Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives: Mulberry Ristorante - worth the drive to NY for a big meatball?

Mulberry Italian Ristorante

64 Jackson St.
Lackawanna, NY 14218

United States

Being a HUGE fan of the show 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives', I caught an episode where they featured this small joint down in western NY. My co-drinker Krissy and I decided to take a road trip to check it out Mulberry Italian Ristorante Located in the city of 'Lackawanna ' just south of Buffalo (grimey!), this little restaurant on a suburban city street was a little hard to find at first thanks to my horrible navigating.

We had a reservation at 5pm, and to our surprise it was empty when we walked in. All the hype on Triple D made us think we'd be walking into a packed house! The hostess was cute - a solid 7. She quickly seated us at a nice corner table, and being the alcoholics that we are - quickly ordered some drinks to get the night started.

Surprise #1 - Cheap drinks: Top shelf mixed drinks only $3.25!!

The Review:

The Mulberry Italian Restaurant menu was simple and to the point. We started off with some cesar salads - $7. The lettuce was crisp, and the homemade cesar dressing had a little tanginess and wasn't overly creamy. Overall, a decent cesar - but nothing to write home about.

They were beautiful. Huge, round.. and super soft. It might sound like I'm talking about boobs - but let's get back to the food. I'm talking about their famous Mulberry Italian meatballs. We each started off with one of their 5 pin bowling ball sized meatballs - $5. It comes in a big bowl. Smothered in their homemade red sauce with parm ontop and a single basil leaf. The texture of the meatball was like nothing I've had before. When you cut into it, it holds up and doesn't fall apart at all. BUT, as soon as you take a bite - it literally melts in your mouth. Super tender, and had a great flavor. A lot of stuff going on in there! The red sauce was light with a touch of garlic - scooped up the rest with my bread.

For our main, we split a large order of their cinder block sized homemade lasagna - $18. Since everyone in America is fat, this must be normal to eat something this big for dinner... right? Apparently they make a couple of these monsters every morning, and as soon as they sell out - it's off the menu for the rest of the day. The lasagna was stacked. It was loaded with their sliced homemade meatballs, chicken, sausage and a ton of mozz and parm. Again, it held up when you cut into it and didn't fall apart! The red sauce balanced everything out. My only complaint about the lasagna was that their was WAY TOO MUCH ricotta cheese on the top layer. Did someone spill the whole container in it and forget to tell the chef? WTF! My co-foodie pointed this out to me first, and I mean c'mon, we literally had to scrape out most of the ricotta to enjoy it.

The Verdict:

Overall, I give Mulberry Italian restaurant a 7 out of 10. Everything is homemade. The prices were great. (Well, isn't everything including food in the US cheap? I think I'd be morbidly obese if I could get Taco Bell combo's for $2 or a steak at a restaurant for $10). The meatballs lived up to the hype. The lasagna was decent but I wouldn't order it again due to the ricotta explosion in there. WTF lol. 

Q: Would I go back to Mulberry - and is it worth the drive if shopping in Buffalo?

A: I think so. I like cheap drinks, and I like oversized food.