Moni's Italian Restaurant

[SoonerQueen]

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We ate at Moni's for the first time this week. It was very good. It's at 172nd and N May. The food is reasonably priced and extremely good. It was recommended to me by Caryn Ross. They have homemade salad dressing, hot garlic rolls, and really yummy entrees. I can't wait to go back and try something different. You ought to check it out.

[Rover]

They also have gluten-free items...pasta and pizza.

[jbkrems]

I ate there and did not like it. I thought it was typical inferior Italian food in Oklahoma. It was better than several other local Italian places, but it still does not compare with what I can get in Tulsa or other cities which have superior restaurants. I also thought my server was snobbish towards me, and that was not welcomed, either. Not trying to be contrary here, but I won't go back.

[HangryHippo]

I ate there and did not like it. I thought it was typical inferior Italian food in Oklahoma. It was better than several other local Italian places, but it still does not compare with what I can get in Tulsa or other cities which have superior restaurants. I also thought my server was snobbish towards me, and that was not welcomed, either. Not trying to be contrary here, but I won't go back.

What Italian places do you like?

[jbkrems]

Tulsa has at least one or two, maybe three Italian places that are good. I have been several times to Biga on Peoria, and that place is the best Italian restaurant in the State of Oklahoma. I have also been to Delesandros near downtown Tulsa, and it is very good, as well. There is a 3rd Italian restaurant which is in the Brookside district on Peoria. I believe it is called Mondo's. I have never been there, but I hear its excellent from others who have been there. Very authentic. To me, all of the Italian places in OKC, for the most part, are inferior. I have never been to Gabriellas, though, and that may be an exception, although reviews have been very mixed. Likewise, I hear mixed things on Portobellos on Reno. Never been but have heard mixed reviews.

[Stew]

Tulsa has at least one or two, maybe three Italian places that are good. I have been several times to Biga on Peoria, and that place is the best Italian restaurant in the State of Oklahoma. I have also been to Delesandros near downtown Tulsa, and it is very good, as well. There is a 3rd Italian restaurant which is in the Brookside district on Peoria. I believe it is called Mondo's. I have never been there, but I hear its excellent from others who have been there. Very authentic. To me, all of the Italian places in OKC, for the most part, are inferior. I have never been to Gabriellas, though, and that may be an exception, although reviews have been very mixed. Likewise, I hear mixed things on Portobellos on Reno. Never been but have heard mixed reviews.

Biga??? Eh, I've had better Italian food from a can.

[Rover]

I have spent considerable time in Italy and eat a lot of Italian food. Every time I have been to Moni's it has been pretty good. It is kind of like a lot of New York City everyday Italian restaurants. It isn't trying to be haute cuisine, just good basic Italian. The pasta is usually not overdone and I can get al dente which is how I like. The pink sauce is good. This isn't a spectacular restaurant, just a good neighborhood type of place...cozy with good basic Italian food.

BTW, staff has always been very good when I have been there - an opinion shared by many of my friends. Not sure what would have precipitated a snobbish treatment. Sometimes it isn't the server but the servee. But, sometimes servers have a bad day too.

[jbkrems]

I've never been to NYC so I am not familiar with that kind of an everyday Italian restaurant. I am from St. Louis, though, where we have a big Italian community called The Hill, and a lot of well-liked Italian restaurants. They ARE haute cuisine. My pasta was definitely over cooked. I ordered the chicken marsala and it was just off in a lot of ways. At least the chicken was not over cooked which I have experienced pretty much everywhere else in Oklahoma. Pink sauce is not authentic Italian. I've never seen pink sauce on a menu at a real Italian restaurant. With regards to my service, sometimes I as a restaurant guest (I do not like the term you used "servee"), I just do not get it, or have a lot of questions on my first visit. They did have an expansive menu, and I applaud them for that. But the food was not that great. Capiche ?

[RadicalModerate]

Rao's is perhaps the most famous, "elitist" Italian Restaurant in NYC.
I have a copy of this cookbook on my Kitchen Library shelves.
It is perhaps one of the best cookbooks ever assembled.

One of the most striking things about it is how simple and down to earth most of the recipes are.

[Steve]

I love this place and it really reminds me of small family Italian restaurants I enjoyed back in New York. Food is great and I never experienced pretentious service.

[RadicalModerate]

I love this place and it really reminds me of small family Italian restaurants I enjoyed back in New York. Food is great and I never experienced pretentious service.

You are referring to Moni's, not Rao's, right? =)
(You have to be, like, Jesus at the Second Coming to get seated at Rao's)

How do the prices at Moni's compare to, say, Vito's or Papa Dio's?
I'm really tempted to give Moni's a try . . . even if I'm on a semi-strict "eating plan".

