We finally had a chance to try this restaurant last night (Friday).
Our server said it has been open for four months now. When you walk up, the menus are posted out front, although covered by a textured glass which makes them very hard to read. We could hear the music from inside, it was quite loud and we wondered if it would continue to be this loud the entire evening. The music was that loud all night, lol, but to our suprise it just blended in perfectly with the rest of the evening. The restaurant is quite large, many private rooms for large groups. Very beautiful, lots of red brick. Everything very modern looking. Orange accents.
Our server, Calogero, (Calo for short) was from Sicily. He greeted us promptly and began chatting away. Asked what water we wanted, why San Pellegrino of course. Gave us the menus and wine list to begin looking over.
The have quite a large menu. You can also check it out at swandolphin.com.
There is an extensive wine list, mostly sold by the bottle, only a couple per section sold by glass. Also a wonderful Scotch and dessert wine list.
San Pellegrino had been poured and put in ice bucket to keep cold for us.
So, on with the review. First thing out of the kitchen was a complimentary treat from the chef. It was eggplant with tomatoes, garlic and parm served cold with 4 slices of a very spicey italian sausage... and it was fabulous. I had never had eggplant before. I am sure there were other ingredients but that is all I can remember right now. Should have wrote this in the restaurant, lol. Tony brought out a basket of bread about same time eggplant was brought out. The breads were also very nice. There was a white, very aerated with a chewy crust.
A whole grain type, quite delicious. And our favorite of the night, the thin sliced oil, garlic and some type of red pepper toasted, maybe baked? at low temp for a long period of time to get that wonderful texture on all sides. Crisp, chewy, totally bursting with flavor. Delicious. When wonderful with the eggplant.
Calo stopped by several times, explaining menu, taking our questions so time to order.
We got a bottle of pinot grigio (Vigna des Papas) The popes vinyard is how it translates, hopefully my spelling is close. It was very crisp, light and we had not problem finishing the bottle by end of meal. (I will say, the bottles of wine are all prices for every budget..so no problems there. Bottles are definately the better buy). Hubby also ordered a red to go with his veal..can't remember the name of it..too strong for me, but he loved it..and it did go perfectly with the veal..as I had a little sample of them together..lol.
Hubby started with the Carpaccio. It covered the entire plate, huge slice. It was fabulous and went perfectly with the bottle of wine we had chosen.
I had the pasta Fagoli..also wonderful. Very light, pasta done perfectly.
So far, so good. Next up, pasta course. You can get a 1/2 portion of the pastas if you like to go with your meal. I was interested in trying the white cream sauce so we chose the tortellini stuffed with meat, covered in the white cream sauce and had fresh peas mixed in. Hubby was tenative about this dish, the red sauces are his favorite, he was totally suprised at how wonderful it was. They make 4 homemade pastas at Il Mulino, the tortellini was one of them. The other three have the red sauce which we will try next time for sure.
(side note about red sauce...as I was heading to restroom, a couple on the other end of restaurant had two of the other homemade pastas with the red sauce. The sauce smelt so good as I neared their table, I couldn't believe it.
The aroma of flavors was like a wonderful cloud surrounding their table. Made me very excited to taste it next time.)
Anyway, time for dinner. Hubby had the Saltimbocco. Veal, thin sliced topped with prociutto. It had garlic and fried sage and was on a bed of spinach. The dish was melt in your mouth wonderful.
I had the red snapper. This came on a bed of broccoli rabe, topped with prociutto and surrounded by a white wine sauce. For hubby and I, red snapper needs to be done just right and very few restaurants seem to have the majic touch. Well, the chef at Il Mulino does..this dish was fantastic.
We would definately order either of these dishes again, but probably won't as all the others on the menu looked just as wonderful and we will want to be trying them, lol.
We thought the portions were quite large. They definately don't skimp on anything. Hitting our limit we had to stop eating, as we knew we wanted to test a bottle of dessert wine, for dessert, lol?
I already knew which one, from the internet menu. I can remember it was from Tuscany..and it was $52 per bottle..lol. By this time, many tables had come and gone..although you are not rushed here. This is a take your time between courses to relax and enjoy type of place. Calo brought us the wine and he said..let me see if I can find you something to dip in the wine..Italian tradition. So, Calo comes out of the kitchen with a little plate of amaretto cookies (we found out later they were crumbled and used for something else to do with actual desserts). Calo said dip the cookies into the wine (he said they usually do this with biscotti but none in the restaurant, we said no problem). Wow...we learned something new and to taste the dessert wine that way put a whole new spin on the flavor. Very cool. So good, I ate part of hubby's little cookies, lol. Tony had come by to check on us, I asked for a couple more cookies since I ate hubbys..lol. He said sure, no problem. My hubby told me I was shameless, lol, I said no, you need to have a couple more, we still had 1/2 bottle of wine to go and I wanted to try it again myself.
