Centro is such a solid spot in Old Towne Orange for a chill Italian dinner night. The ambiance is relaxed and cozy, the food came out super fast, and the outdoor seating was perfect since we brought our dog We ordered the calamari, pizza, and cannoli... everything was delicious and hit the spot. Simple, good food with a great vibe. Definitely coming back. read more

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I wasn't going to be this harsh since this is a new location and there are always wrinkles. However, when you make mistakes, you must own them and show some sense of care. Overall, if they don't fix the service here, it will be a kiss of death. Sat outside for 10 mins and no server approached my table. Ok, fine. I took a seat on the inside and was eventually treated. Strangely, the sense of urgency on the server staff side doesn't seem ingrained as a pillar of their service model. That can be fixed. Poor attitude cannot. The dish I received was the next fail. I got a sad piece of salmon that was so over cooked it was inedible. I took one bite and could not eat anymore. I wasn't mad.... more concerned. It was so off the mark. The server agreed it was overcooked. I chose not to try again and he offered the chicken. A boring alternative but I decided to played it safe. The chicken was, chicken. At least it was not overcooked. I had already finished the salad so I ate my chicken breast solo when it arrived. It the experience I was hoping for. So, I get the bill and I was still charged the $3.00 up charge for the Salmon. I brought it to the server's attention and his response was: But I brought you the chicken as a replacement. What!? So, I get a piece of Salmon as dry as jerky, you bring me a piece of chicken because I no longer wanted to chance the Salmon, and you feel I should still pay the Salmon up charge? Astonishing. I then I got a snarky comment when I further challenged the up-charge. I guess he forgot that his established failed once already by serving something he himself should have identified as grossly overcooked. It was clearly visible. But to knowingly not adjust the check to charge me the dish I ultimately was served, the chicken - NOT the Salmon - is absurd. Mistakes in food preparation are excusable. How the establishment handles that hopefully rare situation matters. Crappy attitude by your server is never acceptable. I'm still baffled by the lack of care or responsibility in the crappy dish I was served. Then the attempt to still up-charge me was truly wild. I wasn't asking for a discount, but at least charge me for what I actually received. Hospitality 101 failures across the board. read more

The food was honestly amazing the fettuccine was great, compliments to the chef. Our waiter was also incredible: super attentive, kind, and genuinely made the experience enjoyable Now an even bigger shoutout to the manager for his outstanding counter terrorism and anti-pasta theft operations throughout the evening The way he monitored our table from a distance with the awareness of a hawk was truly inspiring I especially appreciated the repeated receipt inspections and the dedication to making absolutely certain nobody escaped the premises without paying for their Alfredo . It was comforting knowing we were under such elite surveillance during dinner Also impressive was the ability to question payments while not fully knowing what our order even was. That takes talent ‍‍‍ We would NOT want a criminal in our group Thankfully he was there to protect the establishment from organized fettuccine crime. Came for the pasta , stayed for the surprise police interrogation experience Thank you for keeping the Tustin streets safe manager. Overall: amazing waiter, amazing food, and a manager with a very promising future in homeland security, TSA, or private investigatio read more

Centro & Storico Cafe - The alcohol - Italian Near Me - Orange, California

This isn't my first time here and that's exactly why I came back. I had to try more things on the menu, and once again, everything was incredible. The pear Gorgonzola salad was amazing, and I absolutely love that they serve it on a chilled salad plate. I know that sounds small, but a chilled plate makes such a difference and just feels right. Our pastas came out piping hot and steamy (I'm adding a video because you need to see it), and they tasted just as good as they looked. There genuinely hasn't been a single thing I've ordered here that I didn't love. I've also stopped by for breakfast before and had the breakfast burrito, which was delicious, and I tried their new latte special the blueberry chai latte and it was so good. At this point, I know I can come here for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and leave completely satisfied. The prices are also very reasonable, which makes it even better. Even though we were FULL, we still had to try dessert, because how could we not. We ordered the chocolate-covered gelato (I forgot the exact name, but trust me), and it was SO good. Rich, creamy, and absolutely worth it. Honestly, it was so filling that next time I think I need to plan better like sharing a salad and a pasta or pizza just so I can save room for dessert. I already know I need to come back just to try more desserts, especially the Nutella one with the fried pizza dough and Nutella gelato. That is definitely happening.The only downside and this isn't the restaurant's fault at all is parking. During the day you do have to pay for metered parking through an app. It's not expensive, just something to be aware of if you're visiting. Overall, consistently amazing food, great drinks, and a place I'll happily keep coming back to. Worth it every single read more

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We visited the restaurant side about a month ago and this review is for the coffee side. Lots of great options to choose from, but my friend chose the Luna Mocha...which was a mix of chocolate and almond. Overall, very good flavor and not too overpowering. I ordered a regular coffee, which was also quite good. Finally, we saw some day old pastries discounted in the front which worked out great as we were heading on a small road trip. All three pastries included were also very tasty. We will definitely be back read more

