I love this place. Everything I have had is outstanding. The lasagna is some of the best I have ever had. The pizza is outstanding. I love the cauliflower crust. The Mediterranean pizza is to die for. Nothing better than having dinner here then going to the theatre to watch a movie. read more

Great food. Personable service. Plan time to dine. The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because we asked if they could turn out our entrees quickly because we didn't have a lot of time, they said yes but then took quite a bit of time. We would go there again when we can plan more time. read more

Out of half their menu at 5:30 on a Saturday night. They opened at 5. Such slow service that I only learn they are also out of what I ordered 45min into waiting. No appitizers made it out to us yet, so we left. Having a delicious dinner next door at El Portillo. Highly recommend it! read more

If you are looking for a good plate of food this is your place ,talented chefs creative menu great flavor profile ! Best this area has to offer hands down read more

This place is fantastic! Gluten free noodles, pizza crusts, and so many options to personalize your food! I love the staff.

Nice little Italian place. Service was great! We had the Italian Sausage and chicken fettuccine dinners. The broccoli was a little skeptical and both entrees were not very hot. The garlic cheese bread was delish! Wait wasn't to long for the our food. read more

Backstage Cafe - Italian Near Me - Kelso, Washington

A hidden jewel in Kelso, WA - worth the stop If you are craving Italian food, as we were on a recent trip to Kelso, you must stop at the Backstage Café. This romantic little Italian restaurant is easy to find next to the old movie theatre in downtown Kelso. The first thing that struck us was the romantic décor and the warm welcome. The food was excellent and we enjoyed it both on the night and the next day, when it was just as good! We will definitely plan on stopping again on future trips to points south. read more

We knew of the Backstage Cafe but had never tried it until recently. I did a yelp check of the Backstage reading the mixed reviews & their online menu. Hmm should we try it? The menu certainly appealed to us so we decided to give it a try. Wow, we are so glad we did! We were greeted by a friendly young man who seated us then quickly brought ice water along with the menu. We were eating lite that evening so we bypassed the numerous tasty appetizer choices. My husband ordered a small Mediterranean Magic pizza that he absolutely loved & I got a salad that was a special for the day. Yumm, the salad was huge, fresh & loaded with great ingredients. Our waiter, Jamie? gave us attentive & engaging service. We have added the Backstage to our list of local favorites!! read more

Arrived at 5:20, opened at 5pm. After ordering the lasagna, we were told they were sold out as well as the meatballs. Ordered puttanesca. 25 minutes later the waitress returns to tell us, with a cute, baby face of "they sure don't teach me customer service up there on the farm" that they are also now sold out of that too. That sucked. Left at 6:15pm. Took nearly an hour to find out they didn't have the food listed on their menu. Maybe the food is good. I'll never find out. At first by force, but from now on by choice. read more

We went 5pm on a Sunday night just as they opened. Server said it would take a few minutes to put together two tables to accommodate our party of eight (six adults, two kids). She said they like to have reservations ahead for groups larger than four. Okay. No one answers the phone before they open. The service was courteous and apologetic, but extremely slow. Plus, they were out of pasta. An Italian menu, but no pasta. We were there two hours. One diner ordered a meatball sandwich. It was cold, with rock hard, inedible meatballs. They took it back and removed the charge. At least two other tables came in, had drinks, asked for their checks and said they were leaving after cancelling food orders. The place has a lot of positive reviews. Perhaps we chose an off-night? I'm not sure we'll be back. read more

Went here for lunch with a colleague today. My colleague asked the waitress how long it would take for a lunch size individual pizza and she replied "a few minutes". 45 minutes later, we finally got our meals, which were okay at best. We won't be back. read more

Used to come here all the time for the pizza, which was always good! Decided to try the Italian menu. Prices are reasonable. Food was "ok", nothing special. Worst part was that it took over an hour to get our meals. According to the waitress, this was due to the theatre crowd ordering at the same time, so I can assume this happens a lot. I really wanted to like this place, but was frustrated and underwhelmed. Probably won't be back. read more

The back stage cafe is absolutely wonderful the food is delicious the service is wonderful. It is the only actual Italian resturant in my area. It alsos have a really nice atmospher. read more

Even though it's probably the only place to get Italian food around here, I'm sure you're gonna be quite surprised to find their food amazingly delicious! read more