While we were enjoy our dessert wine and cookies we saw the servers carrying around this large metal bucket type container. Well, before the meal started we asked Calo if they made homemade limoncello at the restaturant. Calo said yes, and we said is it good, he said oh yes. He said I will bring you some at end of meal. Well, that big bucket full of ice keeps the limoncello cold and the serve it to you with a ladle right there at the table. Wow, is all we both could say. It was creamy, sweet with just the right bite. We really enjoyed it. Hubby and I love limoncello ever since we had tasted it in EPCOT Italy pavillion. We have been buying that same branded bottle from our local liqour store for years now. We had never had homemade..so the limoncello at Il Mulino is quite a treat.
When we ordered the dessert wine, hubby had also chosen a cigar off the list. Nice touch to the dessert menu..all the scotches and then having the cigars to enjoy with the fine drink.
Anyway, by then the manager had visited the table a couple times. When you order a cigar, if you would like to have it there, they set you up outside with a little table, cutter, matches, etc..so you can enjoy it. Hubby and I both thought that was a wonderful touch.
A few side notes:
The restaurant is very kid friendly. Childrens menu is not the usual chicken nuggets and hot dogs, it is small sized italian meal entrees.
We have never had any food come out of a restaurant anywhere so hot and fresh. This food WAS NOT sitting under heat lamps waiting for an overworked server to bring it to the table. It was brought out immediately.
You have a server who has an assistant, and then there is a regular water boy, the person who pours the pellegrino, someone to bring out food. A whole team of people watching to make sure everything is perfect for you.
Il Mulino is the type of place, they seat you, place the napkin in your lap, refold it if you leave the table and place it back in your lap again when you return.
We really enjoyed Il Mulino and would definately return. Lot's of wonderful items on the menu yet to be tried!
Hope this has been helpful to those of you with reservations coming up!
Our server said it has been open for four months now. When you walk up, the menus are posted out front, although covered by a textured glass which makes them very hard to read. We could hear the music from inside, it was quite loud and we wondered if it would continue to be this loud the entire evening. The music was that loud all night, lol, but to our suprise it just blended in perfectly with the rest of the evening. The restaurant is quite large, many private rooms for large groups. Very beautiful, lots of red brick. Everything very modern looking. Orange accents.
Our server, Calogero, (Calo for short) was from Sicily. He greeted us promptly and began chatting away. Asked what water we wanted, why San Pellegrino of course. Gave us the menus and wine list to begin looking over.
The have quite a large menu. You can also check it out at swandolphin.com.
There is an extensive wine list, mostly sold by the bottle, only a couple per section sold by glass. Also a wonderful Scotch and dessert wine list.
San Pellegrino had been poured and put in ice bucket to keep cold for us.
So, on with the review. First thing out of the kitchen was a complimentary treat from the chef. It was eggplant with tomatoes, garlic and parm served cold with 4 slices of a very spicey italian sausage... and it was fabulous. I had never had eggplant before. I am sure there were other ingredients but that is all I can remember right now. Should have wrote this in the restaurant, lol. Tony brought out a basket of bread about same time eggplant was brought out. The breads were also very nice. There was a white, very aerated with a chewy crust.
A whole grain type, quite delicious. And our favorite of the night, the thin sliced oil, garlic and some type of red pepper toasted, maybe baked? at low temp for a long period of time to get that wonderful texture on all sides. Crisp, chewy, totally bursting with flavor. Delicious. When wonderful with the eggplant.
Calo stopped by several times, explaining menu, taking our questions so time to order.
We got a bottle of pinot grigio (Vigna des Papas) The popes vinyard is how it translates, hopefully my spelling is close. It was very crisp, light and we had not problem finishing the bottle by end of meal. (I will say, the bottles of wine are all prices for every budget..so no problems there. Bottles are definately the better buy). Hubby also ordered a red to go with his veal..can't remember the name of it..too strong for me, but he loved it..and it did go perfectly with the veal..as I had a little sample of them together..lol.
Hubby started with the Carpaccio. It covered the entire plate, huge slice. It was fabulous and went perfectly with the bottle of wine we had chosen.
