I spoke to the Atlantic Quest lady at a meeting a few months ago and she said you were pretty much still around here and doing fine as far as she knew. I had forgotten all about you & Elijah’s since I wasn’t living here then either, and as you could tell was pretty fuzzy on the Atlantic Quest stuff too. Randy W. moved in with us in San Antonio in 1985 or so, and that was the last time for many years that I had a good update on what was what in the Wilmington hospitality scene - which has kind of expanded since then!

Anyway, the old days at the Olympia remain clear in my memory and I still look for a sub as good as the ones you used to make there. I’ve always been glad it worked out so well for you!
SUSAN.

I left River Enterprises In 1990 and started up Atlantic Quest Corporation with a few key people from Elijah’s and The Pilot House. We opened the Oceanic that spring followed by Eddie Romanelli’s,Henry’s and Bluewater Grill. In 2002 I sold Atlantic Quest to the same group of people that helped start it.
I worked for Buddy and George for many years but they were not involved with anything I did after they sold Tuesday’s. Hope that clears up some of the history for you.Thanks-Bill

I like to give eateries a second chance because any staff can have a bad day. Also, my taste and Antonia’s could be wildly different.

Incidentally, it’s located behind a Hollywood Video, not Blockbuster as previosuly reported.

I’m sorry to report that I can offer only that as a review: sorry. I really did want to like it, and the commercial seemed much more Italian than New York, featuring as it did zuppa di pasta e fagioli, anche la pizza Margherita, but there was almost nothing that even reached acceptable about our meal.

We knew from Ranald there was no beer or wine, but were somewhat taken aback that there wasn’t even iced tea. Maybe it’s not Italian or New York-ish, but given that the usual beverages are not available, one might expect the slightest acknowledgment of where it actually is.

The first disappointment was that the pizza Margherita wasn’t the Italian kind, with sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. It included the latter two, but with the house pizza sauce instead of tomatoes that make it Margherita instead of marinara, so pizza was out. (Perhaps for NY pizza and calzone-lovers, there is reason to patronize, but I’m not in that camp, can take ‘em or leave ‘em.)

Ordering regular dinners instead, we were again disappointed when the two slices of bread that came out in a basket with a little dish of olive oil and regular red-wine vinegar just after we ordered turned out to have staled after a night in the refrigerator. The tomatoes in the caprese and the house salad were grocery-store cottonballs, the mozzarella was doing an excellent impression of extra-firm (and normally flavorless) tofu. The pasta e fagioli was the best part of the experience. It was only good, not great, hampered by the absence of black pepper on the table and two more slices of literally ice-cold, stale bread and an equally icy shaker of parmesan, brought only after a special request.

The chicken piccata was truly awful. The chicken was bleached-white, not a hint of color from grill or skillet, and the consistency of an Aerosole. The most likely explanation is that it was actually cooked in the microwave, as incredible as that idea is to me, given the concept the place presents. The linguine had a funny taste, and only the capers were actually good.

Cosmo certainly looks and sounds the part of both a Sicilian native and New York pizzeria transplant, but after eating there once and I promise you only once, I’d have to say that appears that he only played one on TV. We went this evening during prime dinnertime, and only six other parties, maybe 20 people total, were there the whole time, nor did I see any evidence of takeout orders. If you want to eat there, I suggest you hurry, as their days are numbered.