TONY'S ITALIAN DELI - TUCSON, AZ

This used to be the very best Italian restaurant that i've ever eaten at; used to be is the operative phrase. I'm not sure what happened but they have slipped in the quality of their food though not the prices which remain incredibly low or the portions which have stayed substantial.

I love the atmosphere of this diner. Its a little old hole-in-the-wall building which would be more at home in New York or Chicago. Its small with about 10 oilcloth covered tables with the requisite chianti bottles and grapes decoration. Frank Sinatra is always singing and the walls are filled with italian stuff. Very homey and the service is great and everyone is always friendly. It really does give one the feeling of eating in a friend's kitchen.

I ordered the cheese ravioli dinner ($7.00) which comes with a salad and garlic bread. The ravioli did not have the ricotta flavor or the light puffiness from prior visits; the marinara sauce wasn't this thick rich multi-spiced sauce; it was too tomatoey and salty. and the bread! they must be using different bakeries because the slices are too thick and therefore it overwhelms the garlic butter taste which was almost unnoticeable. but what WAS very prominent was the cheese they are now sprinkling on the bread. BOO.

the salad was just as good and filled with lots of ingredients and very fresh but even the italian dressing seemed flat. bill had a spaghetti dinner with 2 italian mild sausages. He agreed with me about the sauce and the sausages were very very hot. I don't know if the waitress made a mistake or what but the heat resulted in some middle of the night GI distress.

we're going to have to let this diner go on sabbatical for awhile and maybe it'll recover to its former excellence.