Rino’s Place, East Boston

A few weekends ago, Kevin and I were craving something delicious for dinner, but we also wanted to stay in and watch a movie… in our PJ’s. We cook almost every night, and we make some great dinners, but sometimes it’s just so much more fun to eat food prepared by someone else – no dishes, and you get to indulge! So we went in search of great take-out.

Because we don’t often order food to-go, we really had no idea where to look. The Southie take-out options as I understand them are limited, so we expanded our search to neighboring areas. We’d seen a segment on Rino’s Place in East Boston on Phantom Gourmet, and I remembered reading Colleen’s recap of her trip there, so we decided to give it a go.

A quick glance over the menu had us feeling completely overwhelmed – so many options, what to choose?! I’d heard the lobster ravioli was amazing, so we knew we should get that, and then we narrowed down our other choice to the gnocchi bolognese (not on their online menu, but just ask and they’ll do it!).

More than an hour later (if you’re ordering take-out on a weekend evening, plan to order well in advance), we made our way out to “Eastie”, picked up our goods, and drooled the entire ride back with the wonderful smells that filled the car. When we unpacked out food, we were shocked at the portions – each platter felt like it weighed 5lbs! We polished off the included salads first (pretty standard – iceberg, tomato, onion, cucumber), and then dug into the good stuff.

I tried the lobster ravioli first, and fell in love at first bite. The heavy, creamy tomato sauce was exploding with flavor, and there were generous chunks of lobster throughout. Each ravioli was surprisingly huge, and stuffed with a well-seasoned ricotta lobster filling. I was pleasantly surprised to find there was so much lobster meat in this dish.

The gnocchi was tender and pillowy, which is exactly how I like it. It didn’t feel overly heavy or doughy, just fluffy and wonderful to eat. The bolognese sauce wasn’t the best I’ve had – I found the tomato flavor to be on the blander side, but there was plenty of tasty meat, and when we reheated leftovers the second day, I definitely enjoyed it more.

Overall, we were really pleased with this meal, and will definitely go back. Their prices are reasonable especially given the portion size, and the the dishes are soul-satisfyingly delicious. Highly recommend!

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