[ctchandler]

Jbkrems,
I haven't spent a lot of time in St. Louis, but I enjoyed Pietro's on The Hill, and also an Italian leaning Mexican restaurant. It was good but it was the first time I ever had parmesan cheese on my Mexican enchilada dinner. Pietro's is good, but not necessarily better than our better Italian restaurants, just different. I think Italian is one of those styles that is tailored to the local preferences because it seems to be different everywhere I go, and I have been a few places.
C. T.

[RadicalModerate]

C.T.: I love the concept of "an Italian leaning Mexican restaurant."
There was a "down-home" pizza place in my hometown called "The Leaning Tower of Pizza."
(and that was before a lot of other places stole the concept)

It wasn't, by any chance, called something like "The Leaning Tower of Tacos" was it? =)
Frankly, "The Leaning Tower of Quesadillas" would be more a propos, I guess.
World (con)Fusion Cuisine. You gotta love it. How about "Esperanto" for a name for a place like that? =)

Are the "Custinos" available for some consulting . . . ?

(if one could figure out how to build "an Italian leaning Mexican restaurant"--that actually rotated around a vertical axis--it might help diners to feel as if they were enjoying al fresco dining on a gondola in Venice. except the sensation would be more horizontal than vertical.)

Well . . . That nails it: Enough with the imaginary stuff. Gotta try Moni's.

[Dubya61]

I think Italian is one of those styles that is tailored to the local preferences because it seems to be different everywhere I go, and I have been a few places.
C. T.

Spot on, C.T. Italy is quite a eclectic place, too. Even the "Italian" food you get in Sicily is dramatically different from "Italian" food in Tuscany, Piedmont, and Venice.

[RadicalModerate]

I would imagine the "dramatic difference" is enhanced on Sicily.
(but I've never been there, so i don't know. therefore, i may be unduly biased. blame Mario Puzo.=)

I DO know that I prefer Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil to Fillipo Barrio Extra Virgin Olive Oil for the dishes I prepare.
Even if Fillipo Barrio is the Extra Virgin Olive Oil they recommend and use at Rao's.

I wonder what brand of EVOO they use at Moni's . . .
Guess I'll have to check it out . . .
But not tonight. Tonight is Pan-Seared Halibut with Taters and Coleslaw Deluxo.

[Rover]

I've never been to NYC so I am not familiar with that kind of an everyday Italian restaurant. I am from St. Louis, though, where we have a big Italian community called The Hill, and a lot of well-liked Italian restaurants. They ARE haute cuisine. My pasta was definitely over cooked. I ordered the chicken marsala and it was just off in a lot of ways. At least the chicken was not over cooked which I have experienced pretty much everywhere else in Oklahoma. Pink sauce is not authentic Italian. I've never seen pink sauce on a menu at a real Italian restaurant. With regards to my service, sometimes I as a restaurant guest (I do not like the term you used "servee"), I just do not get it, or have a lot of questions on my first visit. They did have an expansive menu, and I applaud them for that. But the food was not that great. Capiche ?

I understand, but disagree. I too lived in St. Louis for awhile and frequented the Hill. In fact was there last month for the cards Pirates series. Love the Italian there - especially at Gian Tony's. But like Monis as well. It isn't either or.

And, I have had many pink sauce dishes in Italy, so I would think it may be authentic enough. I've also had a lot of northern Italian many here wouldn't recognize as authentic....like tuna sauces, etc. Most in OK only know Red sauces and don't realize food is very regionalized in Italy, as in most countries.

As I said, Monis is just good basic Italian food in a nice intimate setting...the way it should be.

[Rover]

You are referring to Moni's, not Rao's, right? =)
(You have to be, like, Jesus at the Second Coming to get seated at Rao's)

How do the prices at Moni's compare to, say, Vito's or Papa Dio's?
I'm really tempted to give Moni's a try . . . even if I'm on a semi-strict "eating plan".

Better pricing.

[RadicalModerate]

Better pricing.

Thank You, Sir.
(i was awaiting a response, cost/value-wise)

Although I still have to wonder about whether or not the definition of "better" leans more in the direction of the "eating emporium" or the "patron of the eating emporium." =)

{there used to be a "Family" owned I-tie place, in a little burg called Louisville, east of Boulder, CO--in coal mining country/and the mining thereof--called "Collaci's". (The Family was so good at what they did that they had two other restaurants in the same little town. One of the other two was called The Blue Parrot. I don't remember the name of the other one. People would come from miles around to enjoy authentic Italian home cooking. I think the Blue Parrot was a little more "snooty." Pagliacci's--down the road, in Denver, was also passable, cuisine-wise, but sort of "slummy" . . . for lack of a "better" term. But when the owner--of Collaci's--caught some fledgling PC flak (from budding "liberals" back in the '70s) over "The Wopburger" he made an even more true believer out of me in the exceptionalism of his enterprize when he defied the critics and fought the "lawsuit" for awhile until he died.}

