Over the past 21 years, Pronto! has grown, changed and evolved. If you haven’t been in lately, Royal Oak Restaurant Week is a great reason to come back and rediscover it.
As Pronto! has expanded over the years, the restaurant has maintained what owner Bill Thomas calls a kicky and colorful urban bistro vibe – a kind of a come-as-you-are neighborhood hangout. If the weather cooperates (crossing fingers), diners can take their tables either on the street side patio or in the back on the garden patio, which just opened last year. Both patios are pet-friendly.
“For Royal Oak Restaurant Week, we wanted to feature the things that are most popular, our Pronto! Classics,” Taylor says.
The $15 three-course lunch menus have choices of either pasta, soup and dessert; the Santa Fe salad, a cup of the soup of the day, and dessert; or a soup, sandwich and dessert.
“The Santa Fe chopped salad has a very nice flavor profile with white beans, jicama and dried mangoes,” Thomas says.
And as far as the Smac and Cheese on the lunchtime pasta offerings, I think they should rename it Crack and Cheese – elbow macaroni, sliced, mushrooms in a creamy dill sauce topped with Mozzarella, Parmesan and crumbled bacon
Perennial entrée favorites on the $25 four-course dinner include the chicken pot pie, turkey meatloaf, Southwest baked pasta, and the Mediterranean platter.
The wild mushroom and rice soup is a seasonal favorite that takes advantage of mushrooms at their seasonal best. Roasted garlic soup is another Pronto! Classic that has a spot on the Restaurant Week menu.
Pronto! has such a big reputation for its desserts that it even has its own storefront bakery that’s part of the Pronto! Corner Store on the corner of Washington and Sixth streets. Their red velvet, caramel, chocolate ripple, German chocolate and lemon coconut cupcakes are part of the lunch dessert choices. Their salted caramel, Neapolitan, butter pecan and chocolate sin tortes round out the Restaurant Week dinner specials.
Over the years, Pronto! has become to be more than a restaurant. In addition to the Corner Store, it also has a separate bar, offers full-service catering, and holds some really kick-ass cooking classes.
Pronto! is located at 608 Washington Street in Royal Oak.
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