Ristorante Molise

The food was amazing with huge portions! We have enough leftovers for 2 days. Fresh pasta was amazing and the pricing was really good for the quality and the quantity. Our server was really nice, friendly and great overall! Wish we lived closer, my waistline is probably glad we don’t though. Whenever we visit this area again we will definitely go back!

Place is definitely popular and reservations are recommended. This was our first time. Has an old school Italian feel right in the center of Amesbury. Parking is easy and very close. Main room is very loud and vibrant. Service overall was outstanding. Our server Dave has a great and fun personality. Super knowledgeable and he encouraged questions. Brought bread, oil, cheese straight away to get us rolling. I wish the bread was warm. But the oil with peppers and garlic was very good - the grated cheese was a really nice touch. Started with the Portabellas Alla Eduardo. Really good flavor with very fresh ingredients. Spinach and gorgonzola paired nicely. Sauce made for great dipping. Added a couple Ceasars...bit of an up charge but worth it. Anchovies are another small charge. They use white anchovies so pretty mild but very good. For mains, wife had Gnocchi and I had Vitello Saltimbocca (always my baseline for comparison when trying any Italian restaurant for the first time). Gnocchi had a nice smokey flavor from the prosciutto. Very solid dish. The veal saltimbocca was good but not a wow for me. Veal was very tender with plenty of fontina and prosciutto. Definitely a classic saltimbocca. Too full for dessert. Overall, would return. The portions are crazy large. We were right by the window and watched literally every person leave with a doggy bag. The Gnocchi is probably three meals and the Saltimbocca is two. So heck of deal for the cost...

This restaurant has come highly recommended so hoping that we just went on an off day. The hostess got us into the bar area, which was great because there were actual tables rather than just bar seating, and she was so nice to do that because we didn’t have a reservation. It was very busy and the waitstaff seemed to struggle a bit with the bar section (forgot to fill waters and blamed another, didn’t check in on us during the meal, involved in other conversations while waiting on us, etc). Bread and oil were delicious. The pasta was very overcooked though..I know it’s fresh pasta but the noodles were absolute mush and the Caprese pasta I ordered had thick cubes of mozzarella as garnish which never melted. I almost thought it was a Burrata which would have been nice because it would have combined with the sauce but it just wasn’t cohesive and the sauce was decent but I wasn’t as impressed with it as I’d hoped to be based on recommendations and other reviews. I think we’ll try it again because I was really excited to have an authentic Italian spot near us and I don’t like to rule places out after only one visit but hoping for a better experience next time. And we will definitely make a reservation!