and more...

Wednesday:
L and I met Dad and Lady at Pioneer Square where lady was shopping and Dad was doing his "old man on a bench in the mall waiting for his wife" impression.
When cocktail hour arrived we settled in at Pazzo's lounge/bar. Hmmmm. OK, so you really don't see much press about this place anymore like you did 4-5 years ago and I can see why. The cocktails were inconsistent. Yes, the Lemon Drop was great: icy, tart, right amount of sugar. But some of the more "original" offerings were just indications that the restaurant is trying too hard. The drink I ordered, 'Lieutenant Dan' (it might be the 'Sargeant Dave' or the 'Corporal Alonzo' as I almost ALWAYS get names wrong) sounded appealing to me because I prefer savory over sweet and this had hot pepper and some fruit juice and some...um...bitters, maybe? Basically, it was totally underwhelming. L wasn't fond of the her cocktail either. We ordered some snacks off of the "Bar menu" and finding the cashews to be pretty much a Trader Joe's offering out of the bag, and house cured olives that tasted like burning. We still refused to read the writing on the wall and ordered pizzas. Two of them. In our defense, this was after several Lemon Drops- which were good-so we were feeling lucky.
We were not lucky. When the Margherita and the Sopressata, Asparagus & Onion pizzas arrived, we ate all of them but liked little. I was not impressed by Pazzo's at all.
Here's why:

* pizza crust has the texture of crushed, low-sodium Saltines (oxymoron alert) mixed with water until fine & crumbly and pressed into a "pizza pan."
* sauce tastes of salty and 'red' but not of tomatoes.
* too much greasy cheese.
* Service was wildly inconsistent. Our server was so enthusiastic and helpful in the beginning but completely faded out. So much so, that I actually asked her if her shift was up and should we cash her out and start with a new server. She looked at me like she she didn't know what I was talking about. I think that fact that she hadn't come by our table while we sat there for at least a 20 minutes with no food on the plates and no liquid in the glasses while she busily did side work for dinner service was reason enough for me ask about her shift plans.

Granted, our whole experience was limited to the bar/lounge. But I think what we experienced did inform us about the restaurant as a whole.