Restaurant Review – The Warehouse (North Naples)
I wish this place was closer to us, but whataya gonna do?! It was a nice drive down to Immokalee Road down I-75. Not much traffic on a Saturday night around 5pm. Now maybe during “in season” it might be a different story especially inside the restaurant. There were plenty of open tables, but the wait staff assured us that during “in season”, the place is packed! And it doesn’t look like a warehouse. Its a brand new building and it looks like…. a restaurant! Rumor has it that the owners named it after a Dave Matthews Band song called Warehouse which, in the song, is a metaphor for a place that stores your soul! Pretty heavy, huh?! So THE question is, do they put their soul on every plate of food they serve? Let’s see!
We got a table in the bar because there was happy hour going on and we didn’t want to miss out on any deals. So there was an appetizer of cheese ravioli that I got. It came with red sauce and a bit of sliced Parmesan on top. Very nice. I noticed the “al dente” character to the pasta that “real” Italians like. There’s a bit of a bite to it. So the pasta is not real soft, like any of the food that my mother served to us as kids! You know, mushy soft! The red sauce was really nice. We all ended up ordering pasta dishes and they all had this “al dente” quality to the pasta. So it wasn’t a mistake on the appetizer. They intend to serve pasta in the traditional Italian way. If you don’t like al dente pasta, they have lots of other dishes to choose from. You can check their menu here.
After the ravioli appetizer we all got two Wedge Salads to split between the four of us. I’m going to have to start reading the description of Wedge Salads on menus here in Florida because very few restaurants seem to make the classic version, which is a wedge of iceberg lettuce, bleu cheese dressing, crumbled bleu cheese, red onion, tomato, bacon and hard boiled egg. This version had no hard boiled egg and also had balsamic vinaigrette. I really don’t want to be hit in the head by that much vinegar when I’m eating a Wedge Salad, but it was delicious and I ate everything on my plate! Just a different version, so who’s complaining? Not me!
Now for the main courses. I ordered the Mongolian Beef Ravioli. I love Mongolian Beef in a Chinese restaurant and it has been a while since I’ve had it, so I thought I’d give it a try. I will try something else the next time I go. Not because it was bad. Again it was delicious, just not what I was expecting. I ate everything. I thought I’d get some kind of spicy heat somewhere like a traditional Mongolian Beef. This is the description on the menu, “Soy Sauce, Brown Sugar, Scallions, Charred Broccolini, Sesame Seeds“. So nothing about spicy, but I didn’t see any scallions. Scallions are a common Mongolian Beef component, but no scallions. Do you see scallions in the below pic? Even just a little garnish of scallions on top would have been good. The broccolini was very crunchy. The sauce itself was a little bland for me. I’ve been getting into Korean cooking at home, so maybe I’ve desensitized my taste buds?! But anyway, like I said, I ate the whooooole thing!
My wife had the Lasagna Ravioli. So meat lasagna inside a ravioli topped with red sauce and cheese. She loved it! We took some home and enjoyed it there too!
Susan had the Lobster Thermador Ravioli. I got a taste of that and it was lobster, and lobster is delicious! Nice cream sauce. Thanks Susan!
Jerry got the House Made Linguine with Tiger shrimp, pancetta, exotic mushrooms and butternut with a white wine cream sauce. That was very tasty! Thanks Jerry!
We had a couple of desserts. My wife and I split a Vanilla Panna Cotta. I was thinking a rich custardy kind of thing, but I forgot its not thickened with eggs, its thickened with gelatin. So it was on the light side of things. And I didn’t get too much of a vanilla taste. But again, we ate it all. Don’t forget, there’s always room for Panna Cotta! Jerry and Susan got Grandma’s Chocolate Cream Pie. My Grandma never made a cake like that! Almost like a chocolate mousse cake. Sorry I don’t have any pics of the desserts. We dived into them real fast and ate them up before remembering to take a pic. You can see them on their dinner menu page if you want to take a look.
So all in all, its a two thumbs up (or 4 in this case)! I like the bread they give you with most of the entrees. I didn’t get bread because who ever heard of sopping up soy sauce with bread? I liked the look of the place. The bar area could be opened up when the weather is nicer. The bar itself looked cool. That reminds me. The drinks were fantastic! I had a Negroni and Jerry had a Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned. The ladies had wine. Everybody was happy! The waitstaff were smiley and friendly. An overall nice vibe to the place. You should check it out if you don’t mind the drive. Something comparable that’s closer (Daniels Parkway) is Cooper’s Hawk Winery. But if you’re looking for fresh, in house made pasta, The Warehouse is THE place to go! They put their soul into every dish! Check out their events for the next month:
Summer At The Warehouse
Monday August 28th
Runs until Saturday, September 30th, 2023
Martini Monday-Half Off Martinis
Brewsday Tuesday-Half Off Draft Beers
Wine Wednesday-Half Off Glasses and Bottles of Wine (less than 100$)
Thursday Ladies Night- $3 Proseccos
Sunday Kids Eat FREE (under 12 years old)
