Critic's Review
I was on my way to somewhere else, and I passed this place for the 50th time. As I passed I thought maybe I should try it. Every time I pass I say to myself "I need to check that place out", but I never have. Their "Open" sign was on, which meant that there was a 50% chance they'd be open.
I walked inside and there were a bunch of people gathered in the front room but not many customers. There's no hostess; a server grabbed a menu and ushered me to a table in the front room. There was a guy who looked like an owner sitting by the door, and 2 other employees chatting. who didn't seem like they were leaving. I picked up my stuff and moved to another table in the rear room so I'd have some privacy.
I asked for iced tea with extra lemon; it came with a lime on the glass and a cup of lemons. Not sure why they gave me the lime.
The first surprise is that they have no lunch menu. Italian pizza restaurants always have a lunch special; 2 slices and a drink, or meatball parm sandwich. Nothing here. All of the stuff I wanted came as a full dinner with salad, rolls and pasta. I guess I didn't have much choice. The server seemed new; as she didn't know too much about the menu, and she didn't know the wireless password either.
I ordered Veal Parm ($15.95) with a salad with blue cheese and linguine. The salad came out right away.
The tomato slice was interesting; did they cut off the bad part, or was this a half a slice? 1 slice of cucumber, 1 black olive, 1 peperoncini. 1 cup of dressing. Somewhere there was a bean-counter lurking.
She asked if I wanted rolls; I didn't want them, really, but I did want to see them and get a photo. She brought them out in a few minutes and I had to keep myself from giggling.
The menu calls these "garlic rolls", except there's no garlic and they come with diner butter cups. I tasted one; not bad, but a strange offering.
Music is nostolgic; Queen, the Eurythmics, Guns and Roses. The Veal Parm came out before I was half done with the salad.
My first impression what that it was quite a load.
I originally thought that I'd be taking 1/2 of this home, but it was just 1 cutlet and a boatload of pasta. I'm always put off when my pasta comes with big puddles of liquid. Pure carelessness.
As expected, no freshly grated cheese. Just the table sawdust.
The sauce wasn't bad; it's decent for pizzeria food. The veal was unremarkable; just a breaded slab of meat. I should have gone with the chicken. Nobody seems to cook veal the way that makes it fantastic. A very soggy, uninteresting breading. The point of breading is to create a tasty, crispy crust and to lock in flavor; when you just have tasteless soggy breading on an unseasoned piece of meat it loses its purpose.
When the bill came, There was no iced tea on the bill; it was $15.95 plus tax. I'm not sure if the tea was included or if the server just forgot. Maybe it was an un-posted lunch special. Who knows? A dude delivered the bill; I saw the girl sitting at the bus stop across the street when I left. I hope it was just the end of her shift.
Conclusion
Jacaranada is what Italian restaurants used to be back in 1985. No online presence of use, no-one to explain how things work; no lunch menu or specials. With the iced tea included; not a bad deal for $15.95, although I think they should have smaller portion choice for lunch. If you eat the rolls and all that pasta you're looking at 2000 calories for lunch which is absurd.