I don't know if anyone attended the Ciao Italia taping & Dinner on Saturday, but what a disappointment. It was just awful compared to previous events: no little samples of what was cooked on the show ( which, by the way was pizza - not exactly top-shelf Italian cuisine) and the gift was a terra cotta garlic roaster (they have them on sale at Amazon for $9.99), and the Mohegan Sun Recipe book that they've unsuccessfully trying to sell for a while
Dinner consisted of a gluey Pasta Carbonara, really chintzy, dried-out tiny bits of meat kebabs, and some vanilla ice cream they claimed was gelato, but if it was, it must have been a Walmart special. The only decent thing they served was a salad, but only if you like chicory, green beans, and chichi beans. Most folks didn't touch it. Even the coffee tasted like it was the day's leftovers from Starbucks.
Overall, it was a very big step down from the wonderful dinners Maryann Esposito has treated us to in the past. I got the sense from her body language & attitude that she wasn't thrilled by the cheap, scaled-down version Mohegan put on this year.
And that's why I'm saying "Ciao" to Ciao Italia.