Pasta E Pani

My wife and I ate off the Restaurant week Menu on this visit. The bread and salads were both good. We had the Caprese and Caesar salads. My wife had the chicken risotto cacciatore. She said it was good but it looked like a bowl of stew. Since Angelo is such a great chef, I am sure it was as it should be. I had the flounder marinara and it was scrumptious! The fish was perfect. The dark chocolate covered gelato dessert was to die for! We love this place so will be back again soon.

My husband and I decided to try this restaurant on a whim based on some of the reviews here. We love Italian food and it’s not far from our new home, so we were hoping to find a new favorite «our place».
The establishment is located in a strip mall and is very unassuming, but when you step inside, it is quite cozy. There is one large family table by itself on the left side of the dining room, nestled in a nook just inside the front door. The rest of the dining room is tight… The tables are very close to each other. Running along the right side wall is bench seating with small pillows. A bar across the back wall completed the dining room.
When we walked in, we stood at the hostess stand for a few minutes before being greeted. We were asked if we had reservations, which we did not, and told it would be a few minutes while they cleared a table. I noticed a corner table in the bench side being cleared and was glad that we would have a little bit of elbow room.
A group of four came in and were greeted immediately by a waitress, who recognized them. They were asked about reservations as well, to which they responded «no, and this couple was here before us». A short time later the group decided to sit at the bar while they waited. Another few minutes passed and they were then seated at the table that had been cleared and set up.
At this point, the bartender sees our reaction and says that they’re clearing another table for us and we’ll be seated shortly. Keep in mind, this is from the back of the restaurant. My husband responds that we were supposed to be seated next, but when we said we were leaving, she sarcastically says okay and to have a good night. All of their diners couldn’t help but overhear the conversation.
After being treated so rudely, we decided to try Y-​Not Italian. We had ordered delivery from them a couple of times and it was good. I’ll post a separate review there, as that experience was completely different. As a side note, a couple that saw the whole event left and went to Y-​Not as well, sharing with the folks at the bar what had happened. The staff overheard and let us know that they were just as apalled at the behavior.
How many more people will hear about this instead of the food? Great food doesn’t make up for poor customer service.

Update: I recently tried out Pasta E Pani’s new location on Great Neck. It’s an improvement… this spot has a warmer, cozier feel, but it’s just about the same size, and the food is, as always, spectacular.
We were disappointed to see one of our favorite dishes from the old menu (penne all vodka) was missing in the new place, but Angelo went ahead and made it for us anyway. He’s great!

Had Dinner on Saturday, Everything was very good but I strongly recommend the scallops. They were prepared perfectly .I found the service to be excellent. Kind of confused by some of the previous reviews. I will recommend to friends.

New location with a new menu. Everything was excellent! Been there a couple of times since they relocated and love it. We’ve ordered pizza, chicken parm, pasta with seafood and apps. Everything was cooked to perfection. Very nice to see a family run business doing well. Love to support the local businesses in our area!

Had dinner with friends recently. After being seated at s table that we had a hard time getting to as it was very close quarters, it took a waitress 10 min to take our drink order. And that was after we flagged her down. Thinking the fire dept needs to go check out the seating in there. Seems like a fire Hazard. Our orders for calamari was a joke. Very small Amount on plate for almost 10 dollars. They don’t have any kind of dark rum at all. The meal… I ordered a special that was suppose to be risotto with asparagus and salmon. I can guarantee there was maybe 2 oz of salmon. And maybe one stalk of asparagus cut into tiny pieces mixed in. The flavor was good. But for a dish that was over 20 dollars I should have received more salmon than that. We thought the people that worked there to be a bit rude. The girl that actually waited on us was nice though. Someone at our table ordered a special that they had for flounder only for them to come out 40 min later to say they didn’t have. So he ordered something else and they said they were out of it. He wound up with the lasagna and there was no cheese in it or on it. Kind of weird for lasagna. Nothing but a lot of red sauce and noodles and meat. Very disappointing. But… They dont have to worry about us coming back. We had heard such good things about this place but this was not good.

We had dinner last night in the new location on Great Neck. The dining room is very nice, cozy, even chic. Our young waitress seemed a bit inexperienced, the maitre’d brought our dishes to the table and our waitress did not come back to check on us. Unfortunately, my dish, home made fresh angel hair pasta with shrimp, was not up to par. The pasta was congealed, all in one large lump on the plate under the shrimp. I got up to find the waitress after waiting 10 minutes. the Maitre’d told me that it was supposed to be that way because it was fresh pasta. I have had fresh pasta before and I know to expect a different texture, but I also know that it should not be in a large clump on the plate. The Maitre d insisted that it was fine, and instead brought a side of what she called «boxed pasta» with sauce to prove to me that she was right. If I don’t like something, I generally don’t write anything in Unilocal,just because if you can’t say something nice, you shouldn’t say anything… but in this case, I hope the chef takes note of my comment because I’m sure maitre d didn’t pass it along.