Centro Italian Cafe in Orange offers a charming ambiance and genuinely authentic Italian cuisine. Their Margherita pizza is a standout--crisp crust complemented by a delightful aroma of fresh ingredients that elevates every bite. Though the place can get quite busy during peak hours, reservations are recommended to ensure a smooth experience. Definitely worth a visit for a true taste of Italy read more

We were driving by and decided to try out this location. Centro is a tucked away behind a large building. Easy parking in the rear too. The service is great. Always making sure you have everything. The turkey panini was great. Very tasty. Big enough to share that for sure. The picture was half the panini. You will love it here. Great for relaxing and enjoying the day with great food. read more

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My new go-to coffee spot in Orange Circle I've already been here 4 times and keep coming back to try different coffee and matcha flavors. Everything I've had so far has been really good, the vibe is cozy, and the staff is always super nice. Definitely one of those spots you end up craving randomly throughout the week read more

Centro & Storico Cafe - Matcha - Italian Near Me - Orange, California

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The food was delicious! The service was great! What else can you ask for? Great ambience? They have that too! The coffee bar was great and the under ground pizza bar was fun and cool to see and the outdoor lounge was casual and relaxing! Can't wait to return! read more

My family of 4 got here on a Friday night around 6:40 with no reservations, we were able to get seated in 20min. They do take reservations through easytable when I searched on google. We sat in their cute basement level. My kids ordered from the bambini menu, and my husband got the lasagna and I got a pasta. Everything we delicious and our server was gracious. Food speed was slow though, we waited quite a bit between each course. Overall nice addition to the orange circle. read more

My husband and I were really excited to try this restaurant after walking by it earlier in the week. We were seated at a two-top in the middle of the dining room and started with drinks and a salad, which were both a great start to our meal. However, our table was positioned next to a wooden divider with open slats. On the other side was a bar-style counter with seating. Just as our entrées arrived, a group of three was seated there while waiting for a table. Because of how the space is designed, all three of them were facing directly toward us, and we could clearly hear their entire conversation throughout our meal. About halfway through, I also noticed that one person's foot was uncomfortably close to our table. At that point, it became difficult to enjoy the experience, and I unfortunately lost my appetite. We asked to speak with a manager to share our concerns, but were told there was no manager onsite, which was disappointing. Another employee did stop by to hear our concerns, but as she did not appear to be trained to handle situations like this, the response felt subpar and did not resolve the issue. Overall, the food was good, but I would strongly recommend that parties of two request a different seating area to avoid this situation. read more

Went here for dinner one night since we are such big fans of the Tustin location. We ordered two pasta dishes, the ragu and the vongole. Both pastas were really good, with a preference towards the vongole. We also ordered the prosciutto pizza which was very good, we will definitely be ordering that again. As an app, we did get the calamari which was just alright. The breading seemed mushy or undercooked for this batch was not really sticking to the calamari at all, but this could be a one time thing. The service was nice and quick as well. Overall this place is really good, but I do like the Tustin location better overall; however, I will be back to the Orange location in the future. read more

Service is amazing and warm cozy vibes!! Perfect place to walk to. After picking your son up from school. Best gelato!!! Don't forget you r coffee and a cookie. read more

Centro & Storico Cafe - So pleased with the service here old town vibes in old town Orange!! Drop coffee and a warm oatmeal cookie! - Italian Near Me - Orange, California

Great Food Great Service Cozy Atmosphere Best Pizza Best Salad Best Hazy IPA in Orange County We have been going there for years , it is always great experience. read more

The coffee is one of the best coffee in Orange CA and it just opened in January! The customer service is top tier! You can tell they hire personality here. Shoutout to Eddie and Kate! So personable and so attentive, I get why they were hired! Id hire them too lol The atmosphere is a cute vibe. They have a coffee seating area that has a nice outside view where you can do work or even people watch the passer byers. I haven't tried their food yet since all I get is coffee from here. read more

Centro & Storico Cafe - Iced vanilla breve! - Italian Near Me - Orange, California

Food was overall very good, got the lunch special and it was plenty of food. Love the pizza. Mateo was very attentive. Love the patio vibes too. But the hostess at the front had no personality, as we walked in she didn't even acknowledge us. I think we stood there for a solid 5 minutes until we got sat. The restaurant was not busy. Dined 4/15 12:30pm As we were leaving. Doesn't even say thank you or nothing. Just from a customer service standpoint. Not a good look. read more

Food is OK. Service was terrible! Went there for breakfast, will not be returning again for breakfast. Two items were incorrect and 1 drink was made incorrectly, and they made us feel like it was our fault. read more

Such great Italian food! I love the tasty food and environment! Great customer service! Would love to come back for a party sometime read more

