As most everyone knows, the original Forte’s on the Square Restaurant was sold a couple of years ago by the Forte family.  The new owners took over the operation but eventually had some unforeseeable issues and had to close.

The Forte family recently reopened the eatery under a new name-Forte Ristorante (Italian for restaurant).  I had my first opportunity to dine there tonight and see how the operation was going. I must say I was very pleased.  I ordered a ribeye steak dinner with mashed potatoes and broccoli.  I must admit I’ve been watching many online restaurant reviews and their rating of brand name steakhouses.  Of course, after dozens of videos of restaurant critics I decided that’s my new line of work.  Kidding. Anyway, I went to Forte Ristorante fairly early Saturday afternoon and the place was about half packed.  That changed drastically the longer I sat at my table. By the time it was done dining at 4:30 the place was packing fast.  My ribeye with garlic butter was superb.  The meat was succulent and juicy and cooked exactly to my order. The mashed potatoes were to die for.  I gotta get their recipe. I started my stop watch at the moment I placed my order.  It took 16 minutes for the order to arrive on my table.  I was anticipating much longer but was pleasantly surprised. Oh, and I was beginning to wonder if they were going to serve some bread to my table.  Then the bread came.  My first impression was not good.  There were three piece of bread in the bowl. The first I took was french bread. It was bland and had very little taste.  I thought ‘uh on’ here we go.  Then I picked out another piece which was round.  Now we’re talking.  It was garlic knots.  Very tasty and flavorful. After finishing up,  My waitress offered dessert.  I wasn’t going to order anything but she showed me a tray with the offerings and those cannolis looked too good to pass up.  Holy pastry batman…those things are amazing. Overall I would have to give Forte Ristorante at 10 for this dining experience. Now, one thing I have always disliked about Forte’s dates back to when they changed the flooring to hard tile many years ago.  With so many hard surfaces in that large building the noise is incredibly loud if the place is full. If I were to offer any advice I would say put some thick hanging drapes dropping from the ceiling to help absorb the sound. The only other thing that caught my attention was the prices seemed to have risen. My ribeye dinner with no drink (water) was $55.00.

My only thought is that for top notch quality – you gotta pay the price. And it was well worth it.