Jennifer Browning

State Hornet

The Old Spaghetti Factory, located at 1910 J St., is nearby andreliable but best of all, it’s cheap.

To the casual observer The Old Spaghetti Factory might not standout among Sacramento restaurants. Housed in an old railroadstation, diners may be immediately charmed by the Old Worlddécor. Beamed ceilings, chandeliers, and colored glass lampsgive the feel of a cozy, authentic Italian home, centered on alarge boxcar set in the center of the restaurant.

Like the comfortable interior, the food is unremarkable, howevercomforting. The menu offers obvious dishes such as spaghetti,lasagna and meatball sandwiches. All entrees come with a greensalad or soup with choice of dressing, fresh baked bread, coffee,hot or iced tea, or milk, as well as spumoni or vanilla icecream.

The basic spaghetti with meat sauce would seem to be their mostperfected course, considering it’s their namesake, but it waslargely unimpressive. The noodles weren’t cooked toperfection and the sauce tasted as though it came from a can.

One of their more experimental dishes, Greek chicken andspaghetti with browned butter, Mizithra cheese, and tomato sauceproved to be more promising. Unfortunately, the iceberg lettucegave the side salad a flat taste, but diners may request tosubstitute romaine for an additional charge.

The Greek chicken, however, was a complete turn around from thesalad. Marinated in olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice, it wasperfectly seasoned and juicy. The spaghetti with browned butter andMizithra was undoubtedly the best part of the meal. The saltinessof the cheese and the sweetness of the butter complemented eachother perfectly. Dieters or cholesterol-wary souls should indulgein this dish infrequently8212;it’s high in saturated fat,but requesting half the amount of butter helps reduce caloricintake.

The Italian soda was especially tasty, but be sure to stirbefore drinking. The simple vanilla ice cream dessert was similarto anything you could buy at the grocery store; not impressive, butstill good.

All sauces are prepared fresh daily, which helps with the fast,efficient service. The employees were courteous and their servicewas prompt.

“We get a lot of business people for the lunch crowd so wewant to be able to get people out within 30 minutes,” saidTemo Reyna, a CSUS student and server at The Old SpaghettiFactory.

Nothing on the menu is over $10 making it a great deal forstudents on a budget. You can get a platter of lasagna or a pile ofspaghetti and a complete dinner for a great price. Diners gavetheir approval of the Old Spaghetti Factory for choice dining.

“The foods great and my wife likes it,” said RyonTran, a CSUS graduate.

Tran’s fellow diners remarked that they loved the food andliked the prices.

The Old Spaghetti Factory, where students can sit down forenjoyable food at a good price works, well for anyone on a tightbudget.