This week’s Dining with Dad has been on my list for a very long time. When I’ve told friends about this experience, I had several of them all suggest Lola & Giuseppe’s. Being the planner that I am, I’ve perused the menu before and knew that it would be a great place for us to visit. Chloe had to go to the school today to get her schedule and for pictures so we wanted to stay local. This made it a perfect week for Lola & Giuseppe’s.

Not knowing how long we would be at the school, we made reservations for 6:15pm. Because the restaurant is so small, reservations are required. I wasn’t sure since it was a Tuesday but every table was taken when we arrived, all except ours that is! We were seated right away in the back near the kitchen. It did take a little time to get waited on but we didn’t mind as we were still looking at the menu trying to decide what we wanted. We ended up getting our drinks and the complimentary garlic bread which we were really ready for since we were eating later than normal.

Chloe knew what she wanted immediately. She likes it simple, just pasta and marinara. Most places give you the default spaghetti, but here she had many options. She could choose from fettuccini, spaghetti, linguine, rigatoni, penne, angel hair, or farfalle. She wasn’t positive what some of the noodles were so to her phone she went to find a graphic of all the different noodles. After examining them all, she decided on the rigatoni. She said it was the best pasta she’s had anywhere!

Chloe’s predictable like me. Alex is the one I’m never sure about what he’s going to get. It took him a bit but he finally landed on lasagna! I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. That’s always my go-to when I visit an Italian restaurant. After he started eating it he said he was so happy he could cry. They both were saying that this is one of the best Dining with Dad locations yet.

I was originally going to get the lasagna as well. That was my plan all day. But even before Alex told me what he was getting, I had changed my mind; well sort of. I was looking at the menu one last time and the sampler caught my eye. That would allow me to have my lasagna, but then also try something else, so I went for it. It came with eggplant parmesan which I’d never had before but you could replace it with chicken for an upcharge. I really wanted to try the eggplant as I had heard it was really good so I went with that. The recommendation from my friends’ was sound, as it was delicious.

Alex only ate about half of his, but to be fair, it was as big as his head! But it turns out, he was also saving a little room for dessert. While it was his idea to look at the dessert menu, I knew all along I was getting some. Yesterday on the drive home from art class, Chloe said how she was excited for Dining with Dad tomorrow. All I said was, “yes me too” and she instantly responded, “oh so they have bread pudding!” She knows me well. So yes, they do have bread pudding and so I had to get it. They have a choice between a caramel sauce or a whiskey sauce. I went for the whiskey but that means I just have to go back and try the caramel one. It was everything I was hoping for. I now have a close spot to get some carry-out whenever the mood strikes me!

The kids decided to split the Tiramisu. Surprisingly both Alex and Chloe like the flavor of coffee so this was a perfect dessert for them. Even splitting it they didn’t eat it all so I got to try a bite or two and it was delicious. Given that both of the desserts were so good, it really makes me want to try all the others! We’ll definitely be going back!