Rezdôra is a small, really crowded place with bare wood closely set small tables. Music is in the background, lighting is really low and the noise level is high. Walls are brick and the wood cross-hatched ceiling is lowered. A few dried flowers make up the decorations. Even with a reservation we had to wait 45 minutes for our table and there were no seats at the bar. They did give us a glass of Lambrusco but it was a long time to wait, standing with little space to be in. They are a hot ticket right now but if they don’t manage it better, they won’t be for long. There is one dining room on the entry level that has the bar counter on one side and bench seating on the opposite wall fitted with lots of small tables. Up a few stairs there was another really small room with tables in it. The menu offers Italian food and a regional pasta tasting (5 pastas) with optional wine pairings and a couple nightly specials. While that was a tempting option we chose to order our own choices and bottles of wine. Portions are small and the pacing of the meal was really rushed (so why the long wait?).
They brought an amuse bouche of toast with ricotta and balsamic. It had lots of texture and good flavor.
Gnocco fritto included prosciutto di parma, mortadella and pancetta. It was puffed rolls each topped with different thin sliced meats. The bread was nice and the meats were all okay but some could have benefitted from a bit of salt which was not on the table. The bread was more interesting than the meats and I’d call this one dull.
We ordered several pastas to share but rather than bring them one at a time they brought them all at once which didn’t really fit on the small table. This is poor or unthinking service. The server did bring a huge grater and dusted each of them with fresh parmesan cheese. “Grandma walking through forest in emilia” was cappelletti verdi with roasted leeks, baby leeks and black mushroom puree. A funky title for sure but fitting for the thick pasta filled with grainy substance on an even gummier sauce. The pasta was way too tough and the overall texture was just plain yucky.
Tagliolini al ragu was from Modena. This was a more tender pasta with a nice sauce but some of the bits of meat were too large and not velvety and the dish came off as too heavy as the sauce was pasty.
Anolini di Parma was traditional meat filling with parmigiano sauce. It was a round pasta shape stuffed with something like parmesan. It was less thick and gummy than the others and the best of the ones we got.
Quaglia alla griglia was grilled and stuffed quail, saba, polenta and ‘funghi trifoiati’. The quail was stuffed with pancetta and mushroom but the bird was way overcooked and dry. The filling was livery and the green parsley goo overpowered the delicate mushrooms. The polenta underneath was cooked too much and really stiff but still had some corn flavor.
They had a dessert menu but we decided to cut our losses and get out. They ended the meal with a cookie of hazelnuts in a pistachio meringue. It was all right but I’m really not sure why so many people were hot to eat this mediocre food in such a noisy, tight setting.