I had the pasta Fagoli..also wonderful. Very light, pasta done perfectly.
So far, so good. Next up, pasta course. You can get a 1/2 portion of the pastas if you like to go with your meal. I was interested in trying the white cream sauce so we chose the tortellini stuffed with meat, covered in the white cream sauce and had fresh peas mixed in. Hubby was tenative about this dish, the red sauces are his favorite, he was totally suprised at how wonderful it was. They make 4 homemade pastas at Il Mulino, the tortellini was one of them. The other three have the red sauce which we will try next time for sure.
(side note about red sauce...as I was heading to restroom, a couple on the other end of restaurant had two of the other homemade pastas with the red sauce. The sauce smelt so good as I neared their table, I couldn't believe it.
The aroma of flavors was like a wonderful cloud surrounding their table. Made me very excited to taste it next time.)
Anyway, time for dinner. Hubby had the Saltimbocco. Veal, thin sliced topped with prociutto. It had garlic and fried sage and was on a bed of spinach. The dish was melt in your mouth wonderful.
I had the red snapper. This came on a bed of broccoli rabe, topped with prociutto and surrounded by a white wine sauce. For hubby and I, red snapper needs to be done just right and very few restaurants seem to have the majic touch. Well, the chef at Il Mulino does..this dish was fantastic.
We would definately order either of these dishes again, but probably won't as all the others on the menu looked just as wonderful and we will want to be trying them, lol.
We thought the portions were quite large. They definately don't skimp on anything. Hitting our limit we had to stop eating, as we knew we wanted to test a bottle of dessert wine, for dessert, lol?
I already knew which one, from the internet menu. I can remember it was from Tuscany..and it was $52 per bottle..lol. By this time, many tables had come and gone..although you are not rushed here. This is a take your time between courses to relax and enjoy type of place. Calo brought us the wine and he said..let me see if I can find you something to dip in the wine..Italian tradition. So, Calo comes out of the kitchen with a little plate of amaretto cookies (we found out later they were crumbled and used for something else to do with actual desserts). Calo said dip the cookies into the wine (he said they usually do this with biscotti but none in the restaurant, we said no problem). Wow...we learned something new and to taste the dessert wine that way put a whole new spin on the flavor. Very cool. So good, I ate part of hubby's little cookies, lol. Tony had come by to check on us, I asked for a couple more cookies since I ate hubbys..lol. He said sure, no problem. My hubby told me I was shameless, lol, I said no, you need to have a couple more, we still had 1/2 bottle of wine to go and I wanted to try it again myself.
While we were enjoy our dessert wine and cookies we saw the servers carrying around this large metal bucket type container. Well, before the meal started we asked Calo if they made homemade limoncello at the restaturant. Calo said yes, and we said is it good, he said oh yes. He said I will bring you some at end of meal. Well, that big bucket full of ice keeps the limoncello cold and the serve it to you with a ladle right there at the table. Wow, is all we both could say. It was creamy, sweet with just the right bite. We really enjoyed it. Hubby and I love limoncello ever since we had tasted it in EPCOT Italy pavillion. We have been buying that same branded bottle from our local liqour store for years now. We had never had homemade..so the limoncello at Il Mulino is quite a treat.
When we ordered the dessert wine, hubby had also chosen a cigar off the list. Nice touch to the dessert menu..all the scotches and then having the cigars to enjoy with the fine drink.
Anyway, by then the manager had visited the table a couple times. When you order a cigar, if you would like to have it there, they set you up outside with a little table, cutter, matches, etc..so you can enjoy it. Hubby and I both thought that was a wonderful touch.
A few side notes:
The restaurant is very kid friendly. Childrens menu is not the usual chicken nuggets and hot dogs, it is small sized italian meal entrees.
We have never had any food come out of a restaurant anywhere so hot and fresh. This food WAS NOT sitting under heat lamps waiting for an overworked server to bring it to the table. It was brought out immediately.
You have a server who has an assistant, and then there is a regular water boy, the person who pours the pellegrino, someone to bring out food. A whole team of people watching to make sure everything is perfect for you.
Il Mulino is the type of place, they seat you, place the napkin in your lap, refold it if you leave the table and place it back in your lap again when you return.
We really enjoyed Il Mulino and would definately return. Lot's of wonderful items on the menu yet to be tried!
Hope this has been helpful to those of you with reservations coming up!
It's great with little biscotti called Cantuccini....they are really quite hard and have almonds in them....dipping them in the wine makes them yummy and soft 
