Hummingbird Pastaria

Fantastic, fresh, simple and delicious. Pastas made fresh. I had a special lamb ravioli (3 large ravioli) with wilted spinach and pine nuts and Kalamatas. My wife had a fungi bianchi: linguini sized pasta in the most delicious mushroom cream with a hint of truffle. The wine list is not large, but covers many regions tastes and budgets. If you live any where close to signal mountain and love Italian food, you NEED to get here. But do it early: it fills up.

The salad was nothing more than old lettuce with the only dressing of vinegar and oil. The place was drafty and cold. The waitress was not friendly. Will not return again.

Hummingbird Redux: A Second Flight to the Feeder
On a tight Friday night schedule, my wife and I were desperately looking for something — ANYTHING — to curb our hunger before going to an «opera» on Signal Mountain. Guess what: Fast food is not an option there. We were sure that we would have to fast rather than feast, and regretted that we didn’t swing by and grab a hot and ready pizza before climbing the hill. What to do? I had sworn never to perch with the Hummingbird again.
Okay. I was wrong.
Hunger is the best sauce, and that sauce smothered my better judgement (read: stubbornness). Yay hunger!
We hurriedly entered the Hummingbird and begged to be seated quickly so that we would make the opera/​play. The host delivered.. . And so did our waiter.
After a speedy rundown of the menu items that would Grace our table the fastest. In the interest of brevity, I’ll cut to the chase.
We avoided the overpriced corking fee this time and settled on the tastily acceptable house merlot. The appetizer was good, as was our shared meal.
We will be going back after all. I predict that there will be crow on the menu, prepared especially for me.

Had dinner here last night while on the mountain visiting family. We’ve dined here many times over the years and this was our best meal ever. Wonderful, well priced food and the décor has been improved greatly. I would highly recommend the Hummingbird Pasteria to anyone and especially those who’ve loved it in the past.

If I were a hardcase, I’d subtract half a star for the fact that I did not get a separate spoon to stir my coffee at dessert and had to use the same spoon I ate the chocolate mousse with, but other than that, the entire dinner was wonderful from start to end.
Recommended by my client, who called it his favorite place in Chattanooga to eat (and who had not steered me wrong, yet), I was comfortable driving to Signal Mountain to find this quaint little roadside establishment, quite unassuming, and easy to miss.
It was early (about 6:30) when I arrived, and there were just a smattering of diners. I was taken to a table along the wall and greeted by an ebullient, young waitress who introduced herself to me as Merri. She eagerly affirmed that tomatoes were still fresh, so I chose to start with Caprese, and then ordered Gnocchi Arribbiata as my entrée.
The Caprese was fresh: the basil aromatic and bright, the tomatoes meaty and flavorful, and the mozzarella firm and creamy. Merri also brought me a slice of fresh semolina bread with the house-​prepared cannellini bean and garlic spread, which was a pleasant surprise!
The Gnocchi was bold, zingy, fresh and robust. Served in an oversized bowl, the bite-​size morsels were adorned with cheese and a couple of basil leaves, the arrabbiata rich with oven roasted tomatoes and spices, and each mouthful was a sensory pleasure. This is not a dish for the timid!
I was well pleased with my dinner, so I chose to go the whole way, and ordered dessert: the aforementioned mousse and coffee. Both were a terrific cap to a delightful dinner.
I’ve read several mediocre reviews of Hummingbird. I also learned that for years, the place was under different ownership. I would say the new owners have a real desire to deliver quality food, and the staff is cheerful and attentive to a fault. In fact, I think because it was still early and the dinner crowd had not yet arrived, I found Merri coming to check on me seemingly every two minutes! My water glass was kept full, and obviously, if I had any questions or requests, I wouldn’t have to wait for a response. Highly recommended!

A mountain staple for years, I look forward to eating here every time I come back to visit. I’ve been both during the week and on weekends. It can get very busy, but service is always great. The vegetable pizza is great. I’ve also enjoyed the meatball sandwich. Ingredients are all fresh and high quality. I love every meal we have here!

