Piola

Piola is new in midtown off of Louisiana next to Sushi Raku.  It's Italian, pizza is their specialty and they are a national chain.

I thought it looked cute on the outside.  Interior is decent.

Fun menu and designs.

Bruschetta, tons of tomatoes.  It's basically what it looks like, toasted bread, tomatoes, basil and some parmasan.

Seth got the FUSILLI BIANCO VERDE (With broccoli, chicken breast, cream and grana padano cheese. $11).  He made a comment about Piola just settling for mediocre.  I tried this dish too, it was pretty bland and boring.

I asked our server to recommend something, I always tell them I'm going to blog.  She suggested the Piola pizza. I liked it.  One complaint, there were too many sundried tomatoes.  I had to scooch some of them off.  I love thin crust, but the problem with that is you never quite feel satisfied.  It's almost like you have to have it as an appetizer.  I think La Griglia has this pizza in their bread basket and it's good and free!

I thought our server was ok.  I think she forgot us at the end.  She did seem new at the job.  The manager came by and gave us a sample of the gnocchi.  It's all you can eat for $13 every 29th day of the month.  They were very friendly and nice and I thought the gnocchi was good minus the fact it had tuna on it.  Fishy.

Final thought is that it's a decent spot in midtown and near downtown if you're looking for something Italian and/or pizza.  But even then I'd prefer NY Pizzeria.  Between the bruschetta, pasta, gnocchi and pizza I wasn't really impressed.  It felt very minimal.  I wasn't too crazy about the interior decor either.  But again, staff and sever were very friendly.  If you do make it this way, try Sushi Raku.  I've always had great experiences there from the food, staff, atmosphere, and beating on the drumbs!