Still can’t get a table but…
Still only pick up or outdoor dining in NYC ?
That didn’t look like a $40 meatball?
Overhyped overpriced
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They just want their takeout customers to get the authentic Rao’s experience.
Indeed
It’s a big portion red sauce place. Food is mostly good, but it’s all about the size of the portions, about the inability to get a table (got to know someone with a table and join them), about the people who are sitting around you and also at the bar. About bringing a huge wad of cash with you unless you had an ‘account’ with the place. No credit cards. It also used to also be about how the entire neighborhood was dangerous to walk around but not that block. That part was gone, the whole City was safe, now not so much. Not sure how you get anything except the size of the portions when doing takeout. Easy pass for me.
You can find Rao’s branded grocery store products (Soups, Sauces, Pasta, Frozen Lasagne, etc.) at grocery stores everywhere…
The sauces are pretty good compared with the usual grocery product.
…and God help us, they used to have wine. It was so bad that when my wine group had a tasting at a local restaurant, we surreptitiously bought and hid a bottle from the list and gave ourselves pours. It wasn’t even at the level of event wines.
It is called paying for the ticket, but not getting the trip…other than being ridden.
Back in the day when they had only one seating and Frankie was still alive it was a fun way to spend an evening.
Our local Costco carries their Marinara Sauce. We are going to give it a try.
Ed
I think the marinara sauce is quite good. However the price tag is outrageous. The Costco option is great! You basically get two for the price of one.
The Soups are good in context of what they are, but a Frozen Lasagne was dreadful.
What a racket…
Sold some of the sauces when I was in the business. It was very good for a jarred sauce. But it is still a jarred sauce. Did very well at the Fancy Food Show, IIRC.
Volume up, quality down. I wonder if generic canned tomatoes are feeding the production. (Open can, pour into bottle, and label?)
“They have changed the ingredients in their products
Submitted 8 months ago
By Cat
From New York, NY
As others have commented I am a longtime fan of Rao’s because the quality was so much higher than other brands of jarred tomato sauce. However they are clearly using cheaper/lower quality ingredients now. All of their tomato based sauces now have the tinny, metalic quality I associate with cheaper sauces. There is less depth of flavor and a more sugary taste. PLEASE go back to the original ingredients and recipe. This change happened around the same time the labels on the jars changed (they now no longer say ‘sauce’ under the flavor). I happily pay the higher prices for the higher quality and there is no other brand that I found that matched the previous quality.”
"Submitted 11 months ago
By Greg
From Connecticut
They changed it! It used to be the best bottled sauce ever, then I ate some in mid February 2020 and it tasted completely different, almost like Ragu. My 14 year old daughter even commented how bad it was. I looked at the jar and it now says "Made with Italian Tomatoes “. I had an older jar and did a side by side comparison and the new version is completely different, it’s now awful. The old jar say “Product of Italy”. So sad to ruin such a great product.”
Yes, I tried one of those as well. Horrible.
I’m an unashamed fan of the bottled marinara. We use it a lot and have for some time. If you haven’t tried it, you should.
The bottles that we are getting at retail in SoCal are still made in Italy and haven’t dropped in quality.