2-Minute Review: Azrielle's

An old pasta joint is new again, with fabulously affordable results.

The Place: Azrielle’s is located in the former Pasta Pronto location at 2137 W. Republic Rd., in a strip mall spot that originally housed one of the south side’s first sushi restaurants. Little has changed décor-wise since the original tenant, though the details translated nicely from Japanese to Italian. The walls are a rich, textured gold, the accents mostly dark. A bar has been built and a few menu options added, but many of the staple pasta dishes, as well as the house salads and bread, remain from Pasta Pronto, mostly unchanged in both consistency and price. Our young waiter was polite and competent, if not out-of-this-world.

The Menu: Looking over Azrielle’s options, you’d be hard pressed to find a more affordable sit-down restaurant in all of Springfield. Most menu items hover somewhere between $4.50 and $7, and the most expensive dish on the menu is a 10 oz. Rib Eye for $10.95.

The Food: My wife and I went vegetarian on a recent Sunday afternoon visit to Azrielle’s. She tried the spinach and artichoke ravioli ($5.29), while I ordered the eggplant Parmesan ($6.39). Spinach-artichoke ravioli? The thought of stuffing everyone’s favorite chip dip inside soft spinach-pasta ravioli pockets sounded so good, I wondered why I’d never seen it before. In reality, it’s better on the menu than on the plate—but it was still very tasty and came in a manageable portion. The eggplant Parmesan was delightful—battered eggplant soft and thin, served with a side of penne marinara pasta.

The Score: Had the prices been high, I wouldn’t have walked out of Azrielle’s with such fluttery good feelings, but with only three items on the entire menu more than $8, I know I’ll return when I want pasta. It’s as good for the money as Olive Garden, without the histrionics. Give it a solid B on the overall scale, and bump it up to an A- when money is tight.