I Know I Said I’d Never Go Back – But I Did
Slice Rating
In my previous writeup about Assaggio Del Forno in Boca Raton I said "Assaggio del Forno I’ve got news for you. I am not coming back". And I truly meant this statement since the extremely poor attitude of the manager and hostess made it a terrible experience for me, and one which I would never want to endure again. Most people who read this review site regularly know I am not that forgiving of a person. If you manage to turn me off once, I seldom will give you a second try, unless the food warranted it. In the case of Assaggio del Forno, I never got to try the food and my comments were based solely on the fact that I was mistreated by the manager and hostess.
All this changed when one of my dearest friends father asked me to please reconsider and to give it another try, since he loved the place and thought it would be worth the dining experience. Even another friend and reviewer here Herb told me this food was pretty darn good, and that I should give it a second chance. It is hard to say no to someone you hold with such high respect and regard, when they are offering to treat you for lunch just to try a place out that you never tasted and only disliked because of the staff the owners hired.
Although sick, and wanting to find plenty of excuses to cancel on them, we decided to meet at Assaggio del Forno in Boca on a Thursday. I got there a little late and I was embarrassed that I kept them waiting since I pride myself on being punctual. Assaggio del Forno was decorated pretty nicely inside, and it had a warm comfortable ambiance, even with communal tables in certain sections. The bar is placed over to the right of the place and the kitchen and ovens dead center. This time around the manager was nothing short of charming and extremely attentive to our needs.
Since I was only there to check out the pizza, I didn't partake in any of the appetizers that my lunch guests ordered, although they looked splendid. The pizza didn't take long to arrive and I was pleased with the presentation. The pizza had a nice aroma to it, and beautiful coloring, with some shredded cheese dribbled around the edges to add to the presentation. The cheese appeared fresh and sliced, but the sauce seemed a bit chunky. At least not as smooth as I prefer, but I know many others love it this way. Upon taking my first bite, I enjoyed the taste of the olive oil sprinkled on top of the fresh mozz cheese. The sauce underneath this blotted quality cheese was tasty, but not perfect. The crust tasted nice and had a hint of the olive oil which had seeped into it. It held up nicely and I really didn't find many other things wrong with this pizza. The only things I would recommend to Assaggio del Forno is to smooth the sauce out, and consider making the pie a little bigger. This is definitely not enough to share with two.
So to sum it up, I was actually quite pleased with Assaggio del Forno, and kind of happy I gave it a second chance (well a first food chance). It is amazing to me how hiring the wrong staff, or not educating them correctly could cause such dissention as it did in my case. I hope Mr. Max has made the necessary changes since my first experience, since like I said earlier, the manager this time was multiple times better than the girl the first night I went in.
And I want to note, if it wasn't for my friends offering to pay my way, and asking me with such sincerity, I would have probably never gone back.
Assaggio del Forno in Boca Raton gets 5 out of 8 slices.