Wilmington, North Carolina
November is the right time for Tarantelli’s. It’s starting to get cold outside, and nothing warms you up quite like a spicy Italian soup followed by a big bowl of pasta. There are other Italian restaurants in Wilmington with broader menus, but when it comes to pasta specifically, Tarantelli’s is the place. This visit had extra significance — it was a do-over, a mulligan, a chance to get it right. More on that later.
The Soup and the Bread
We started with the Pasta Fagioli — a classic Italian bean and pasta soup, but Tarantelli’s puts their own spin on it with fresh pork and cannellini beans. It lands somewhere between a soup and a stew, thick enough to warm you from the inside without crossing into heavy territory. On a cold November evening, it’s exactly what you want.
Then the bread arrived, and the bread deserves its own moment. Tarantelli’s serves a large square of thick focaccia — not the afterthought bread basket you get at lesser places, but a proper slab. They use a pastry decorator to pipe little mounds of whipped butter in a decorative pattern around it. The plating of the bread is genuinely impressive. And when you tear off a piece and dip it in the fagioli? Perfect.
The Main Event
Tarantelli’s signature is their Spaghetti al Formaggio Parmigiana, and if you haven’t had it, you need to understand what happens before you can understand why it matters.
They roll a cart to your table. On that cart sits half of an authentic Italian Parmigiano Reggiano wheel — a real one, imported from Italy, aged 24 months. The pasta goes in. The marinara goes in. They work the 24-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano into the mix right there at the table. Then they flash it with whiskey, and for a couple of minutes you have a blue flame dancing on top of the dish while the flavors meld and warm together. After the flame dies, they stir everything up and serve it tableside.
It’s designed for two. Honestly, a third person could have been satisfied with the portions.
My son had never tried it, so we opted for the full version — meatballs and Italian sausage both. They accommodated without hesitation. The pasta was everything it should be: rich, deeply flavored, and generous in a way that Italian cooking is supposed to be.
The Dessert
We were stuffed. But we pushed through for a lighter finish: a plate of three mini cannolis, each with a slightly different flavor. Mini cannolis were the right call. The big ones would have done us in.
The Backstory
This meal meant something extra.
Six months earlier, around Father’s Day, my son and I had come to Tarantelli’s together. My meal was excellent. His wasn’t — not because of the food, but because he’d just gone through a breakup and couldn’t eat much despite loving the restaurant. He picked at his plate while I ate mine. We paid the check and left, and I thought about that meal for months.
So this November visit was the mulligan. Come back, have the signature dish, let bygones be bygones. And it worked. He ate probably two thirds of that enormous pasta dish and smiled the whole time.
All’s good that ends well.
The Verdict
Tarantelli’s doesn’t need a massive menu to earn its place. They do what they do exceptionally well, and the tableside pasta experience is something worth doing at least once — and probably returning to every November when the cold sets in.
The Menu
Tarantelli’s — Wilmington, NC Cuisine: Italian Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
