining values around.

