Critic's Review
D'Angelo's, once pegged as the "premier" Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, has now spread it's tentacles all throughout Broward and Palm Beach; they'll be opening another "Pizza and Tapas" in Coral Springs later this year. I'd been thinking about trying this place for months; a perfect May day gave me the incentive to take the 25 mile drive up to Western Delray.
They've taken over the space that used to be LOLA, which was "supposed" to be the YOLO of Delray Beach. Problem is, without the location, nobody would go to YOLO, which was the case with LOLA.
It's a very big place. Inside it is very dark and completely empty; too dark for a camera phone picture. I opt'd to eat outside with the 2 other tables that were populated. There are trees and shrubberies surrounding the patio, which looks like but also has it's negatives. Not much of a view in this part of town.
Some comedy was when the hostess greeted me with "You just made lunch" at 2:55; with 2 tables in the place do they really cut you off the lunch menu at 3:01? The lunch menu wasn't very appealing; 10 for $12, as if $12 for an Italian small plate is a good deal for lunch. Most of the "tapas" are $12; the entire concept is portion control; a business concept that proves that these places are business first and restaurant second.
My server was one of those authentic Italian guys; they have lots of Italians working in D'Angelo's restaurants. I could barely understand him. I got a tea, which was overloaded with ice.
I went off the lunch menu and went for the broccoli rabe frittata with sausage and taleggio cheese. My server promised me bread; but he first brought out bread for another table that was seated well after me. Another pass and the bread promise was made again. Another few minutes and he dropped it off. No dip spices, but in addition to the standard oil and balsamic they have "spicy oil" on each table.
The problem with the spicy oil is that it's not spicy; it's likely made with cheap oil; it has no body and doesn't really taste like anything. The bread is just toasted italian bread; bread for dipping shouldn't be toasted in my opinion.
When the frittata came out, I was unimpressed.
A big mound of plain arugula; yum. I tasted the fritatta and it was just pretty bland; how could anything with sausage, rabe and cheese be bland? Somehow they managed to achieve it here. Real Talaggio is a "stinky" cheese; usually very strong flavored, but this had none. The American Talaggio they're selling everyone isn't very good.
The sausage was cut in cubes and just didn't taste like sausage. I think that they pre-cook everything here, and without the fat from freshly cooked sausage there's no point to it. I got a 
Aside from not enjoying the food, the patio is very buggy. Flies, gnats. Incredibly annoying. Once they started landing on the food I had to stop eating.
So my iced tea was empty and I really wanted to get away from the bugs, but my server hadn't been around for awhile. I went off to the bathroom, and on my way back I ran into him. "Can I get my check please", I asked. "Sure, would you like some more iced tea". "Ok", I said, thinking that I could take a couple of swigs for the road. Another few minutes, he lumbered over with the tea. "I'll get your check". Ok, well the check was more important than the tea. He dropped off the check and wandered off. It was another 10 minutes before he came back to take my card.
Here's the deal, Restaurant People. When someone asks for the check, they want to leave. It shouldn't take another 15 minutes to get out of the place. Try to understand your business.
So here we have it, another disappointing visit to a D'Angelo's restaurant. Italian food is supposed to pop with intense flavors; I've yet to have 1 thing at a D'Angelos that came close to gaining my interest. These "Tapas" places are particularly bad, because the food isn't freshly prepared. These restaurants are chains with real restaurant prices. I think I've tried enough here to know better than to come again. It's a great concept on paper, but in practice it just doesn't work.
