Joe's Italian Grill ~ Texas chain : Huntsville

Well, look at this, Rude Dante is stepping into the old RJG and Mr. Music territory of southeast Texas. I had given him a little backdrop on the Italian restaurant scene in DFW before he ventured in. This looks to be a Houston branch of a familiar brand name in the DFW area. There are 10 locations that I could find via Google. Let's see what Rude Dante and Rude Sidekick concluded:

1607 11th St Huntsville, TX 77340

On paper, this looked like the perfect joint. It's in a strip mall shared with a payday lender, a vape shop, a cheap mobile provider and an appliance store that makes Aaron's look like a respectable, legit business. Lots of overweight clientele - AND IT ALMOST HAS RJG IN THE NAME - so what could go wrong?

We entered and sat - very cafeteria-esque - and I immediately gravitated to an old standby (chicken parm, with a side of eggplant parm). Rude Sidekick opts to ask for something lighter (pasta with just butter), which the manager comes to clarify into a Pasta Aglio e Olio - made with angel hair pasta. We both had salads, and true to form I went for the house dressing (red wine vinaigrette), while she opted for blue cheese.

It's a sad day when I get one-upped at an Italian joint by someone who claims to not even like the stuff, but her salad was better (my red wine vinaigrette kinda resembles BBQ sauce), her pasta was better (picture a gourmet scampi or picata - THAT good, while mine was just OK), only the bread was shared equally and both found it great. For my side, I got a beer - a locally made blonde (photo to follow), so that helped balance the ledger.

Biggest challenge on my plate - and this is make-or-break stuff - was the sauce. Not much spice or flavor, and what flavor there was is closer to catsup than marinara. The chicken was really good, hard to tell with pasta & eggplant, but the sauce over everything was just not up to snuff. I took leftovers; we'll see.

Meanwhile, a steady stream of pizza take-out business comes in and out the front door. Maybe if there is a next time, I'll try a pie or a calzone. Or perhaps I'll follow my Rude Sidekick and order the Pasta Aglio e Olio.

Regular Joe himself provided a succinct preview of the joint and assessed it as a potential front operation for a Balkan underground movement. He can add additional commentary as this has to pass muster before posting. (ED: lol. nope - all good. Looks like this isn't one of the better Balkan owned restaurants. Tony's in Watauga and Niki's in Keller would be two to recommend in this genre if you are ever back in the Fort Worth area. Hadn't tried that brewery either!).

- Rude Dante review