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Dining: Pronto Italiano

In Lakeway, Italian both pronto and pleasing

By Dale Rice
American-Statesman Restaurant Critic
Web posted: Oct. 5, 2005



Photos by Deborah Cannon/AA-S The Mediterranean pasta with shrimp, top, has sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese to complement the tender shrimp. Need more sauce with that pasta, above right? Just ask. Above left are the Tuscan tacos and the lasagna. Pronto Italiano. 3620 RM 620 S., 263-7404. Rating: Forks up. Price: Cheap.

It's not that I have a prejudice against fast food. It's just that I'm seldom enamored with fare prepared largely in advance or that takes mere seconds to finish after an order is placed.

That's why I might have driven right by Pronto Italiano without even thinking about stopping.

But this Italian food isn't fast in the burger-chain sense. Most dishes at the eat-in and take-out spot are prepared to order, such as the Mediterranean pasta with shrimp ($9.75). Selected from a list of nine featured dishes with widely varying ingredients, the Mediterranean tastily combined sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, black olives, goat cheese, mushrooms and basil with penne topped with tender shrimp (one of six protein choices).

One dish made daily in advance, the lasagna ($8.50), brought together layers of pasta, spinach, meat sauce and cheese in traditional, flavorful fashion.

Another classic, the spaghetti with marinara sauce and meatballs ($7.50), was hearty and appealing. Plus it showed how accommodating the staff is.

Although the food was ordered at the counter, the dishes were brought to the table by a server, who stopped by periodically to see if we needed anything. When asked for more sauce, he returned with a generous portion of marinara, not the skimpy supply many restaurants offer.

The one thing that was not up to par was the pizza. Baked in a wood-fired oven, it has a lot of potential. On the first visit, though, the thin crust was soggy in the center, the result of underbaking. On the second visit, the crust was nice and crisp, but one side of it was black — from the failure to rotate the pie halfway through baking.

Fix those two things (cooking time and rotation) and the pizza will be as good as the other offerings, which are worth the drive to Lakeway. Pronto.

drice@statesman.com; 445-3859