Decent Lunch Special at Il Corallo Trattoria

The other day my co-workers and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and find a spot where we could dine outside. While walking up the streets of Soho, we couldn’t find an affordable spot with outdoor dining (suggestions welcomed), so instead my co-worker Wells directed us to Il Corallo Trattoria, promising us cheap food (but no outdoor seating). He certainly delivered.

I didn’t take a look at the rest of the menu, but the lunch menu was certainly cheap. For $9.95, you had the option of soup or salad and an entree. There were paninis, pastas and pizzas on the menu, as well as a salad for an entree if you wanted to do a soup and salad combo. Since it was about 80 degrees out, I went with a salad and fusili with peas and mushrooms in a tomato cream sauce.

The salad came out and as far as a house salad went, I found it to be delicious. I loved that they gave us olive oil and vinegar so we could create our own little basic dressing, and thought there was a good mix of different veggies in my salad (tomatoes, mushrooms, onions), so I was a happy camper.

I found the service to be great throughout the meal. While the waiter originally told me they were out of fusili and had to swap my dish with penne (rumor has it that they make their own pasta), he came by while I was eating my salad to let me know the fusili was back, which I thought was nice. Other tables may beg to differ. I saw one couple getting annoyed that they couldn’t get our waiter’s attention to get more soda. I watched them for at least 3 minutes glaring at the waiter. I think the problem was that they were all the way in the corner towards the front of the restaurant, while we were smack in the middle, center-stage, so we didn’t have a problem.

Our pasta came out and I found it to be good. Good sauce, nice amount of mushrooms and peas, and the pasta was perfectly al dente. While eating the sauce though, I didn’t notice anything phenomenal about it. I’ll admit it was a good sauce, but it didn’t have any special seasonings or anything that made it memorable. It was a solid meal don’t get me wrong, but let’s put it this way - I didn’t leave knowing the restaurant’s name. I had to look up the address for Peep, a Thai restaurant across the street, to find out what Italian place I ate at.

To sum it up - if you are in Soho, want Italian, have no clue where to eat, and don’t want to take the risk of walking into a bad restaurant, eat at Il Corallo Trattoria.