Here on a recommendation from, of all people, my mom’s dentist. It’s quite the hole-​in-​the-​wall spot and I think they’re doing everything they can to not get too much business. I mean, the sign out front was off when we arrived (and it was barely dim when we left), there was no «open» light. We only knew it was open because we could see two tables occupied inside. Another group of three arrived while we were there — I can’t see how they can stay open selling 20 dinners a night.
I’m not sure if the place if family operated. Maybe it is. Either way, it had that «home made» sort of look and feel to it with a homey waitress (not «homely» — there’s a difference) and a menu that looked a little cobbled together. It just didn’t exude that «professional» feel. And there’s nothing wrong with that. If I wanted «professional,» I could hit a chain and I don’t do that.
I had the penne alla vodka. My mom had the penne pomodoro. Both were great portions and extremely tasty. These noodles were boiled to order because they were just a touch short of al dente. But the sauce was awesome and I wiped the bowl clean with the crispy bread.
I also had the warm spinach salad to start. It was not all that. The house salad looked better — I’d recommend that.

If there’s one thing I’m picky about, its Italian food. After living in Italy for 3 years I can say without a doubt that this is an amazing place that is on par with that home cooked Italian back in Napoli. It’s a little on the pricier side, but I’m always willing to pay extra for authenticity.

Our meal was fantastic. Fresh pasta was perfect, the sauce was flavorful, and the portions weren’t gigantic (they were just right). Yes, the other customers were older, but sophisticated. This is not like country kitchen buffet. The prices were comparable or less than other Italian restaurants, the service was friendly.

I frequent this place and am addicted to the menu (because they are amazing) but now try the specials. FANTASTIC! Quick, friendly service, fresh out of the oven food!
If you are visiting the area, try this place! If you live here, then you should already be going regularly! Nobody makes hand rolled bread and pasta! Date night, movie night or dinner night, this place hits the spot!

I will never go back! My friend made a reservation for 20+ people for her birthday. To make things easier and faster for the kitchen for a party that size, we preordered our food. The wait staff was so rude to us and treated us like a hassle. Our food took 2 hours and our appetizers took 45 minutes. I know a large party like ours can be difficult, especially on a weekend night. But the service we had was horrible.

What a charming little place. This restaurant is located in a strip mall next to a bike shop but the inside looks like a quaint little eatery. The space is divided by a book shelf from where you enter so it doesn’t look directly on the parking lot
The waitstaff is clearly a small family and their friendliness and warmth made me fell very welcome. The two older folk (owners) both checked up on us and made sure everything was to our liking. They even engaged us in sine good natured conversation about where we were from and what brought us to town and their restaurant in particular.
The bread that they brought out was clearly right out of the oven… I suppose if you name your restaurant after the bread, that’s the sort of thing you take pride in. The other half of the name, pasta, also did not disappoint. It was fresh homemade pasta. That makes a tremendous impact on the meal. My dish had terrifically prepared shrimp and chicken… mari e Monte… it had a nice spiciness to it.
The prices were a smidge high as the entrees didn’t include salads but they are still on par with the prices of other va beach Italian restaurants.
I’ll definitely come back next time I’m in town.

Nothing flashy here just good classic style Italian food. Great italian family atmosphere which offers a warm and welcome scene that you do not see too often in this area. You definitely will not find some neo-​italian, pseudo Olive Garden style food here but only the classics done right. The owners have always been there whenever I went and the wife usually makes it a habit to greet the tables and ask the guests how their meal was. Its little things like this that put a nice finish on an excellent meal.

Terrible experience and will never give them my business again. Was charged a higher price than what was posted on their online menu for a to-​go order. Additionally, the packages were practically empty. I called to try and rectify the issue and was told that the printed menu has current prices and their website’s menu is not up to date. And what we received was a full order (6 pieces of gnocchi!). No offer from the owner to fix anything. She didn’t care that she had an unhappy customer.

Simply put — ridiculously good Italian food, with fresh pasta. We had the Mari e Monti, and the fettuccine bolognese… Both fantastic. And the food prices are quite reasonable for fresh pasta! Don’t know why we waited so long to come here… But we are surely not going to wait long to return!

