Capuano Ristorante falls into one of two major categories of central New Jersey pizzeria Italian restaurants: the food is OK (the other category: the food is terrible). That’s about the best you can hope for at these restaurants, which are sprinkled by the dozens all over the region. You’ll never hit one where the food is better than OK, but sometimes OK is good enough. (Keep in mind we’re not talking here about those rare, and spectacular, pizza masters like De Lorenzo Tomato Pies in Robbinsville.)
Farfalle di Paulo: the bow tie pasta is dressed with broccoli rabe, roasted red peppers, sausage slices, tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil
A cup of minestrone was notable for vegetables that retained some crunch. The bread basket features a variant of the Northeast garlic knot. In this case, the hot sticks, rather than knots, of pizza dough are dressed with garlic oil and dried basil. Impossible to stop eating and indispensable for dragging through leftover pasta sauce. Even the sliced warm Italian bread was good and crusty. Mozzarella sticks were mozzarella sticks.
Ravioli Firenze: the pasta is covered in a creamy sauce with fresh spinach and mozzarella
As is standard in these sorts of restaurants the pastas are over-sauced. Capuano differs in one respect: portions, while quite sufficient, are not enormous. You may well finish what is served to you. The ravioli topped with spinach, cheese, and a creamy sauce were pleasant enough, as were the farfalle with broccoli rabe, sausage, and garlic, although the sauce on the farfalle was just too watery. Neither dish knocked our socks off, of course, but we were expecting our socks to stay on. For a quick weeknight dinner, Capuano’s did what it was supposed to do.
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