The last time we hung out, we accidentally ended up having multiple brunches in one day, so Amy, Anuja and I decided it would be fun to do it again but intentionally this time. We decided to start with an Italian pasta outing and then end at Paulie Gee's just in time for when it to opened. Anuja had mentioned she heard that the pasta at Aita was delicious because of a former Top Chef contestant from Italy working there - so that seemed like a great place to start. It's in an adorable part of Clinton Hill and I could see it being a good neighborhood standby if I lived near by.
We decided to meet for a late lunch around 3pm but unfortunately they were still serving their breakfast menu and not their lunch/dinner which looked much yummier. Sine it was their breakfast menu, they only had 2 pastas and only one was vegetarian, so we defaulted to the fresh spaghetti ($13) as our pasta option (on their dinner menu they had several more exciting pasta choices like oxtail ravioli and spaghetti with octopus ragu). We then split the holy scramble ($13) as an egg option and for dessert we split 1 pancake side ($4). The fresh pasta was nicely done - fresh tomato sauce, shaved parm and topped with fresh basil. It was pretty basic and simple - so no complaints but no raves either. The holy scramble consisted of scrambled eggs, shrimp, roasted mushroom, kale and a side of greens. It was an interesting combination that hit on your salty taste buds but the eggs were a bit overcooked and not as fluffy as I would like my scrambled eggs to be. The reason we ordered it was because we saw another table order an egg dish and the eggs looked light, fluffy and beautiful. Ours did not quite match up. As for the pancake side, it was the exactly the size and portion that we needed. One small pancake - it had a crispy edge to it but it was soft on the inside and had some berries cooked on the inside. I wish more places did a side of pancake because sometimes all you want is just 1 or two small sweet bites.
While the food was totally fine (good but not mindblowing), the reason I gave it 3 forks instead of something higher was the service wasn't very good. The waitress was inattentive and could have cared less about us. She asked if we wanted any coffee and before we could answer her, she had already walked away. When Amy joined us late, she did the same thing. I get that she was the only one there but she wasn't apologetic about it nor interested in going above and beyond.
If I lived nearby, I would definitely give this place another shot. It's cute, the menu has solid items and the food isn't bad. But since I don't live nearby, it's unlikely I'll make the trek back on the G train in the near future. Total bill: $15/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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