Boston Restaurant Blog -- January, 2009

It has been a really rough winter weather-wise so far, and New Year's Eve was certainly no exception. For awhile, it looked like there would be no plans at all, the way the snow was coming down, but it ended just in time for us to head out to a restaurant to celebrate the New Year's. And it turns out that our destination was Campanale's Restaurant in South Braintree, an old-school Italian restaurant that, while quite inconsistent at times, can also be very good.

After giving them a quick call to make sure they were open, we slowly drove over to Campanale's and walked in to a restaurant that was perhaps half-full. We were seated at one of the more comfortable tables near the front door and started out with a couple of drinks, including a "scotch and soda" for me that was mistakenly made as an 8-ounce scotch on the rocks (not that I was complaining about it at the time). We then ordered a Caesar salad that frankly was not very impressive, as some of the lettuce seemed limp and the dressing was bland and watery. It was really disappointing to me, especially since I have had some outstanding Caesar salads over the past few months.

Fortunately, the main dishes more than made up for the subpar salad; the chicken panino (battered chicken layered with roasted red peppers, prosicutto, and mozzarella cheese) was simply delicious, with all the ingredients working well with one another to make for a very flavorful dish, while the the chicken and sausage larossa (boneless chicken, Italian sausages, gorgonzola cheese, mushrooms, and marinara sauce) was every bit as good, with the sausages being sweet and delectable and the "gravy" being as good as always here (their red sauce really is quote good). For dessert, we shared a tiramisu that was a bit underwhelming, but not all that bad.

The place remained fairly quiet the whole time we were there (undoubtedly due to the weather), although about midway through our meal, a loud blast of "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC rumbled through the dining room, making us feel, just for a moment, like we were at a Patriots game. Service at Campanale's was very good overall, with our waitress checking with us constantly (though not overly so) and the prices, especially for New Year's Eve, were very reasonable.

Campanale's was not our first choice for dining out on New Year's Eve, but it turned out to be a satisfying one (except for the salad). I had been a little worried as to which form of Campanale's we would encounter--the mediocre one or the excellent one--and in the end, it was definitely closer to the latter than the former. Hopefully they can continue putting out this quality food more consistently in the future. If so, I'll surely be going there more often.

If you would like the address for Campanale's, here it is: Campanale's Restaurant, 88 Pearl Street, Braintree, MA, 02184. Phone: (781) 843-6966.

Related Blog Entries: Braintree restaurants, Italian restaurants, New Year's Eve restaurants

Posted by MH, Boston's Hidden Restaurants, on January 6, 2009.
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