Cannoli Queen

 Every time we drive by Cannoli Queen, we say we've gotta try it... Well, last week, we finally did!

Located in a strip mall off of County Line and Emerson, Cannoli Queen is a small, locally-owned Italian eat-in/carry-out order-at-the-counter situation. We were stoked to find they had a website and found it hard to narrow our choices.  With our hectic work schedule, Fred did the carry-out option on his way home.

We eagerly anticipated Fred's arrival.  Finally, he busted into the kitchen with a little Italian smorgasbord; lasagna with salad and bread, fried mozz and marinara, gabagool with Italian fries and marinara, spaghetti and meatballs & sausage with more salad and bread, and of  course, cannoli's all around for dessert!  Tums within reach, we dug in.

Lasagna

Where to begin?  We opened it all up and started greedily sampling from the array of carry out tins.  Stella dove into the Italian fries happily, while Libby took a big bite of gabagool.  Fred was surprised by his pleasant reaction to the lasagna and Ozzy went loco on his spaghetti and the yummy
bread. 

Gabaool

 

The fried mozzarella looked like it may have just come out of a GFS bag.  Not the greatest first impression, but they were tasty enough. Fred couldn't stop talking about how much he enjoyed the lasagna.  Not a person to have ever ordered lasagna in the last 16 years she has known him, Libby was slightly disturbed by his enthusiasm.  What is it he liked so much? It was very cheesy, with a heavy amount of ricotta, good spicing, and it wasn't dry at all.  Nice and moist with a wonderful rich marinara! Libby, on the other hand, found the gabagool only "fine".  The meat was cut thicker than she would like and there wasn't enough complexity. There was just nothing special about it.  Still reeling from the Little Eataly experience, Libby was regretting she hadn't tried the Italian beef instead. 

Spaghetti with Marinara & Italian Sausage

Stella nibbled on this and that, not committing to one choice entirely, but more than willing to try most things a couple of times.  One outstanding feature of the kids spaghetti and meatballs was the sausage.  There were nice zesty chunks incorporated in the dish.  Very satisfying.  The sausage sandwich immediately went on the list for next time.  The Italian fries were too bland.  They were dusted in parmesan yet still needed more seasoning and there was not a great fry on them either.  They could use some tweaking, but they were still a great transport vessel for the marinara.  The side salads were exactly what you'd expect from a mom & pop italian place.  Your basic tossed with iceberg, house Italian & shredded mozzarella.  Good & classic, if uninspired. 

It was cannoli time and Fred slowly took the pastry box out of the paper bag.  What a beautiful sight!  Two chocolate and two originals that only seemed to differ in their shell.  This was a first for the whole FLOE family.  How to describe the cannoli?  The cream was thick, with chocolate chips incorporated, not too sweet, but decadent.  The shell was also thicker and denser than expected, but made sense with the subtle sweetness of the cream and tasted like a thick sugar cone without the sugar.  Ozzy loved the filling, but balked at the slight flower coating left on the shells.  They were definitly a nice dessert, but not sure if it would be chosen over any other sweet treat in the future.

www.cannoliqueen.com


Wrap Up
Price-$$, About what you'd expect for an Italin take-out place.
Atmosphere-**, Again, what you'd expect for take-out.  While they do offer a few tables, it seems like they're much more focused on the take-out side.
Service-***, Friendly & responsive.

Overall

Fred- B- -- I'm happy to have another take-out option in Greenwood, but other than the marinara, nothing was a straight up hit. We'll be back, but I wouldn't drive across town for it.  
Libby- B- --  No interest in trying the gabagool again.  It did nothing for me.  But I will definitely be getting the sausage sandwich and trying some of the fried ravi.  No fries, but definitely a side salad.
Ozzy- A- -- Kind of hard to go wrong with spaghetti & bread for the Oz.
Stella- A -- She grazed on a bit of everything with no complaints.