Dang. A toss-up between "Homemade Halibut" and "Moni's" grows ever nearer.
(what? take food commentary seriously? are you joking? =)

[warreng88]

Might want to try out Bella Vista on SW 58th and Western sometime if you want really good Italian food. Easily my favorite Italian place in OKC. The place doesn't look like much, the location isn't great and the service can be kind of slow, but it is totally worth it once you get the food. If you are going for the first time, do not go on a Friday or Saturday night. Go on another weekday (Not Monday, they are closed) and get there with the ability to wait 30 minutes to an hour for your food. Basically, don't go hungry, but don't go full either.

[mikesimpsons82]

It was recommended to me by Caryn Ross.

Uh, impressive.....?

[RadicalModerate]

Uh, impressive.....?

You can't be serious. =)

Regretably, my plan for "Homemade Halibut" vs "Moni's" (first time) was unexpectedly interrupted (and decided) by a generous gift of a bag of "local" (Lake Texhoma) striped bass filets from the guys with whom my wife works who just returned from an outing involving fishing and business. I probably could have made a simple Pomodoro sauce (including the remains of the basil out back) and some pasta to stick with the "Italian" theme, yet I opted to postpone the Pasta con Pomodoro y Pesci (or whatever) in order to use up them Taters and in order to further anticipate our upcoming visit to Moni's on May.

Texhoma Striped Bass Filets are delicious and probably better than anything caught in any canal of Venice or Sicily or even Bricktown, if you get right down to it . . . ('specially the way i cooked 'em =)

Abraham Maslow had a saying:
You think you really know something about hierarchies and human "needs" and food pyramids? (heh, heh, heh)
Guess again.

[RadicalModerate]

Eschewing all procrastination, we made it to Moni's last night. We got there a little after 6:00. My first impressions, just inside the door, were that I liked the way the place looked and I liked the background music. One of the two people working the dining area asked if we preferred a booth or a table. We opted for a booth.

Right after being seated, our waitress came to the table and asked what we would like to drink. I said I'd like a glass of Chianti and my wife said she would have one too. She returned shortly with two HUGE wine glasses, each more than half filled with what turned out to be some more than acceptable wine. She told us she would be back in a moment with some "bread fresh from the oven." The bread arrived in the form of two magnificent rolls about the size of croquet balls. (Croquet balls are bigger than baseballs . . . aren't they?) I could write a paragraph about how good the rolls were but I will spare you.

Normally, the first time I visit an Italian restaurant I order the Spaghetti and Meatballs. My thinking here is that there is no point in ordering anything more adventurous (or expensive) if they can't do that right. This time I didn't follow my ususal protocol, partly because I'm watching what I eat and partly because I wasn't really up for a pasta overload. It was difficult to select from the many tempting choices on the menu, but I opted to try their version of Chicken Picatta. My wife chose the Eggplant Parmegiana.

The salads preceeding the entrees were cool, fresh, crisp and delighful with the Tomato Vinaigarette dressing. My wife wondered how they kept the lettuce so . . . lifelike. I suggested that maybe they had a commercial crisper that maintained perfect humdity.

My Chicken Picatta was perfectly cooked, including the texture of the sampling of pasta that accompanied it. I also liked the fact that they didn't skimp on the capers. My wife thought that the eggplant base of her selection might have been cooked just a bit too long but had a great taste. I know that it is difficult to get eggplant to just the right degree of doneness and also that the little sample of it that I tasted was just fine. It had a lovely Marinara sauce that was as good, in its own way, as the delicately elegant lemon butter Picatta sauce that graced my plate.

Oh! Did I mention that the entire ticket for this dining delight was only $34 and change before tax and (a nice) tip?

Eventually, I'd like to try just about everything on Moni's menu so I guess we will have to go back relatively soon. In fact, we definitely will do that.

[ctchandler]

RM,
Very nice review, and you have convinced me to rush over there. Ok, I was going to go sooner or later anyway, but you have encouraged me to go sooner.
C. T.

[kevinpate]

Sub 40 (pre-tip), with wine? Value pricing indeed. Awfully far north though. Of course, I've been known to feel that way about AA and Midtown at times as well, so Moni's is like whole nuther country territory for me.

[cagoklahoma]

Not to change the thread, but have any of you been to Venezia on NW Expressway and Council? (In the shopping center behind McDonalds) That is our normal OKC Italian eatery. They have very good food. This past Sunday after reading this thread, the wife and I went to Moni’s. It is very unassuming. I did not expect the inside to be so well done. The food was very good. Thanks OKC talk for letting me know about another great local spot.