My wife and I went here last night for the first time. Overall experience: wonderful!
They offer complimentary bread with a white bean dip to start with, so good we asked for more. My wife and I split the Caprese Panini and the Vegetable Pizza.
Vegetable Pizza: Wood fired, very thin crust, light but delicious sauce. Plenty of vegetables and cheese. 6 slices, so we had plenty to share.
Caprese Panini: Plenty of mozzarella cheese with tomatoes and basil. Comes on a light, fresh bread. (we asked for a side of balsamic vinegar to drizzle on the sandwich).

I love there food there and thay need to fixes The men’s restroom where the greed wies at the end of it where thay meet and love the the food

I have eaten here for many years. The new chef and management is worlds superior to previous owner. Food is fresh and well prepared. Put this place on your «must try» list!

Much improved! Awesome food and kid friendly items as well. Nice staff and atmosphere. A little pricy but we left feeling like it was worth it! Hadn’t been there in a year and felt like it was MUCH improved.

My wife and I are here for dinner and had the best time! The food is incredible, the waitress was very nice and helpful, and the owners came and introduced themselves and made sure everything was great. Awesome service, food, and people. We will be back!!!

One of the best restaurants here on the mountain, I enjoyed the melanzana (eggplant with mozzarella and parmagian and spaghetti with garlic and arugula) my wife had the special for this day a home made pasta with pesto and Signal Mountain farm tomatoes it was so delicious. The service was great, we are planning to visit it again.

Where to begin. First off, we have lived on Signal Mtn. twice before and went to look at a house this evening to move back. Extraordinary place. Nino’s Pastaria was something we were so incredibly excited to have nearby once again. After having lived from San Diego to NYC to Florida and places in between, we always felt Nino could hold his own anywhere. His food was amazing!
We had heard there were new owners and that they had maintained some of his former recipes. SOOOooooo not true. Maybe that was just a rumor or maybe they’ve buried them in the back somewhere. Please… dig them up? Hands down… Hands down the worst meal I’ve had in… wow…not even sure! Disappointing isn’t a strong enough word. Nothing is the same except the building. I don’t care that the décor is sort of different. Just keep the GOOD food.
I cannot believe someone thinks the service is better. The service was unpleasant. The first thing she asked is if we had eaten there before. We affectionately replied that we had when Nino owned it. Her reply? «Well then this will be a breath of fresh air!» What? Yes, offense taken! Oh how we would wish for some «fresh air» literally! I’m normally pretty vocal about liking or not liking my food. I don’t know how someone could think better service, I didn’t want to say anything. She was all about the how great the food, the new owner etc. And has Italy stopped importing all the Balsamic Vinegar? I’ve never had Caprese without Balsamic. Worse yet, when I asked her for some Balsamic and Olive Oil you might’ve thought I asked her to go in the back and press the olives herself. The Olive Oil was rancid… so that destroyed the Balsamic. When I asked for more Balsamic to go over the Caprese (which btw, I’ve never seen without lots of basil and balsamic), her response, «was there something wrong with that?» When my husband shared the olive oil was rancid she had clear disapproval and stood there…“so you want more?” I said, «yes, balsamic not olive oil.»
We gave it a fair shot. Tried an appetizer… wanted Nino’s antipasta! But had the good sense to ask if it was the same. No, it wasn’t…but according to the server better (um NO). So, we had the Bruschetta. Seriously, it’s the next morning and I thought I was going to die (as we all did) before leaving with all the garlic in my mouth. NOTHING has relieved it! And I love Garlic. This is horrible. Then came the salad… Caprese mentioned above. Finally, we ordered fettucini alfredo and that was honestly because if you cannot make a really good basic fettucini alfredo, you should not be preparing italian food! Admittedly gun shy at this point, we stayed safe and ordered a basic marinara on pasta and Nonna’s something pasta. Good ingredients on the menu… truly wretched. I mean, if it had been mine, I couldn’t have stomached more than half a bite. My husband muddled through about 5 bites. I took one bite of my garlic pasta with a some butter and little else identifiable (aka Alfredo). No one was really eating anything when both the server and the «chef» came by and asked how it was. Well, we’d had enough of the server and knew that no matter what we said we’d never make any progress. And the chef? Why bother at this point. We were hungry (hadn’t eaten since breakfast), emotionally exhausted and knew that he wasn’t likely to be anything but offended.
The finality was that the server took our food over to the counter to be put in containers by the register area. We watched as she dropped pasta on the counter for at least two of the containers and scooped it up and placed inside. OH THE HORROR! This was not a food prep area. This was where people (anyone) could place their hands and no doubt did. Never saw them clean that. Well, repurposing the food probably would’ve been possible for the Alfredo. Just making the sauce on the virtually bare garlic noodles. But who would even try. So, there came the outrageous check! Three of us had water, and one had two bottled beers. The check? $ 64 and some change without tip! Wow! To walk out sick from all the garlic, hungry and then with a big hole in the wallet? Yeah, no… never again! «Breath of fresh air?» I think not. Bring back the old Pastaria and the servers or move on and suffer someone else.
As a footnote, I read the response of the owner to another reviewer… that seems about right. A bit hostile. Since I posted about this on Facebook first, I’ve had others message me about their negative experiences. It seems that if you say anything to the chef about the price or the food, you have clearly «offended» as one of my friends recently stated about their exchange with the chef. Well, we pay your bills… or not. You might think about listening.

