What I Ate: October 13, 2009 (Cannoli Joe's)

Dinner: We've been driving by a restaurant called Cannoli Joe's (4715 U.S. 290, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 892-4444‎) for months now, so we decided to stop and and see how it is. We expected it to be like an Olive Garden, but instead it's an Italian-themed buffet. Dinner during a weeknight is $14 (we then got 20% off with our GoLocalAustin card) and the food is worth it. There restaurant is split up into different stations, each decorated like a Disneyland version of different Italian food vendors or cafes. There are a bunch of dining rooms too, each one themed in a different manner.

Some of the food was not particularly good, but enough of it was tasty and delicious that it makes up for the deficiencies. It is a buffet after all, so sample and figure out what's good for you. I liked the thick minestrone, pesto pasta, marsala chicken pasta (although it was a bit mild in marsala flavor), grilled vegetables, Italian sausage with peppers, and pesto bruschetta (great garlic flavor). In the future, I'll avoid the beef medallions and meatballs. A couple of the items were saved by a simple light application of table salt.

Lunch: Tina and I ate the leftover jiu cai he.