Pronto by Giada

"So let's start with the good news. This is a beautiful restaurant. The ambience is wonderful, the cutlery and glass, lighting and seating, decorations and color is definitely upscale. ( Though wayyyy too noisy) The pasta is freshly made. Their wine choices excellent. Now let's really begin. As an Italian who recently came back from Florence Italy and have a Mom who can cook sauce like a champion...I know red sauce. I can tell you that their sauce is nothing to write home about. Too sweet for a red sauce.... It also didn't feel as if the sauce was made with fresh tomatoes....and it was not impressive at all. To be totally honest. It almost tasted like it came from a jar. Service was subpar, waited 30 minutes to even get a drink. Never came back for water, took forever to get the meals. But this is a newly opened restaurant so I tend to overlook such things. The antipasti was a wonderful mixture of cheeses and meats but the idea that anyone thinks that they can charge $61 for an antipasti without holding a gun to my head is certainly baffling. In fact the prices here we're absolutely ridiculous on everything. This is Scottsdale not Manhattan. I don't mind spending money for good fresh high quality food but when I am buying a drink that is $4 cheaper in New York City at Tavern on the Green, or I am eating a small loaf of focaccia bread for more money then a full meal at some restaurants, or I am being charged $8 for a single espresso.... Then this is just not for me. I am sure the people in Scottsdale will jump at the opportunity to spend $45 for a plate of pasta that cost about $4 to make. I am sure the people in Scottsdale will jump at buying a cocktail that is more expensive overlooking a parking lot then from the 100th story of the New World Trade Center in New York City. And I am sure people in Scottsdale will jump at the opportunity to have some prosciutto that costs more money then my tickets to the Uffizi, the Duomo, and the Medici chapel combined. Maybe I'm just a guy from New York City... Moving to Florence Italy someday ... But there is no way that meal was worth it. Giada I love you... Beautiful, smart, wonderful woman. But lower your prices....and get a better red sauce made. Ciao"