Better service now with new owners, but every time we go here, I feel like we are being financially raped! We live right down the street so I loved the convenience. My husband and I just spent $ 60 on dinner for 2 and when I asked for an extra slice of garlic bread for my $ 25 pasta dish (yes that’s right $ 25 for pasta) I was told it would cost an additional $ 1.50. What? Because it had garlic on it? Are you for real? Guess if I can afford a $ 25 pasta dish, then what’s an extra buck fifty, right?
And No, thanks– I didn’t save room for a $ 12 dessert.

Loved the food, the cleanliness, the natural light, the combination of families outside with relaxed children of all ages and indoors a birthday party — yet others able to cozy up to a table for two. This chef is serious about good product made the simplest (easy for me to say) and most pleasing way. He even stepped out from the kitchen to welcome his guests every moment he had. The staff were attentive and warm… but, I just couldn’t stop taste-​testing everything on the menu. We began with appetizers intending to stop there, but after delicious polpette tasty tomato sauce, arugula salad and caprese salad we had to try a pizza. The crust is light, crispy on the edge — not too salty or too sweet but flavorful and so complimentary to the delicious cheese and tomatoes on top. We found out that the Chef makes his own bread, mozzarella cheese and pizza dough daily. We returned the next night (!) for dinner — egg plant parmigiana. Fabulous eggplant with just enough coating and light crispness wit hthe perfect amount of cheese and sauce — I’m not a fan of drowning eggplant in sauce and cheese. The side dish of pasta with just a little bite of seasoning and heat to encourage more eating. The homemade pork sausage and pork belly at the table? Perfection. Back to the treadmill but everything we ate was delicious.
About the dog… I adore our dogs but with children present, I would not appreciate a dog near my children. Sorry we love animals but my children’s safety too.

Great food, great service! If you are looking for a nice, fairly-​priced meal, Pastaria is the place to go. We had Mary as our server, and I can honestly say that she was the most impressive waitress I have ever had. I definitely recommend going here!

Fantastic! 11 of us ate this evening and had a great time. Mary was our server and did a great job. Everyone liked their meals. I had the gnocchi arabiatta with salmon and loved it. The meals were reasonably priced. They served my beer in a frosted glass. Haven’t ate here in the last 18 months but will be back soon.