A fairly new addition to the Clayton restaurant scene, from the outside, Mad Tomato located at 8000 Carondelet Avenue seems to offer something unique. Its décor is the epitome of low-key sophisticated with most patrons wearing dressy casual attire but staff being formal and polite.
The second I walked in, an overwhelming feeling of… oldness overcame me. For one, it was a Friday night and the crowd was mainly adults dressed ready for sipping wine and leaving the kids at home. Also, the inside of Mad Tomato looked like it should be on the cover of Anthropologie or some kind of sophisticated boutique. From the bright red chairs to the artfully placed utensils along the wall, I approved of the overall atmosphere. The service was also great with our waiter being knowledgeable and accomodating.
The side doors of the restaurant are left open leading to an open patio ideal for warm summer nights. This may have been a result of the perfume I was wearing or the fact that I have bad luck, but a bug flew into my water twice so entomophobes, beware of outdoor seating.
The menu isn’t very diverse. Pizzas range from $10-16, pastas range from $16-20 and entrees range from $19-28. I definitely wouldn’t call this restaurant cheap. Other than the Margherita pizza, I wouldn’t see anything necessarily appealing to children unless your child enjoys Cavatelli con Fagioli or Grandma’s Eggplant. The menu is sophisticated, high-end and pretty pricey so I’d label this a special occasion restaurant.
The great thing about this restaurant is its emphasis on preparing each meal with great detail with the downfall being the time it takes to prepare. However, when I received my $18 Maccheroni Larghi-Pork Rib Ragu, which is basically an Italianized, complicated name for pasta with tomatoes, it literally came in a white bowl. After waiting over forty minutes, it was definitely a bit of a let down. I expected at least some kind of attempt at intricate plating especially for waiting such a long time but nope, just pasta in a bowl. The pasta was decent; the braised pork rib that my waiter told me “was braised in tomato sauce, scraped off the bone, and then heated in tomato sauce again” was the best part except when I bit into a large hunk of fat that was not pleasing at all. So to wrap up, it was “meh,” nothing more, nothing less. However, the $25 Chicken Mattone was much better. Although a steep price, the portion of bone-in chicken is very generous with a large heap of strong cauliflower risotto and a vegetable medley on the side. Cutting the chicken was surprisingly easy especially due to the fact that the chicken is extremely juicy. On that night, there was also an off-menu special of shrimp scampi that was overall the best dish of the night. Beautifully presented with tailed shrimp delicately placed on top of a mountain of buttery fettuccine, the only complaint was that it was too “fishy” tasting.
Overall, Mad Tomato’s atmosphere and service were sophisticated, trendy and classy. However, the food was average and pricey with nothing standing out. #
