Nick Ruffini gracefully wraps the Porchetta Sandwich in foil and hands it over to his brother Ron, who quickly slips it into a white bag with the Pronto logo on the side. Ron double-checks the order before sliding open the door. He hands the bag to a customer sitting behind the wheel of their Camry and they drive off. After sliding the door shut, Nick asks from the kitchen, “how long did that take?” Ron checks his timer. “A little over four minutes.”
This is Pronto, which is billed as “Fresh. Italian. Fast.”
The two Ruffini brothers (seen above) just opened this take-out spot after renovating the empty Swiss Farm Store on Eagleview Boulevard.
“People can call in ahead of time with their order, or they can order on the spot,” Ron explains. If people drive up, they order at one window and pull around to the other side for pick up. The store is located next to Chick-fil-A and across from a shopping center anchored by Target. To the north sits the expansive Eagleview Corporate Park, and to the west, residential developments abound.
As a buzzer sounds, Ron smiles and declares, “the pork should be done.” Nick pulls a beautifully browned pork out of the oven. “This has been slow roasted for six hours,” Nick tells me. “This is what we’ll make the porchetta sandwiches with.” The porchetta, slow roasted pork topped with broccoli rabe and sharp provolone, has proven to be a popular sandwich for those on the go.
“I think people are getting tired of fast food,” Ron tells me. “They want quality food but they are running around taking the kids to soccer. Our goal is to make it fast without sacrificing quality. You can call in your order ahead of time and pick it up on the way home, without leaving your car.”
Pronto offers an easy, 1-2-3 system for ordering pasta. Step 1 is to pick a pasta – they have six pasta choices available. Step 2 is to pick a topping – meatballs, sausage, chicken or shrimp are some of the options. Step 3 is to pick a sauce – tomato, marinara and others are available. They offer the pasta in single servings or the family style which feeds four.
They have the pasta prepped so that when an order comes in, they can drop the pasta in the boiling water quickly to finish the cooking. Nick takes the pasta, hot out of the water, and layers it in the takeout pan. He checks the order and pours marinara sauce over the pasta, then places two meatballs on top before sealing the container.
“We use home-made sauces, it’s my grandmother’s recipe,” Ron explains. Ron and Nick grew up in the restaurant business, helping their parents and extended family with three restaurants over the years. “We took the idea of a high quality restaurant and made it take-out.”
In addition to the pasta choices, Pronto offers house specialties such as Shrimp and Roasted Garlic Ravioli and stuffed rigatoni. Their paninis include the Panino Pronto, Rustica, and the Caprese. Long Roll Sandwiches include the porchetta, meatball parmigiana, Big Ron’s Veal Scaloppine, and sausage and Peppers. Pronto even has a kids menu with chicken fingers. The have a refrigerated case stocked with sodas, juices, and bottled water.
“We want to make it easy to stop by and get a healthy meal, or pick up dinner for the kids and the babysitter if you are heading out for the night.” About fifty percent of the orders are called ahead and the rest are from people ordering at the drive through. Nick says, “Our average time is three and half minutes. We want to do it quick, but we’ll slow it down to insure it’s done right and insure quality.”
The Ruffini brothers prepared an order so I could sample their cuisine. I live about twenty minutes away, so I opted to put the spaghetti in the microwave for a few seconds just to heat it up. The pasta was cooked perfectly and the marinara sauce tasted authentic – chunks of sauteed onions and tomatoes. The meatballs were tender and enjoyable.
The Panino Pronto consists of marinated grilled chicken, sharp provolone and fire roasted peppers on a splendid Italian roll. The roll held up well on the drive and the roasted peppers added a sweetness to the gooey cheese and grilled chicken. A very nice sandwich.
Pronto is an interesting concept for these two entrepreneurs. They spent the fall retrofitting the shell with an oven hood, taking out freezers and replacing with walk-in refrigerators. Outside, they made some changes to the exterior to make it feel less like a silo and more like an Italian bistro.
I recommend keying the phone number for Pronto into your cell phone now, because this is the type of place you’ll want to order from when you have had a rough long day at work and want to go home with quality comfort food. The only part of an Italian meal they don’t serve is the chianti!
Pronto is open Sunday through Thursday 11am to 9pm; and Friday and Saturday, 11am to 10pm. Order ahead at 610-524-3278 or check out the menu at prontoitalian.com. Follow them on Facebook too, by clicking here. They are located at 217 Eagleview Blvd. in Exton, PA.
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