If you love pasta and Italian style dining, this is the place! If you enjoy wine, you should visit soon! If you want a change of pace for lunchtime, they have a great $5.00 menu to choose from. Check their hours to make sure you'll find their doors open. The restaurant seats about 50 people. read more

The food was decent but took ages to arrive, even when it was not very busy. Our waitress was so chatty I thought she was going to pull up a chair and join our group of four. A mediocre experience in every way. We've been there just that one time. read more

WOW!! What a surprise! The food was fantastic and reasonable. The stuffed mushrooms were so good, I didn't want to share. The French onion soup was delicious and the Chicken Marsala was so yummy! Don't miss this hidden gem! The wait staff was very friendly and attentive without being pushy. Great beer and wine choices as well as cider. Our group of 4 was very impressed and we will definately be back! read more

Luch is always great and the staff is courteous and attentive. The combination of the cafe and theater is great and the owners are dedicated to the community. read more

My husband and I went I to the Backstage Cafe/Kelso Theater Pub Saterday evening.. The food and service was excellent. We enjoyed our locally bottled wine and salads in the Cafe, finishing up with our delicious entrees in the theater. The waitress that served us in the Cafe brought our meal and wine to our seats in theater before the movie. After dinner we enjoyed the movie. This experience was a nice and different way to celebrate our 21st wedding Anniversary. read more

I'm giving this place two stars only because the food was fairly decent. Keep your expectations low, Backstage Cafe definitely doesn't deserve the 4.5 star average. Eating here is a 2.5 hour commitment at a bare minimum. The server was fine, albeit a little awkward. The cooks were the slowest I've ever encountered in food service - it took an hour for the salads to come out, and I could've produced a restaurant quality salad at my house in 10 minutes. It is now 8pm as we leave and we arrived there at 5:30. Do with that what you will. The owner came and said hi, and didn't seem concerned that we were clearly displeased. My cousin ordered the Italian sausage sandwich and the server ordered the Italian club for some reason. He didn't offer to comp the sandwich, he only brought a cannoli as a consolation. Just an underwhelming restaurant all around, I don't think they'll be in business much longer. read more

excellent food, excellent service. the atmosphere is great! and then you can see a movie at the theatre pub before or after if u go there around that time. my friend works there and hes great! read more

The food was bland and the service was slow despite being 1 out of 3 separate couples.

What a charming little find. Best burger I've had in years. Bring your logger-size appetite. Care is taken on every order. And Cassy was a hoot. read more

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Wow, were we disappointed! First, we got a list of what they had run out of. Then, it took over an hour from ordering to getting our entree. I have to say the salads were good. Some food was good, but it came out at different times, quite a gap between different people's plates coming. A meatball sandwich was cold and the meatballs were rock hard, maybe still frozen. They took that charge off, but with how long it took to get served, he didn't risk ordering something else. Will not do this again! read more

Love this place when the rude guy isn't working! He cuts you off in the middle of your order and is just a dick! He has no customer service at all! Will not be coming back at all! read more

I'll start by saying 6 of our 7 dinners were great. I enjoyed my chicken florentine very much. However the salmon pesto my cousin ordered left a lot to be desired. Unfortunately so did the management's reaction to our complaint. When our waitress asked about our meals we spoke up about the fishy taste to the salmon. She was very sorry and went to talk to the chef. She came back to tell us the chef said "that's just how it is" and that the manager was unwilling to do anything about the meal. Since when is any seafood supposed to be fishy tasting? My husband personally spoke with the manager who went on to explain the the salmon was "fresh" from the freezer and there was nothing wrong with it. I have never experienced a manager who refused to , in some way, make up for a bad tasting meal. It made our experience very disappointing. Especially so since our cousin was visiting from out of state and looking forward to a good salmon dinner. I do need to add that the waitress did what she could with a comped movie ticket and a free small cannoli. Also need to add that this is not someplace to go if you are in a hurry. Our dinner took over 2 hrs. Highly recommend a reservation as well. read more

We enjoyed another exquisite evening here with friends last week. Great chef! From appetizers to French Onion soup, main course, & cannelloni dessert, all were delicious... as were the wines. Our server was attentive, the atmosphere was perfect, and it was well worth the drive north from Vancouver WA. read more

Worst service I've ever experienced. Sooooooooooooooooo so so so slow. We sat ourselves, waited forever, finally got up and looked in the back for service. There was only 1 other table in there that had come at the same time as us. Everything took forever. Even the 500 times they told us they were out of something. Food took about an hour, eat least, to start arriving...1 at a time. Our last meal took 2 hours to come so she didn't get to eat. Had to take it to go. Awful. I'll never go back. Food was ok.! read more

The service to this place was totally ridiculous. Two kids weren't served. They had a new server with no help on a busy Friday night. When we asked questions they had zero customer service about the messed up orders. She forgot to order a 1 year olds pizza. Burgers were COLD! read more

Lasagna with side salad was excellent. Inviting staff and warm decor. Hostess was friendly and fun. Easy ordering and pick up of take-out.

