Always Avoid Ordering This Type Of Pasta At An Italian Restaurant (Or You Risk A Mushy, Overcooked Mess)

Dining out should be an enjoyable experience. Whether you're relaxing with a solo meal or catching up with friends and family, you should always expect that when you're paying for food, it tastes good. If you're craving a hearty, comforting pasta dish, though, there are a few foods you should avoid ordering at your local Italian restaurant, including angel hair pasta. Otherwise, you risk a mushy meal.

Flavor-wise, there's nothing wrong with angel hair pasta, formally called cappellini. However, it's an extremely thin, delicate pasta type, meaning it cooks quicker than most other pasta shapes, and with a hectic restaurant kitchen, ordering it could be a big pasta mistake because it tends to get overcooked. Unlike a sturdier shape, there is little wiggle room with angel hair's cooking time, and the difference between al dente and overcooked can be just a minute. While frying or baking overcooked pasta is a solution at home, it's not an option at the restaurant, so what comes out of the water is what will end up on your plate.

Next time you order a pasta dish, skip the angel hair and go for something like penne or ziti, which has a little more give in terms of its cooking time. And if you do see a menu option that looks delicious but is served with capellini, you can probably request to swap it out with a different pasta. To keep the sauce and pasta shape complementary, stick with something similar, such as spaghetti or linguini.

If your heart is set on capellini, then you can ensure it's cooked properly by asking for it al dente. When paired with hot pasta sauce, pasta tends to continue cooking once it's removed from the water, so by asking for it to be cooked al dente (or slightly firm, which is traditionally how pasta is served in Italy), you're more likely to avoid it coming out overdone, even if it continues to soften in the sauce once it's plated.