Ninja Poodles Local

Just in case some of you Jacksonville/North-Pulaski-County/Cabot-area folks might be missing out on this little jewel, I thought I'd remind you about the area's only Italian restaurant, Roma, in Jacksonville. (501-982-8055, open Tuesday-Sunday)

Located on John Harden Drive (the access road on the west side of 67-167 just north of Jacksonville proper), Roma Italian Restaurant bookends the Quicksilver Plaza, with another independently-owned ethnic endeavor, El Maguey Mexican Restaurant holding up the other end. Owned and run by the Morina family, Roma offers traditional Italian fare prepared by...well, a traditional Italian man. Depending on your mood, you can opt for a sufficiently sophisticated date-night meal, or get a lot of bang for your family-dining buck with the kids in tow.


This is, as evidenced here, our own four-year-old daughter's absolute most-desired place to eat out, currently even eclipsing her perennial favorite, the Dixie Cafe. Chef Morina once made her some not-on-the-menu fresh spinach manicotti, and she has begged for it nearly daily since then. This child is still shy of the 40-pound mark, and usually has to be coaxed to eat much at all, but at Roma, we are forced to eschew the "children's menu" altogether, and order her an adult-sized portion of pasta, lest she quickly finish her own dinner and start raiding ours.

In this family, Daddy prefers an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms, and the "Chef's Special" entree, a seafood-based pasta dish in a variant of alla ponna sauce with the distinct, but subtle, heat and smoke of roasted peppers. Mom waffles between a chicken and sausage pasta dish named after the chef, or something wholesome and uncomplicated like the Sampler Platter (a trio of lasagna, manicotti, and spinach ravioli, all for about $6). Littlun is an unfailing patron of the spinach ravioli, always and forever, amen.

At lunchtime, you can hardly beat the light, flavorful, made-to-order pizza. Coupled with a salad, Roma's individual-sized pizza is the perfect answer for when you have a hankering for pizza but are sick to death of the heavy, soggy, sauce-drowned offerings of the chain pizza places. If we HAD to compare it to another local pizza, we'd say it reminded us a bit of the pies from U.S. Pizza. But a little better. Did we mention the fresh herbed yeast rolls the size of your head? Because, yeah. Have some of those. They're complimentary anyway, and I'm pretty sure it's a major sin to waste good bread.

For two people, you could easily spend $50-75 on dinner, BUT you can just as easily feed those same two people very well on less than $20. Thumbs up from here.

Downside? Well, some of the dishes are practically begging for a nice grating of FRESH parmesan, which is, so far, not available (nudge, nudge). Also, I am no longer able to prepare pasta for my daughter at home because "THAT'S NOT HOW THEY MAKE IT AT THE RESTAURANT."

*DISCLAIMER: This blogger has absolutely no financial interest in this or any other restaurant mentioned in this space. However, this blogger is repeatedly mystified at Jacksonville's apparent inability to keep a good restaurant thriving, so I like to see locals supporting the availability of good food when we have it.  Because this blogger likes her some good food.