I would give this place a 3/5
I had read about a new Italian restaurant opening up in Webster Groves. I had read the reviews in the St. Louis newspaper. Everyone seemed to love Madrina. I just can't decide what kind of Italian restaurant it is. I don't know if it is because it is only a few minutes away from all the Italian restaurants on the hill, so it has to carve out its own identity, or what, but other than having Italian names on the courses, having a bunch of Italian wines and serving 3 (that's right, only 3) pasta dishes, it didn't seem very Italian.
I will have to say that I really thought they'd done a nice job on the interior of this space. It isn't very big, but it didn't feel cramped. We had reservations for 6 p.m. but we arrived at 5:45 and used the valet parking, so we were inside early. We got a drink at the bar. When our table was ready it was actually only a few steps from the bar. Usually you'd think this would be a louder area...not so. It was just fine.
The menu is rather sparse. They have fish and steak specials but don't have traditional Italian pasta dishes. We started with the Misto Fritto, which is fried calamari, shrimp, artichokes and some fried fennel. This dish was very good, the items were lightly dusted with a seasoned flower and flash fried. I'd never had fried fennel before and it was yummy. It was served with a buttermilk ranch dressing. Meh.
Mike ordered a salad that was called House on the Hill. It was mostly iceberg lettuce with way too much rope provel cheese. It has some artichoke hearts and tomatoes off to the side. The dressing was supposed to be a vinagrette but it didn't have much taste and it seemed to separate as there was a pool of watery leftovers under his lettuce when he finished. The artichoke hearts weren't pickled in a vinegar. They must have been pickled in something with water?? I ate one and it just tasted blah.
They had a big wine list with both domestic and Italian reds. I also give them kudos because I think they may have had a sommalier on staff, as I saw a lady helping a couple tables with their wine selections. Good for them. We chose a California cabernet called In Sheeps Clothing. It was kind of blah. It was not fruit forward. I thought it was a little smoky when I first tasted it, but those tastes seem to die when you tried it with food. Not bad, but not one of our favorites.
For dinner you order an entree and everything (like sides, etc.) is a la carte. Which I've always thought is kind of a pain. So, Mike ordered the special of the evening which was a beef spedini and then he ordered some fried fingerling potatoes. He liked the beef, but it is difficult not to overcook little cubes of meat on a stick. It wasn't overcooked, but it wasn't medium any longer, either. It had a sort of chimichurri made out of basil and garlic that Mike scraped off and he said it overpowered the flavor of the meat. The sauce was brown soy based sauce.
I had a simple bowl of linguini and clams. There just weren't that many pasta choices and I had heard their scallops were great, but we were at an Italian restaurant and I wanted to try their pasta. It was fine. There just isn't much to linguini clams. The pasta tasted homemade, so that's good. The clams were fine. There really wasn't much sauce/broth. There really just isn't much to this dish: linguini, clams, garlic, clam juice and a little olive oil and parsley. It's simple and not very complex. I wonder why they chose this as one of the 3 pasta dishes.
They only offered 2 desserts: tiramisu and cannoli. That's it. They literally bring over a dessert menu with 2 things on it! Mike chose tiramisu. It was actually quite good. It wasn't a coffee tiramisu and it wasn't an amaretto tiramisu. It was just custard, whipped cream and lady fingers. I don't know what they used to soften the lady fingers but it was a nice simple custard dish.
Because they have such a small menu, I just don't know that we feel the need to come back here. There are better places for steak and fish, and there are definitely better Italian restaurants.
