Date Night at Cerami’s Italian Restaurant

May 16, 2012 | Featured In: Brandon, Date Night, Flowood, Supper

Cerami's Italian Restaurant on Lakeland Drive in Brandon

Cerami’s Italian Restaurant in Flowood has a pretty interesting history. In a nutshell, the original Cerami’s Italian Restaurant was opened in Jackson in 1977 by Fred Cerami, the menu revolving around his Sicilian family’s recipes. Fred chose to close the restaurant in 1992 to pursue other ventures. Years later, in 2006, Cerami’s Italian Restaurant was re-opened in Brandon by Alissa Cerami, Fred’s daughter. The re-opened restaurant still features the same Sicilian-inspired fare and makes use of much of the original decoration of the old Cerami’s!

Chianti, anyone?

As you’ll learn by reading the cover of the Cerami’s menu, Fred’s natural passion for food fueled a business idea in college to sell hot dogs from a cart on the side of Hardy Street in Hattiesburg. Now, 40-something years later, that old hot dog cart serves as “The Salad Wagon” in the restaurant! More on that shortly…

Date Night

My husband and I showed up to Cerami’s Italian Restaurant around 8:00 p.m. last Friday night. We were seated shortly after our arrival at a table for two in one of the two main dining areas. The lighting was dim, and the place buzzed with excitement and incredible smells. There was younger couple on a date to our left, an older couple across from us, and a huge family at the long table in the center of the room.

Getting Started

Jesse, our incredible and attentive server, came over and talked us into ordering a bottle of Chianti (“The bottle is a keepsake!”) and some Mozzarella Sticks (“I’ve yet to find any better than ours.”) to get the night started right.

These Mozzarella Sticks were downright tasty...

As we sipped on the interesting red wine and nibbled on the gooey, stringy, made-only-more-perfect-by-the-house-made-marinara Mozzarella Sticks, we made the difficult decision for our next course. On multiple menu options, pasta served with the “chef’s own basil cream sauce” was mentioned. That seemed like a must-try Cerami’s original, so I made up my mind to get a dish that involved the aforementioned basil cream sauce. I ordered Tilapia Basil with a side of Angel Hair dressed in the basil cream sauce. My date went with the Baked Lasagna. (Lasagna is his litmus test when dining at Italian restaurants. “If they can’t get Lasagna right, then what can they get right?”) The starter bread is also part of his litmus test, and Cerami’s passed with flying colors.

The Salad Wagon

The Salad Wagon

Our entrees came with unlimited trips to “The Salad Wagon.” The small wagon doesn’t make room for a lot of salad fixings, but there was fresh Romaine lettuce, white cheese, croutons, marinated onions, and two types of dressing—a cream based and an oil based. I went heavy on the onions while the hubby went heavy on the cheese and croutons. We both enjoyed our simple salads while waiting on our entrees.

Speaking of Entrees…

The Tilapia Basil was blackened with seasoning and accompanied by the pasta with basil cream sauce. The Lasagna was covered in marinara sauce and topped with extra cheese and a miniature Italian flag. Both got points for presentation.

My first bite of the Tilapia was fantastic. The seasoning was heavy (hence the term “blackened”) yet not overwhelming, and the fish was flaky and fresh. To make a short story even shorter, let’s just say this fish didn’t last long. As for the basil cream sauce, I can see why they serve it with multiple dishes. It was creamy, buttery, and basil-y. They used just the right amount to coat the pasta without completely drowning it. They’ve certainly got something going with this signature sauce!

Tilapia Basil... So fine!

I was able to steal a few bites of Lasagna before that completely disappeared. The tomato sauce was a little bit sweet, which made this Lasagna stand out.

Wine to go?

As we wound down our meal we still had a half a bottle of wine left, so we asked Jesse if we could get the cork and take that with us. That didn’t happen.

The new JACKSON law that allows you to order a bottle of wine, re-cork and take home the balance does NOT apply in Flowood.

The Baked Lasagna, complete with Italian flag

FOOD: The food at Cerami’s was spectacular. Since we aren’t from Italy, we can’t say how authentic the food was, but we do know that it made our eatie taste buds extremely happy.

SERVICE: Jesse was awesome. He was knowledgeable about the menu and made very good recommendations. He got a good (and well-deserved) tip that night!

ATMOSPHERE: The atmosphere is different from what you’d expect based on the exterior of Cerami’s Italian Restaurant. It’s located in a strip of storefronts off of Lakeland Drive and, to be quite honest, is nothing special on the outside. But the smell that greets you when you walk in, combined with the decorations that look like they’ve been there for decades, create a warm and memorable experience.