Big John’s Pasta House in the Town of Tonawanda.
  – Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News

CHEAP EATS
Buffalo News
Friday, November 28, 2008

Any place called a “pasta house” is staking its reputation on its red sauce, which shouldn’t be thin, badly seasoned, too acidic or overly sweet. In our eyes — and face it, everybody’s red sauce preference is different — Big John’s can claim the Pasta House title. Its sauce is nicely balanced, if not overly seasoned, and it has a complex, long-simmered flavor.

Although a lot of people were picking up takeout, Ruth, Dan, John and I found it a comfortable place to eat on a recent Saturday afternoon. From the outside, the building is unremarkable, but the door opens into a cute dining room, with light wood paneling, gleaming white walls and tiles, red booths and even some bright wallpaper with an Italian restaurant theme.

The rising cost of food is pinching restaurant owners, and our menus came with a stapled note announcing slight price increases for pizzas, wings, fingers and fish dinners. The extensive list of dinners had quite a few selections under $10, but the increase of a dollar a plate pushed some others out of Cheap Eats range. There were plenty of choices from the section that listed subs, hoagies, calzones and even tacos.

When Ruth ordered spaghetti and meatballs ($8.50), we found that dinners include a trip to the salad or soup bar. John picked lasagna ($9.79), and I chose fettucine alfredo ($9.49), so we joined her there. Besides fresh lettuce, the salad bar included 12 toppings, including chickpeas, chopped onion, bacon bits, croutons, grape tomatoes and all the other usual ingredients. The nicely made chicken vegetable soup was warm but not hot.

The dinners also included bread, garlic or regular Italian. The garlic bread, toasty and sprinkled with oregano, drew high praise; the plain bread was slightly stale.

Everyone’s dinners were delicious. The red sauce was top-rate and the meatball tender and moist inside. The lasagna included a nice layer of ground beef, and was served, John said, “molten.”

My fettucine alfredo was a smaller serving than the spaghetti and meatballs, and that was a good thing. The alfredo was smooth and slightly cheesy without being too rich. I could barely finish it.

Dan’s meatball parm hoagy ($6.70) featured a fresh toasted sub roll that could barely contain its serving of meatballs and sauce. The melted cheese helped hold it together.

–Anne Neville.  3 pennies (out of four): “Great sauce.”

Big John’s Pasta House is open from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m. Monday through Thursday, from 10 a. m. to 11 p. m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 9 p. m. Sunday. It is handicapped-accessible.

Big John’s Pasta House
546 Niagara Falls Blvd.
Town of Tonawanda