Elle See Drove down from Champaign-Urbana for dinner on Saturday. Joes is located in a cute little downtown area in Tuscola. It looked inviting outside. Inside was more modern & minimalist... exceptionally clean with widely-spaced tables that made for a lot of privacy and minimal noise. The menu was fantastic with lots of great app & pasta options, several unique pizzas and cannoli or tiramisu for dessert. Wine & beer options as well. Hubby ordered a sausage pizza. I went with baked rigitoni, and added meatballs for a slight upcharge, which was totally worth it. There were four of them, and they werent small! Pasta sauce was rich and delicious with a slightly sweet flavor. Pasta noodles were perfectly al dente and there was lots of melted mozzarella on top. It cane with garlic bread & a salad... a huge meal for a reasonable price. Salad was fresh. Garlic bread was ok, but I didnt eat it because my pasta dish was so huge and do much more delicious. Pizza was decent. Crust was a bit thicker than we typically like, but the flavor was excellent. Hubby remarked that next time, hed like to try one of their speciality pizzas. Now the downside... Service was abysmal, if Im honest... We had a new server so I wont hit them too hard for it... but she was truly awful. She was pleasant & polite, but even a brand new server should know to refill drinks at least once. Ours never offered, and when hubby asked her for a refill, she said sure... then forgot all about it. She only had three tables, so she wasnt exactly scrambling. Most of the time, she seemed to be hiding out somewhere besides the dining area. Like I said, Im not hitting them too hard for her negligence, but if the service isnt more attentive next time will probably be our last visit. Theres just no excuse for servers who dont work their tables.
Apart from that, the food was truly delicious, and servings were generous, so it was totally worth the drive.
If you arent aware, Tuscola has a number of excellent restaurants that are worth hitting up if you live in C-U and want to try something new. Fesnors Candy Kitchen, right across the street from Joes, is also fabulous, but closes early.
