I stopped by Pinocchio's Village Haus in Fantasyland to check out their Chicken Parmesan Pasta the other day, and you know what? It's actually quite good! Now it's not going to replace your Aunt Rossa's made from scratch Chicken Parmesan, but this is counter service, so with that in mind… I was pleasantly surprised.

The breaded chicken they are using seemed to be a decent sized, all-white meat cutlet. The pasta is a Penne variety that was cooked correctly (at least on this visit), and the lightly seasoned tomato sauce was properly chunky. The entrée was served with a side Caesar Salad, which is about the same as all the other side Caesar Salads at Disney counter service locations… it's lettuce and a couple of croutons, but with a very, very sparse amount dressing and no shredded cheese of any kind.

While we're on the subject of cheese, I would be hard pressed to call what was on top of the Chicken Parmesan… "Parmesan". It's probably a pre-shredded product (so it's already lost most of it's aroma and flavor), and there's not really enough of it on there to matter. That goes for the shredded greens as well. It would have been crazy cool to see an actual single basil leaf on there… but I'm pretty sure it's topped with shredded lettuce. It's a darker variety that what's in the salad, so it looks good… but it wasn't flavorful enough to be basil.

All in all though, the core stuff that "needs" to be good for this one to be a success (the chicken, the pasta, and the tomato sauce)… is all there, tastes great, and was a decent size.

I'm still not sold on the food ordering and pickup lines at Pinocchio's. The multiple line system seems tight compared to newer locations like PizzeRizzo. I don't really have a solution here... it's just an observation. They are working with a very small space that was never designed to handle the large number of guests that visit this popular location.

My best tip (more so here, than with some other locations)… if it looks like there's a ton of people in the line cues… it may not be worth the wait. I hate saying that because the food here is usually quite good. Go across the street, watch "Mickey's PhilharMagic" and see if the lines are any shorter in a half hour.

The environment at Pinocchio's is quite quaint, even if you're not sitting at one of the prized window tables that overlook the "It's a Small World" attraction below. There is also a very, very tiny "upstairs" seating area, which is kind of cool, because it's a secret space that not too many people know about… but I think there's more space at the downstairs tables, so I often just go for one of those.

If you're in the mood for American/Italian counter service, Pinocchio's Village Haus is a good choice and gets a thumbs up from me… as long as the place isn't too crowded.