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Brian and I, along with my best friends, Cherie and Chuck, wanted to go out and eat Italian and we were told about the Red Pepper Italian Eatery in Summerville, SC and decided to try it out. Summerville, SC is up I-26 at Exit 199 about 20 miles from Charleston.

We pulled into the driveway of a quaint little house that had been converted to a the Red Pepper Italian Eatery Restaurant. It is located on Main Street. The parking is a little sparse and may be a little difficult to navigate if you have a large vehicle such as a Town Car or big SUV.

The Red Pepper Italian Eatery is attractive from the street, which entices you to come in and eat. The Restaurant has a front porch, which is open and airy and has a nice lay out of tables. It reminds me a little of the Eateries you would find in Europe. The dining room is very nice and the staff is very attentive. The four of us were seated right away in a booth that was a bit cramped. We loved the look of the The Red Pepper Italian Eatery. The pictures and lay out are very attractive and not over-bearing. The server was right there to take our drink orders and to let us know the Specials Of The Day.

As we perused the elaborate menu, we saw that there were quite a lot of choices. I was impressed with the variety of the selections too. The Wine menu was to die for with a very large array of Wines. The Wine prices were a little on the steep side though, but not too out of line.

Presentation on all of the Red Pepper dishes was very nice, and it really made my mouth water in anticipation of a great meal. Brian ordered the Ravioli al Formaggio (cheese filled Ravioli). He was not impressed. The Ravioli was obviously brought in by a distributor, and just to make sure, he confirmed it with the server. What a disappointment there. I had the Chicken Diavola. It was advertised to be a little spicy, and spicy it was; however, the pasta was over cooked, the chicken was bland, and although the sauce was spicy, it tasted a little scorched. Cherie ordered the Lasagna Bolognese (meat sauce), she also stated that the sauce tasted scorched. Chuck had the Combination Platter (Lasagna, Manicotti topped with the Red Pepper “famous fresh sauce”, and Ravioli brushed with herbs and olive oil). Chuck liked his meal and stated it was great. All the meals had large portions and again had great presentation; all meals are accompanied by Focaccia bread and a house Salad. The house Salad came with balsamic vinaigrette or creamy Italian. If you wanted Bleu Cheese, it was $1.25 extra! Chuck ordered his with the Bleu Cheese and was disappointed. He was expecting some serious chunks for the price; instead he got basic dressing that was unremarkable.

All-in-all, the Red Pepper Italian Eatery meals weren’t terrible. Distributed food is usually quite tasty, the problem that we had was the price of the meals were based on the Italian Eatery atmosphere they were trying to portray. However, the food did not match up to the expectations of a fine Italian Eatery. I expect a fine Italian Eatery to prepare their food fresh on the premises - not reheat and serve.

Oh yeah, there is one other thing that we all found a bit annoying. For the type of Restaurant that the Red Pepper Italian Eatery is trying to be, and the prices they charge, we did not expect plastic table clothes and plastic drinking glasses.