Eatery - Nick's Pizza Ristorante Italiano (CA)

2300 Harbor Blvd Ste K1, Costa Mesa 92626
Pricing - $$ | Dining - Casual, To-Go | Cuisine - Italian
http://nickspizzapasta.com/

So I opted to do another Grubwithus meal since they have becoming more prevalent in Orange County (hoorah! might arrange one of my own sometime...). The restaurant was a mystery until a few days before the meal which was okay with me only because I'll eat everything. I hope it was good for others too. It was definitely a much smaller crowd than my previous meal which was travel-themed; this one was called "All is Fair in Love and Internet," which was focused on building the internet in the present. Fun people who were curious conversationalists and very entrepreneur-minded.


Let's run through our menu! The first two things that came out were the calamari and bruschetta. The calamari came out in strips instead of the typical rings but this definitely allowed for thicker bites of squid. The breading was fairly good on this as it was herby and crunchy; squeezing lemon also improved the overall taste. The bruschetta left much to be desired as the bread was just decent and the vegetables (tomatoes, basil, garlic, kalamata olive) hardly dressed.


The enormous pizza that came out actually would have been enough for the four of us without any appetizers or other entrees. However, I'm guessing that restaurants like to go crazy with Grubwithus meals and overdo it on portions. Well this beast of a pizza was actually quite delicious in terms of toppings. The crust was very bready which made for unfortunate leftover pizza (hah) but also for a desire for more flavor. This was Nick's Future Pizza which had tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil, Parmigiano cheese, and red onions - deliciously fresh.


The two pasta entrees that came out were the gnocchi in a marinara and an eggplant penne. I have to admit that though I found the gnocchi pasta itself fairly good in terms of texture, the entire dish just seemed very Chef Boyardee to me. I mean, it just made me think about childhood eats from a can. I didn't have much of the eggplant penne (included zucchini, peas, and garlic) because it really didn't suit my fancy as I tend to get a small reaction to eggplant.


Dessert was tiramisu. It was moist and very heavy on the coffee. I actually ended up eating most of it as the person sharing with me wasn't a fan of tiramisu. It was quite delightful as an end to the meal and full of flavor.