Pronto Pasta really lives up to its name, “pronto,” with its minimal ready-to-order menu that lets customers order pronto! The menu features seven types of pasta—including a gluten-free penne option—and six different sauces, with a variety of add-ons available for an additional charge. When I first saw Hoboken Girl’s article on Pronto Pasta, I was fascinated by the concept: picking your pasta shape from the display, watching it being freshly cooked right in front of you, and being served straight from the pan.
When Pronto Pasta opened its doors to the Hoboken community this past June at 300 Clinton St., they brought back the simple joy of having a meal made fresh. With all of the options, you can create 42 unique pasta-and-sauce combinations before even adding toppings (with their seven topping options, that number climbs to 5,376 combinations). Isn’t that much better than choosing from a menu of 10 pasta dishes, with everything decided for you?
Now the meat of the article (get it, meat, haha…)! The real testimony is how the pasta tasted, which I’d say was buttery, creamy, and fresh. I tried the pesto with rigatoni and burrata, and the mushroom-truffle sauce with pappardelle. I watched as the pasta was immediately taken from the pan and placed into brown paper bowls through the glass windows overlooking the stovetop. The pesto was my favorite out of the two — the cold burrata melted and emulsified beautifully with the warm pesto. I was afraid the burrata might overpower the pesto flavor, but it actually complemented it well. The sauce itself was mellowed by the heavy cream and didn’t have as strong a herby pesto flavor as I would have liked. However, the shape of the ridged rigatoni held the pesto well, allowing the sauce’s flavor to be more pronounced with each bite.
The mushroom truffle sauce with the pappardelle, on the other hand, was super creamy from the parmesan and had a strong umami flavor. I did have to add a little pepper for taste since it was on the blander side, but the strong mushroom flavor really carried through. As for the smooth, long pappardelle, it is said to be the best shape for the mushroom truffle sauce, but it didn’t do the best job of holding the sauce, which was my fault for choosing that shape. The pappardelle was also just the slightest bit tough. Overall, the pasta was decent, and the flavorful sauces really carried it. Next time I’m there, I’m definitely getting the penne or rigatoni pasta with vodka sauce, and maybe one of their chocolate cannolis or focaccia! Other than those two options, they also have sfogliatelle (a shell-shaped Italian pastry filled with a sweet pastry cream), bomboloni (Italian filled donuts), and pistachio cannolis.
Aside from the food, the shop itself was super aesthetic, with a modern Italian-Mediterranean aesthetic and an Amalfi Coast vibe. The exterior of the shop featured faux lemon tree branches framing the entire top of the entrance, and the interior featured large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Hoboken as well as beautiful yellow and blue tiles on the counters. The staff was super attentive and friendly, making the overall experience very warm and welcoming! Pronto Pasta is the perfect place to go at any time of the year. In the summer, you can soak up the sun sitting outside enjoying your favorite pasta, and in the winter, you can duck into the restaurant and be served a hot plate of freshly cooked pasta.