My boyfriend and I tried Pasta E Pani on a Friday night. It was about 6:30 pm and we were immediately seated. At first they put us at a table that was in the way of where the servers walked through to get from the kitchen to the dining area. I thought this was a poor decision on their part because there were several open tables and it was an inconvenience for us to have to ask to move. But they did move us and it wasn’t a huge issue. Our waitress was super friendly, very knowledgable of the menu, and provided us with good recommendations. She was attentive throughout our meal and even exchanged small talk with us when we were finished. I ordered the bolognese with a salad to start while my boyfriend ordered the chicken parm and salad. Our waitress brought us some fresh bread, which was nice and warm with a nice crust. I must say I was slightly disappointed in the side salads we received because it was really just romaine lettuce with some caesar dressing and sliced mushrooms for something like $ 6.50 each. That is a bit much for what we got. However, our entrees were worth their prices. The bolognese was rich and meaty and the pasta was fresh with a nice texture. The chicken parm that my boyfriend ordered was amazing. The chicken was breaded with the perfect amount of crust and cooked wonderfully — keeping the chicken moist. So many times the chicken parm is dry, but not at Pasta E Pani. I will order the chicken parm next time we go. We finished our meal with the tiramisu which was phenomenal. They use lady fingers instead of sponge cake, which makes a huge difference and is actually how I prefer my tiramisu to be made. I wanted to eat an entire cake, it was that good. Overall, we will go back but maybe not right away. I understand the family that runs this place has been doing this forever (under a different name at some point) and I know they are doing things right.

We have been very delinquent in getting ourselves to this dining institution. Angelo and Maria Serpe are legendary for delivering relatively simple but high quality Italian food to Virginia Beach diners for decades. They even retired a couple of years ago only to find retirement too boring to endure so they opened their restaurant back up.
For our dinner last night, I had the Fettucini al Pepe Nero and it was nearly perfect. The hand-​made black pepper pasta had the just the right level of chew to it and the veal sauce with shallots, garlic and pancetta was delicious. The only thing I wasn’t too keen on was his use of plain old button mushrooms. They just don’t excite me but that may just be personal preference.
My wife tried the pumpkin ravioli in sage butter sauce and I have to confess that this dish was lacking. The pumpkin filling was quite good but the pasta itself was tough to the point of being unpleasantly hard. I am no pasta expert so I don’t know what could have caused this (overworking the dough? undercooking?). The ravioli’s were also swimming in butter sauce which was a bit overwhelming.
Carbo-​kid tried the cheese pizza and we all ended up trying a piece because it was sooooo good. I would classify it as one of the best in the area. Who knew dough, cheese and sauce could come together in such a magical way. Its the kind of pizza you go out of your way for when you are hit with the crave.
We tried the Tiramisu for dessert and it was incredible. Light, fluffy and not overloaded with lady fingers. I cannot think of any restaurant in the area the serves a better one.
One last (small) gripe was the drink prices. A glass of white table wine goes for $ 7.50 and most mixed drinks are in the $ 9-​$ 10 range. I had a negroni and while it tasted fine, it comes in a fairly small glass and left me wondering how large the mark up on liquor is here. From what I could guess it is fairly high.

Quite simply, the best Italian food I’ve had outside of Manhattan.
The owners, Angelo and Maria Serpe, take pride in creating interesting, fresh, and amazing dishes. The wine list is full of amazing Italian wines that you’ll wish you had known about, and the service is always prompt, friendly, and courteous. This is not a fancy place, just a down home Italian café with amazing food. Angelo makes almost all of his pasta fresh, and you can peer in the window to the pasta factory and watch the magic happen.
Don’t skip the amazing Illy coffee, and be sure to stock up in the deli before you go home.

Pasta E Pani is another one of those places my foodie friends raved and raved about, so I went in with high expectations.
I wasn’t disappointed. I only don’t give it five stars because I’ve not been to dinner there yet. I’ve had lunch twice and it was absolutely delicious, simple, fresh-​made Italian.
It’s a mom-​and-​pop shop in an elegant little café package. The «mom» serves the food (complete with thick Italian accent), the «pop» cooks it.
Angelo and Maria Serpe are their names.
I had cheese ravioli in a butter sage sauce – again, perfectly simple, but all of the pasta is made in-​house (they sell it in their deli section) and everything tastes fresh, not fussy – allowing the flavors to shine through.
Their paninis are also fantastic – best I’ve had.
In addition to pasta, they sell their house-​made jarred sauces, Italian wines and specialty foods to go and they create holiday gifts baskets.