Pop's For Italian Offers a Little Italian Flare to Ferndale

Photo Taken from Pop's for Italian's Facebook

Pop's for Italian is the latest addition to the ever growing Ferndale food scene. Despite having a ton of places to eat, Ferndale did not have much as far as Italian inspired cuisine, so this new restaurant was a welcomed edition. I have been hearing good things from friends and family, so I gave Pop's a few weeks to work out the kinks and checked out the ambiance, drinks, food and service for myself.

The restaurant is located right in the heart of downtown Ferndale on 9 Mile Road. It is connected to the new Daily Dinette, but has a separate door for entrance from the back of the plaza. The space itself is wide open with a circular bar in the middle, a large re-creation of the Statue of Liberty, and garage doors that open up and offer sidewalk seating on warmer days. It is very industrial and has high open ceilings, a look that is becoming more and more popular. 

I started my night out with a glass of wine. I asked about the selection and was given a menu to look at. There were only a few choices on the menu and the waiter didn't want to or wasn't able to tell me about them, so I ordered a white and was given the smallest wine poor I have ever gotten. It was good, but nothing special. For the second glass, I went with a Merlot and was given a bigger glass and a bigger pour. I am not sure why the first one was so small, but it was about half the size of the second. Both glasses were good, but again nothing special.

We started out the evening with two appetizers, the breaded mozzarella and the pesto basil bread Both were very tasty, very oily and very good. I highly recommend trying them.

Pesto Basil Bread

Breaded Mozzarella

For my meal, I ordered the Vegetable Soup and the Spicy Shrimp Caesar. My dining mates ordered the Gnocchi and the Pasta Carbonara. I LOVED the soup, it reminded me of the stuff my Italian grandma made me as a child. It came out before the appetizers, which was a little weird, but I loved it none the less. The salad on the other hand was okay. The shrimp wasn't very spicy, but it was good.  The weirdest part was that they gave me a lot of shrimp but slacked on the lettuce, I would have liked a little more green added to it. The croutons on the on the other hand were awesome. They were made out the same bread as the appetizers and they really made the salad!

I also tried both of my friends meals. I loved the Gnocchi and was unimpressed by the Carbonara. The Gnocchi was large, creamy and tasty. The Carbonara was just too salty for me to enjoy. Neither of them were as good as grandma's, but they were better than anything you would get at a chain restaurant like Olive Garden.

Pasta Carbonara

Gnocchi

The service was decent. Our waiter was overly attentive at first, but his interest trickled off as the night went on.  He never asked my dining mates if they wanted refills and we had to ask for our bill, despite being done with food and drinks for over a half hour.  I know that they were busy, but I think the service could have improved.

Overall I enjoyed the meal and my first experience at Pop's and I would recommend giving it a try. It's not my grandma's home cooking, but it's not shitty chain food either. It's a nice in-between. I recommend trying the soup!

~S