PrimaBella’s all things to all people

Brasher Falls — It was a newspaper ad that got our attention.

“PrimaBella’s — Home of Italian, American & Mexican Cuisine”; “We Deliver All Day, 7 Days a Week, Everywhere!”; “Let Us Cater Your Next Party” ...

And if that wasn’t enough to entice you, PrimaBella’s entire menu filled the rest of the ad: appetizers, salads, sandwiches, wraps, hot subs, cold subs, regular pizzas, specialty pizzas, calzones, strombolis, chicken wings, Mexican things, dinners and desserts. Over 100 items in all.

How can one place do all this? And in little ol’ Brasher Falls?

PrimaBella’s is in a rather plain free-standing building, formerly a video store, on the main highway. The dining area takes up a small space with seating for 30 or so, at most. Takeout appears big — a steady stream of customers was in and out the night we were there.

We weren’t sure at first whether there was table service, but soon after we seated ourselves at one of the only available tables a pleasant and competent young lady brought colorful, nicely designed menus to us.

We began our evening with Nachos PrimaBella’s ($6.95) — more than enough for the three of us to share.

The combination of flavorful taco-seasoned beef, not-too-hot jalapeños, onions and black olives was balanced with chopped lettuce and tomato and a mild but tasty salsa. The large plateful was blanketed with melted cheese and supported by a layer of crisp tortilla chips.

An order of garlic bread with cheese ($2.50) was simple and plentiful. It appeared to be a sub roll cut in half lengthwise, dusted with garlic powder and covered with melted mozzarella.

A side of marinara sauce accompanied. We assume it was made in-house. It was a little on the thin side and noticeably sweet, with a few chunks of tomato.

Garlic and oil white pizza was next ($9). We got the smallest size, a 14-incher. It was very good, with high-quality mozzarella cheese, just enough garlic and a thin, tasty made-in-house crust.

Lucky us — it was Tuesday and the nightly special was all-you-can-eat spaghetti for $3.95, including a salad and bread. How can you beat that?

We asked our waitress if, by chance, meatballs or sausage came with it. They were available as an add-on for $1.50 — meatballs or sausage or a combination of both. Well for that price, we’ll try ’em both.

The spaghetti was cooked to a perfect al dente. The sauce appeared thicker and was tastier than the marinara served with our garlic bread. Our meat add-on consisted of four meatballs and two sausage links, both procured from one of their restaurant suppliers, and excellent, we unanimously agreed.

The generous portion was more than enough for a normal eater — we certainly didn’t have to ask for more. Now it’s clear why most of the tables appeared to be entire families enjoying a night out for dinner: This is an incredible deal.

It came with a decent salad — iceberg lettuce and a little romaine, tomato, onion and a slice of cuke. Italian dressing was that orange-colored gelatinous stuff.

Sausage Parmesan ($6.95) was remarkably similar to the spaghetti dish, but was finished with a blanket of melted mozzarella. Again, the sausage was some of the best we’ve had. If it was available in a supermarket, we’d suck it up in an instant.

PrimaBella’s offers calzones and strombolis. Both are “stuffed pizzas” that resemble a large turnover. Our waitress said the difference is that the calzones incorporate ricotta cheese in their fillings; strombolis come with red sauce. Both are brushed with olive oil and baked, which we appreciated.

We got the chicken Parmesan stromboli ($6.25), a generous-sized foot-long creation filled with tasty chicken and gooey cheese, a touch of red sauce inside and extra outside for dunking.

Since takeout appears to be a good portion of their business (our waitress told us it’s nearly half), we took home an order of lasagna ($6.95). It traveled well and warmed up well the next day, a nice combination of pasta, sauce and cheese.

Standard desserts from their supplier are offered (Hershey’s chocolate pie, Reese’s peanut butter pie, New York cheesecake), but we’d had quite enough to eat by the time the decision for dessert needed to be made.

Dinner for three and the takeout came to $47 before tip.

Here are just a few other interesting items from their extensive menu: shrimp Alfredo, chicken carbonaro, pierogis, steak and cheese wrap, Mexican pizza, haddock sub, ham and cheese calzone, taco salad, veggie wrap, chicken and broccoli Alfredo pizza.

Got time for a few more? Eggplant Parmesan sub, Hawaiian stromboli, BLT wrap, taco meal, Buffalo chicken white pizza, stuffed shells, garlic cheddar biscuits, poutine, Michigans, jalapeno cheddar burger, tuna melt sub, bacon cheeseburger pizza — and the list goes on and on.

Catering is available, too. They’ll provide most anything on their menu along with delivery, set-up, warming dishes and servers at your location.

And remember, they deliver EVERYWHERE. Maybe I’ll call them up tomorrow and see if they’ll drop off some mozzarella sticks and a small order of wings for me here at the office.

You can contact restaurant reviewer Walter Siebel via e-mail: wsiebel@wdt.net.

PrimaBella’s
766 Route 11C
Brasher Falls, N.Y
389-4222

An extensive menu of Italian, American and Mexican cuisine at extremely reasonable prices — dine in or take out.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday
11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday
Noon to 10 p.m. Sunday

Their Nachos Primabella’s was enough for three of us. You can’t beat their Tuesday all-you-can eat spaghetti special for $3.95. Get the pile of meatballs and sausages for an extra $1.50. Good strombolis, too — try the chicken Parmesan.

RATING: 3 FORKS