Chicken Parmesan with roasted veggies. Photos by Christy Simmons.

Last month, I reviewed Goodness Gracious at The Mill. This month, I decided to review the restaurant that moved into the old house on College Street that Goodness Gracious used to occupy, purely for continuity’s sake. Well, that and the fact that Back to Cuba was once again closed on a weird day, but I digress. The restaurant that now resides in that beautiful old house is Milano II Italian Restaurant. I don’t think that they have two locations; rather, I think they decided to call it II because this is the second location that this restaurant has had. (The first was located on what is now known as Robert Rose Drive.)

What I do know for certain is this: the cost is reasonable and you get very tasty food. I am not saying that this is the best Italian food in Murfreesboro, but it is quite good and the prices are excellent. There wasn’t an entrée on the lunch menu that was over $10, including the Filet Medallions, which I want to try the next time I go.

Calamari Appetizer

When I go to a new Italian restaurant, I have several benchmarks that I use to gauge food quality: their bread, Caesar salad, marinara and meatballs. All simple things, but I figure if they can’t get the simple things correct, they are not going to do too well with the more complex dishes. Milano II doesn’t offer meatballs on their menu, so that was out. We decided to get their calamari appetizer to share, and I got the Chicken Marsala with a Caesar salad as my meal. My lunch companions chose the Milano’s Favorite pasta and Chicken Parmesan as their entrées.

For those of you who are limiting carbs as a part of your New Year’s resolutions, take heart: all of Milano’s entrées, with the exceptions of the pasta dishes, of course, come with your choice of roasted red-skinned potatoes or roasted vegetables, a blend of broccoli, zucchini, squash and carrots. Also, the Chicken Parmesan is not breaded, as it is at most Italian places.

The calamari was hot when it came to our table, and it was good; very tender and not bouncy, but the way it was breaded made it look like it was a frozen product. For the price, I wasn’t complaining. The marinara sauce that came with the calamari was flavorful, but very thin, almost like a puree. The Caesar salad was nothing special. It was edible and didn’t taste bad, but it was obvious that they used bottled dressing and bagged croutons. It wouldn’t be hard to make croutons with leftover bread or to make their dressing from scratch, and it would make all the difference in the taste.

Chicken Marsalla

The Chicken Marsala, though, was surprisingly delicious. The chicken was so tender that I used my fork to cut it. The marsala sauce that came with it was creamy and flavorful and had loads of mushrooms in it; I am a huge fan of mushrooms, so this was a plus for me. I got the potatoes as my side dish and even though they were barely lukewarm when they got to me, the flavor was great.

I had a bite of the Milano’s Favorite pasta, which had chicken and smoked sausage with red onions in a creamy Cajun alfredo sauce, and it was very good as well. The sauce had a slight smokiness to it that I loved. The only complaint that was spoken about this dish was that there wasn’t enough meat in it. But, considering the fact that the diner who ordered it cleaned his plate almost to the point of licking it, I’d say he was happy with his choice.

Milano’s Favorite Pasta

The restaurant offers more than the Italian standards, too. Take a tour around the entire Mediterranean with offerings like baba ghanoush, hummus and kabobs.

Those with children know that there are only three options for them: chicken fingers, pizza and pasta. The child with us opted for the chicken fingers, which are grilled, not breaded. They also don’t have fries; the dish comes with either the roasted red-skinned potatoes or the vegetables, same as the other entrées, so if you have picky kids, maybe steer them towards the pasta or pizza. There’s also no coloring pages or any other activities for the children, so if your child requires entertainment for you to eat in peace, be sure to bring your own.

Overall, this was a good experience and I will return to Milano II in the future.

Have you had a different or a similar experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below!

THE DISH

Name: Milano II
Location: 114 E. College St.
Phone: (615) 624-7390
Hours: Mon.–Thu.: 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Fri.–Sat.: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sun.: 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
Price: Favorite Pasta (lunch): $7.99; Chicken Marsala (lunch): $7.99; Beef Kabob: $13.99; Grilled Salmon: $16.99
Online: milanomurfreesboro.com