Caporella’s is located in Grindle Station, a renovated train station in town. We parked and walked inside to find the restaurant packed. We didn’t have a reservation, but they did find a table for us back near the waiter station. Not ideal, but the allure of a good Italian red sauce knows no bounds.



Funny enough, what had me most captivated was a special they had: shrimp and crab ravioli with roasted tomatoes and mushrooms in a vodka sauce. There is no way I WASN’T ordering that. Yumm.

But first, bread.



The bread was OK - nothing too special, and I wasn't overly impressed with the olive oil. It looks pretty, but I didn't taste much of the spices, and I am never a huge fan of it being at the table already because I'm concerned with what other diners before me could have done. Hey, you see things being in restaurants so often. I once saw a child stick an entire salt shaker in his mouth. I don't trust easily. But that's a minor neurosis of mine, NBD.

Next: house salad! You don't usually see me get excited about house salads, but if they have fresh greens, banana peppers, onions, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers and croutons, I get excited. Yum. Topped with a french dressing makes this one of the better house salads I've had. Nothing signature or special, but clear attention to some detail gets top marks from me.



Vicki ordered an appetizer of stuffed banana peppers with ground veal topped with marinara sauce and provolone cheese. Not totally my thing, but I did taste the red sauce, which was tasty. Just a tad spicy and peppery.

For entrees, Vicki had the chicken parmesan, which she liked. My special was good. It looked as though the sauce had separated a bit, but the flavor was there. The texture was just slightly off. The raviolis were sapid, a little different flavor than what I'm used to, so something new for my tastebuds all the while in the comfortable rich kind of sauce I crave. It's still good food, but the best?

Almost, but not quite.

Grade: B