Restaurant Review

Every month, I receive an email from the Rewards Network telling me of new restaurants in the program. One such restaurant was Strapazza's. They're five restaurant chain located in Maryland. I chose to visit the Columbia, Maryland restaurant as it was closest to me. The Columbia restaurant is located a short distance from exit 2 on MD-100. The restaurant is one of a number of restaurants and shops in a small strip mall complex. I found parking somewhat limited compared to the parking at Remomo's in Arundel Mills Mall. The restaurant itself had a decent enough decor. Service was prompt but the choice of menu items was more limited than what was offered at Remomo's. I decided to try their fried calimari and shrimp cardinale.

The serving for their fried calimari seemed larger than what was offered at Remomo's. They also gave you more marinara sauce which was nice. Price wise, I believe their calimari cost $1 more than Remomo's. Like Remomo's, they were careful to offer small cut pieces of calimari. I've found that eating a large piece of calimari can be like trying to eat a piece of rubber so I appreciate restaurants that are careful about how they serve their calimari.

The shrimp cardinale was tastefully presented and had an excellent serving of pasta with it. It had plenty of button mushrooms and 6 jumbo size shrimp. Taste wise it was all right though I didn't like the pink sauce that came with the dish. I will chalk this up to my personal tastes. I don't think it was bad tasting, I just didn't like it. You, the reader might have different tastes so don't discard fine dish just because it didn't agree with me.

Overall, I found Strapazza's to be a nice restaurant comparably priced with Remomo's. Due to it more limited appetizer selection (6 items), lack of parking, and distance to get there, I'd recommend Remomo's over Strapazza. Still, if you're heading out on Maryland 100 and get a hankering for Italian food, you might want to give them a try. They're a decent restaurant though not one worth making a special effort to get to. Their website is located at http://www.strapazza.com.