*****  Philomena’s Italian Subs and Pastas, 906 South Powerline Road, Pompano Beach, Florida 33069 (954) 917-7778.

Philomena’s is an absolute 9 table hole in the wall…Before you go there, call for directions, or have a real good GPS unit in the car…or run a MapQuest. Don’t even attempt to eat dinner at this joint unless you have a reservation.

An elderly Italian lady, Philomena owns Philomena’s (that figures)…The menu in this Southern Italian joint is ever changing…but she does some amazing things in the pasta, fish-meat-veal-chicken entree departments.

Philomena’s is open Monday-Friday 11am-4pm for lunch. In addition to eat-in, the joint does a tremendous amount of takeout…people absolutely go nuts for the subs and takeout pastas.

Just so you know, Philomena’s is open for dinner only on Friday and Saturday…the joint is open from 5:30pm and usually closes around 10pm…the game here, is Philomena’s tries to get 2 dinner seatings during the evening, something like 5:30pm to 7:45pm and then 8pm to 10pm (or whenever you finish eating). In any event, “nobody rushes nobody” while they are eating.

Philomena’s has a grand total of 9 tables, so you sort of get friendly with total strangers while you are eating…The last time I was there (late seating), Philomena had her boom-box blasting 1960’s music and for something like an hour, the entire joint was singing and dancing to The 4 Tops, The Temptations, Leslie Gore, just to name a few…I had no idea that my friend Barry sounded like Smokey Robinson.

Philomena’s food is terrific. Like I said before, the menu constantly changes…maybe you’ll get lucky and Philomena’s will be serving stuffed grilled porkchops,  baked ziti with meatballs, rice balls and fried cheesecake. Trust me, it’s all good.

Philomena’s decor is American Gangster Movie Posters-Pictures.

This is a joint that you have to try. Terrific food. Terrific ambiance. Terrific service. Figure a soup to nuts dinner…around 45-50 bucks a head.

One final note, Philomena is from the old school…cash only!!