Inventive Italian on the North Side

Just like us, restaurant employees need a day to rest and relax from the hectic work week. Therefore, it is amazingly hard to eat out on a holiday. I figured this out recently when my girlfriend, Breanne, called me and had a craving for pasta on Labor Day. I told her that it would be no problem finding a place to eat. But that was kind of a lie considering every restaurant I called was closed for the holiday, not to mention many Italian restaurants in Tucson are closed on Monday to begin with. This wasn't going to be an easy task.

After the umpteenth try, I finally had found a place to go enjoy a nice meal that I heard wonderful things about and it was the last restaurant in the Italian section of the phone book. This restaurant was Zona 78 (78 W River Rd., 520-888-7878) and I was extremely thankful they were open, otherwise it was looking like a night of Top Ramen and peanut butter sandwiches for us.

Breanne was excited about my plan and invited our friend, Lauren, out with us for this meal...it's not often we get to relax and spend time together on a Monday evening. So, we all piled into my car and drove to River Road. Now, Zona 78 is a good drive away from all three of us, since we are all on campus and, being on River, it is close to the Foothill district of Tucson. However, it was a holiday and we had no obligations for the rest of the evening, so the drive was no hassle.

Finally, we arrived and immediately, were very pleased with the beautiful atmosphere of the restaurant. Everything was very casual with the Florida State/Miami football game on the TVs by the bar, but classy with the light jazz music playing and the beautiful artwork around the walls. It has a very hip feel to it and I couldn't be more pleased. My girlfriend seemed just as happy as me considering she kept leaning in and telling me that this was “such a good choice” and this was before we even had given a waitress our drink order.

The one interesting fact about the ambiance of Zona 78 was how the waitresses were dressed. With one exception, all of them had absurdly short skirts on. These skirts were so short that one could compare the shorts worn by Hooters waitresses; these skirts left nothing to the imagination and all three of us noticed this immediately.

After we had been seated, we looked over the menu and it was exactly what we were looking for. All three of us kept remarking about how “everything looked good” and it was going to be “hard to choose.” Finally, we ordered and I decided on the “Pizza Boy Pizza,” which came with pepperoni, hard salami, mozzarella, and fresh basil ($9.50). Breanne chose on the “Mediterranean Penne Pasta,” which had grilled chicken, artichokes, kalamata olives, pine nuts, tomatoes, pesto cream, and Feta cheese ($10.50). Lauren ordered the “Shrimp Cavatelli,” which is fresh Cavatelli pasta with rock shrimp, San Marazano tomatoes, basil, and Parmigiano-Reggiano ($10).

To drink, I ordered a Nimbus Blonde ($3.75), which I was very happy to see they carried since I am a huge fan of Nimbus Beers considering it is such an amazing business and also locally brewed. Lauren ordered a glass of Pinot Bianco ($5.50). Breanne decided to stick with water. My Nimbus wasn't flat at all and was poured perfectly. Lauren's wine was dry but still very fruity with many subtle hints of melon.

However, there was one huge problem and that was the service. The problem was that our waitress almost completely neglected us between seating and taking our order. It was at least 20 minutes before she came back to ask us what we'd like to drink and then she was surprised we “already” knew what we wanted. I was also annoyed that she never gave us straws for our drinks, even after asking, until the end of our meal. She also never looked at you, but seemed distracted by something else and was constantly darting her head around. She also made us repeat ourselves constantly and it was just amazingly rude.

Luckily, for our waitress, the food was very delicious. My pizza was piping hot, covered with all the amazing toppings, and had such a light crust. It was crisp, yet chewy enough to let you know you weren't eating a cracker. Breanne's pasta was very bright and had a perfect amount of the ingredients. The Feta cheese and kalamata olives, which are very Greek components, with the small pasta pieces made for an amazing dish that left her stuffed. But as good as both those dishes were, none of them compared to the Shrimp Cavatelli. I loved Lauren's Shrimp Cavatelli so much that I actually ate the rest of her meal, upon her request, after I had finished my pizza. The pasta was big and cooked to perfection and the tomato sauce was light enough to not be overpowering.

The amazing dinner got us in such a good mood, despite the poor service, that we looked over the dessert menu. With Lauren on a diet, we decided all three of us would split one item and we chose the “Belgian Chocolate Chunk” ($5.50), which was a double chocolate chip cookie with pecans that was topped with vanilla bean gelato and a rich chocolate ganache. This dessert was intensely chocolaty and it was amazing because of that. The cookie was cooked to perfection with it not being too hard, but not being pure dough. It almost was a variation of the “pizookie” that you can get at Oregano's, without the pizza tin. After our dessert, we left Zona 78 content, full, and happy.

Synopsis: Overall, Zona 78 is a great restaurant. The amazing choices of Italian food, very affordable prices, and great portions make this a place you must try. However, the owner would be wise to look over the waitresses he is hiring and possibly make a stricter dress code for them as well. But, other than that, Zona 78 should be a constant visit for Tucsonians that enjoy good pizza and pasta.