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER !!!! unless you have an entire day to sit there and wait! To start no one greeted us had sat ourselves and waited a while finally got up and got our own menus while still waiting for someone to walk out no one did went to the back to look for someone! Ordered wait about an hour for food to come out! Food came out one at a time and mine had to be taken to go because everyone finished eating about 20 minutes before mine had a chance to come to the table !!! Was there basically open to close an still have not gotten to eat !!! They also continuously came back saying they were out of something! DON'T GO IN SOOOOOOOO SLOWW read more

Kelso, Washington, conjures up many images: the Amtrak station... well, OK, mainly the Amtrak station. But add Backstage Cafe to your list. Backstage turns out to be to be the last thing you'd expect in quiet Kelso: a terrific venue for sophisticated palates. I exited I-5 looking for something a cut above fast food and found the Backstage, connected to a movie theater about two blocks away from the Amtrak station. Instead of an iceberg wedge with French dressing, the Backstage delivered a plate of mixed greens, crumbled blue cheese, fruit and vinaigrette that could have been a meal in itself. Instead of a frozen mystery patty on a generic bun, they presented a handcrafted burger so thick and juicy that I managed to make two meals out of it. They are moving to a more Italian menu, and I certainly hope to check in on their progress whenever my tummy says I should be making a stop between Portland and Seattle. read more

Sat for 45 minutes waiting for someone to even acknowledge us and nothing. But two tables that walked in after us got their orders taken. Sad considering we spent almost 200$ the night before. Horrible service. Horrible attitudes of staff and they were not even busy. read more

Cant say enough good things about how awesome the food is. We recently moved here from NYC and was missing some good Italian food. We can here and was wowed by food and the chief. The meatball appetizer or the cheese bread with sauce marinara is so flavorful. Love the pesto sauce. What some great Italian food, this is the place to go , so happy we found this read more

We went here for our Valentines dinner~ absolutely superb!! They had wonderful specials . The nice to find the local Roland wine there. We started with a wonderful olive appitzer, I had an excellent bay shrimp stuffed manacatti and my husband loved his prime rib. Loved the atmosphere and the whole staff. Great Valentines and great restaurant!! read more

By far the best place to eat in Kelso, not that that's setting the bar very high, but this place is really pretty good. Excellent value and variety, really good service but don't be in too much of a hurry if they're very busy, just relax and enjoy your food, maybe ask for some pop corn from the Theatre while you're waiting. read more

The food was amazing! My parents were visiting and love Italian food, so we brought them to the Backstage. The Chef Nate came out and impressed them both! The food was so good that we will definitely be back very soon. We love that they are open for lunch now. read more

Exceptional. This is real food, made by a real chef, which takes time. Have a glass of wine, or beer, an appetizer, and enjoy your relaxed evening. read more

Can't imagine service being any slower. Good thing there was only one other table or I might have never gotten my salad... verdict is still out on the main course. read more

10-27-17...7pm Usually wouldn't post something like this but this experience was flat ass terrible. Two of us stopped in for dinner. Place was 3/4 full but seating was no problem. waitress was right there. Ice tea and then ordered. This is where it all fell apart. 7:15 got a small loaf of bread. Waited & waited. Others that came in after us got served. 7:30 was told salads we coming. Not! Waitresses seemed not to have a clue who got what. Salads came out and they weren't sure who got what but then went again to people who came in after us. Our waitress never came to our table once she took the order. Mind you, we were sitting right in the middle of the place so waitresses had to pass us each time thy came out of the kitchen. Ice tea filled once by other waitress. 8pm, no salad no food. Then did something I don't ever remember doing, got up and told waitress why we were leaving. In short, like to know when these other people went there to get great service but we just experienced the WORST service I have ever gotten in a restaurant. Will never go back. read more