We had been noticing Bravino's next door to Taste of Philly for quite some time, and kept telling ourselves we should try it, but we always seemed to forget. Today, finally, we decided to check it out.

Its a safe bet you're in trouble when the first thing the hostess says to you before you get seated is: "Are you guys in a hurry?" Oh boy.

I was torn between getting an appetizer and dessert (Tiramisu), but the waitress (who was also the hostess), decided it for me, telling me that she "thought" they were out of Tiramisu, because she served the last one "a few days ago", and she "didn't know if they made more yet". Ok, ok... So Z and I ordered some Bruschetta.

After a long wait (15 minutes or so), our Bruschetta was brought to us. The restaurant was completely dead, so Z and I exchanged a few jokes about how they must have had to fire up the ovens before they could begin cooking.

After I took the above picture, the waitress rushed back to our table and said: "I noticed you took a picture of the Bruschetta... may I ask why?"

"I run a web site where I write about stuff I eat.

"Oh.. cool", she said, then scurried off.

A few moments later, she came back and said, "Whats your website called?"

"The Dive Review. www.thedivereview.com", I told her.

She said, "Ok, I hope you say good things about us!

An eternity later, our pizza arrived. It looked great. We had ordered the Meat Lover's Pizza, which was loaded with.. meat! Pepperoni, Mild Italian Sausage, and Prosciutto.

The pizza tasted great, but it was difficult to eat. The bottom crust was very thin, and it made the pizza floppy. It was much easier to just leave it on my plate and eat it with a fork.

By the end of our meal, a few more tables had been seated, and the waitress became very scarce. I hadn't had a drink refill for quite a while (15 minutes or so), and I'm a fast drinker, so I was getting thirsty.

Bravino's is obviously hurting for business, and as a result is running on a skeleton crew. Our hostess/waitress was the only employee we saw during our entire visit. Service suffers a lot because of this. Both in being waited on when there is more than a couple tables, and in getting your food in a timely fashion.. maybe they did have to fire up the oven when the first customers came in the door!

The food was decent, but not superb as far as pizza goes. The Bruschetta was very good. Overall, it was a fairly mediocre dining experience. I would warn you not to go unless your up for a 2 hour lunch. To top it all off, we ended up spending about 18 bucks each for an appetizer, a large pizza to share, and 2 drinks. Not cheap.