In a very ... odd series of events, I ended up going to dinner in Uniontown. Meloni's Restaurant is an old-school, hometown Italian joint that is apparently quite popular.

Think white checkered plastic tablecloths, red baskets full of bread and a very, very packed dining room. I'm sure every hometown has a restaurant like this.

I started out with a house salad, which came with beets. I could totally get used to that.

Then, my entree arrived: stuffed shells. It's hard to mess this up... but this was not my favorite. It was dry, somehow. The cheese inside was not stringy or gooey. Instead, it was maybe cooked too high too long and it was dried out, which totally threw off the texture and with it, a lot of flavor. The red sauce was just OK - could use a dash more seasoning. The other meal at the table was rigatoni - a huge portion.

Overall thoughts: Old-school, mediocre food. It's a local thing, so people probably love it. They've probably been eating it forever, so it continues to thrive with an older population. But if I were to get Italian in Uniontown again, there's no doubt I would head to Caporella's.

Grade: C