Rino's Place - East Boston, MA

Rino's is probably one of the best kept secret's in East Boston.  It was kind of strange because I went looking specifically for this restaruant and drove right past it the first time because the sign was not at all obvious and the shades were drawn, so it didn't even look like a restaruant on the side of the building that I drove by on.  So, on one hand they have been featured on national television but, on the other they don't stand out on a typical Boston neighborhood street.

There is no doubt that this is an Italian restaurant.  There were people actually speaking Italian in the restaurant and the look of the dishes being served at the other tables was pure Italian.

It was a pretty small restaurant.  The ceiling was like a plywood wood arch down the length of the single room.  It reminded me of an old railroad car but, it didn't match the outside of the building unless they built the brick building on top of the railroad car.  The only bathroom was though the kitchen door and to the right.  The whole kitchen was probably about 10 to 12 feet square

This was definitely not Giada's Italian kitchen.  This was a tough middle class Italian neighborhood.  People talk to you like they might sock you in the mouth at any time.  You'd better behave yourself.  The wait staff wasn't tripping over themselves with kindness here.  But, boy could someone in back cook.

I ordered the lobster ravioli.  I read some reviews on yelp.com before I came here and everyone raved about it.  Wow!  They raved for good reason. 

The pasta was obviously freshly made maybe after I ordered it.  It had that hard, chewy a-dente texture and taste that you only get with super fresh pasta.  The lobster was also obviously super fresh because it could not have spent much more time than the time to cook it inside of the pasta before being served.  The lobster still had its firmness to it.  The ricotta cheese inside was really flavorful.  The sauce was a really nice tomato sauce that tasted like the old country.  Just really great.
 
It came with a salad which was okay but, I didn't think that it was anything special.

Rinos Place
258 Saratoga Street
East Boston, MA 02128-1616
617.413.6390
www.rinosplace.com