Pastazza

The 1 star reviews seem pretty harsh, but to each their own.
I have very, very fond memories of Pastazza from my time in college. Just visited Bellingham for the first time since 2004 and wanted to stop by Pastazza again — I’m not sure if my palate has just matured or if something changed, but it definitely didn’t wow me like before.
First off, the interior, imo, is gorgeous. Years ago they had a deli case of sorts with desserts at the bar, now it’s been transformed into a beautiful back kitchen area for pizzas/​etc. I personally love the mood inside, and there’s also plenty of parking nearby.
The food, however, really missed the mark this time.
What I used to get: the caesar (with badass croutons), and the mushroom sauce pasta. Both were incredible. This time I decided to try something new, so I’m not sure if these selections were just bad, or the stuff I used to get was good or what.
–Flatbread with trio of spreads. Good but not great. The bean dip was tasty but a lot of cumin, made it taste more like a strong hummus than a different sort of bean dip. The roasted garlic and artichoke dip was just pieces of artichoke hearts with a slight garlic flavor — I really was expecting a purée or a stronger roasted garlic taste. The tapenade was tasty.
–The chicken fricasee — chicken, artichoke hearts and mushrooms baked with ricotta and cream sauce with papardelle. Sounds awesome, right? Really no flavor or anything special. The chicken tasted like straight up chicken — ie, could have been baked as-​is with zero spices/​flavor. Artichokes, mushrooms also had no complementing flavor, and the sauce was as generic white sauce as it gets. Needed garlic or any other flavor, but honestly it was very boring.
–Puttanesca with vegan field roast sausage. Beyond the fact that it was around 1 sausage link for an extra $ 5 (you can get an entire package of 4 for that price), the pasta was very soft (not close to al dente), the sauce tasted like canned tomatoes with some capers, olives and peppers thrown in (no garlic taste, no spicy kick, really no flavor, just like the other dish).
I’m giving Pastazza the benefit of the doubt of 3 stars, especially since the service is great, water was quickly refilled and I do like the location. It could be my meal was just off base, but I’m not sure. So consider this a 2 to 3 star review, in hopes that we just chose some off dishes.

The reviewer that called it mcdonalds… spot on… crap food. TRULY AWFUL service…
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!
Please don’t make me go again!!! EVER

McDonald’s has made some ill-​advised forays into Southern BBQ (The McRib) and even into Mexican food (various horrors), and while they haven’t given Italian food a go, I’m pretty sure I know what it would taste like if they did.
We now live sort of close to the SUV parking lot/​giant-​LEGO Mcmansion/​Borg-​villa that is Barkely Village, so we thought we’d start scouting the area restaurants. A. had eaten here once before a few years back and vaguely remembered that it wasn’t bad. She must have been at a different place.
We were seated in the farthest corner and received our menus. It’s a bit pricey for lunch – mostly around 10.00 (and up) a plate. The menu ends with a long list of the local businesses whose quality ingredients apparently make Pastazza possible. I’m all for civic unity and short-​distance sourcing, but I found no evidence on my plate that these ingredients added up to much. Ditto for Pastazza’s other mid-​scale dining pretensions like cloth napkins and a hand-​decorated chalkboard menu overhead.
Despite being two out of only six patrons in the establishment, our order took forever – and this was not due to painstaking artistry. We each went with the pasta «lunch combo», mine with Alfredo sauce and A.‘s with Marinara. I should have been troubled by our server’s glum response of «one white, one red. .. OK,» as both bland sauces tasted like they came out of cans marked «RED» and «WHITE.» My Alfredo had congealed into a solid, cold clump before it arrived at our table.
These dishes really should be called «The Lettuce Combo,» as that’s what mainly covers the standard oval plates. Typically, one gets a «side salad,» but here it’s the main attraction. Speaking of, our salads came with a tiny amount of house vinaigrette that had no flavor whatsoever (note that I didn’t say «subtle/​light flavor,» but rather «no flavor»; you might as well just spritz the salads with a bit of dishwater). Throw in some stale «Foccacia» and that’s basically the Pastazza lunch combo experience.
This place is really a shame. When a small homegrown restaurant brags about its organic, fresh ingredients and about supporting local suppliers and so on, I always want them to be good and I always hope that I’ll become a happy regular. That said, it’s surprising that the fare is so unremarkable here; it could easily be cafeteria food that’s been reheated in a microwave. I could accept this if the prices were much, much lower. The strip-​mall faux-​Tuscan aesthetic doesn’t help either, especially with the garish yellows and oranges and the overly bright lighting.
Based on the quiet Unilocaling I’ve seen so far, it seems like Bellinghamsters are easily impressed by mediocre food. Several of the popular restaurants here are just plain awful.