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I have been here two times and each time was at approximately 6:30-7:00 pm. I am always told the wait will be 20 minutes and it is always 40+ minutes. There are always empty seats and it is frustrating being told one thing and waiting for double the time. The food is great, though, and the service is spot on. I do wish they'd get rid of the televisions outside too. read more

Food lacked flavor and was just so-so. Our entire table was served and finished before I got my entree and I had to ask for an update on my meal. Size of the half order was the same size as the kid portion but double the cost. The outdoor patio was a nice space although awkward placement of lights and tables making it hard to easily move around to your seat. Won't be in a rush to come back. Much better Italian restaurant options in the circle. read more

Centro is such a welcome addition to the Orange Circle! I've been twice now, once for a mommy meetup over coffee and breakfast burritos (so good and so reasonably priced), and again for an early dinner on the patio with my mom and daughter. Both experiences were amazing. The service was warm and attentive, the food was delicious, and their spritz cocktails are a must. They were also incredibly sweet and accommodating with my very active baby, even surprising her with gelato, which made her whole day. My only request.... An adult pepperoni pizza! because my husband is a child & very basic man and that's exactly what he'd order every time This spot is officially on our regular rotation read more

My sons took me to Italy a while back and during that time they told me I had to try what is called an Affogato. If you have not had one of these, you are truly missing out.! It is gelato with espresso. Ice cream isn't my go to for dessert, but I love coffee! I live in Old Town Orange and I've been waiting for this small little Italian café to open up. I found out that they actually make these coffee ice cream drinks. The young man behind the counter was so gracious and immediately placed the order and encouraged me to have some whip topping on the drink. Oh my gosh, it was wonderful! If you're in the area and you want to try something new, try this location! It's very quaint. My recommendation is you don't need the syrup in the drink. It is so good and so perfect without. read more

Enjoyed the carbonara! Fresh pasta and correctly prepared sauce (eggs & cheese - no cream). So many restaurants get this wrong. Only complaint was food was warm not hot when served. Other than that everything was wonderful. Also another visit I had a Cappuccino & a scone to go from and both were excellent! read more

The food and services were wonderful!!! Highly recommend the lasagna. We shared the four meat plater which was amazing! The pizza was also great! Walked around the plaza and stop back by for gelato perfect end to the evening. read more

Delicious! Great food and will definitely be coming back. Ordered the pane salsa verde as a starter and very tasty. Wifey ordered the half arrabiatta pasta and I ordered the full salsiccia pasta. 10/10 read more

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We were here for Mother's Day lunch. Enjoyed both pizza and pasta. Very authentic and delicious. Overall customer service was polite, attentive and good. read more

Had a wonderful dinner with girlfriends last night at Centro. We shared bruschetta, the bread with verde sauce, chopped salad, ravioli with vodka sauce, prosciutto pizza, potatoes and desserts and everything was amazing. Attentive service also! read more

We had a first meal here and it was wonderful. Service and wine selection was great. We had the bruschetta toast sampler, burrata, and spicy pizza!!! We definitely will be coming back. read more

Went in for breakfast this morning. The breakfast burrito is excellent. The burrito was cooked perfectly the green sauce on the side was perfect. If you come in for food you will be satisfied. The main reason we tried Centro is that we wanted to try the coffee latte. This is where they fell short. With a lot of coffee shops in the area you need to stand out and it was a let down. read more

Terrible service, subpar food and overall huge disappointment--coming from a fan of the Tustin location. Would NEVER recommend to anyone. Everything was either extremely bland or extremely salty and the pork chops didn't come out for 30 minutes after everyone already got their food. read more

They have the best iced lattes. Sunday latte (caramel & coconut) is my personal favorite. Pistachio was amazing too! I drive 40 minutes to get this latte. read more

"Great experience at Centro! The food was excellent -- the pesto gnocchi was especially amazing. The salads, pizza, and pasta were all delicious. Luke was an awesome server and made the meal even more enjoyable. Highly recommend!! read more

if you are brown or dark skinned in any way, you probably will not feel comfortable on a weekday morning here. big starers here, like you walked in on a private event. they will watch you eat until you leave. the tables all have plates and napkins, which is cute but uncomfortable when you're just sitting to have a chat over some coffee. the server seemed annoyed that we moved them out of our way, but we did everything neatly and these are small tables, so what is the issue? I think they should have a few tables set up, and a few left free. such a major disappointment compared to the tustin location. my coffee had no cute creamer design either, which is one of my favorite things about the tustin location. read more

I ordered the vegetarian lasagna. The flavor was good overall, but the eggplant was not fully cooked, so I had to remove it and couldn't eat it. My friend ordered a pasta dish, which was tasty. The ambience was nice, and the service was pleasant. With some improvement in how the vegetables are prepared, this place could be better. read more

After a rough start, apparently due to a problem with their reservation system and the hostess not handling it well, the evening was rescued by our server Alison. Talk about outstanding, she did a great job and knows the menu very well. She answered all our questions and made some great suggestions. Our water glasses were never empty. The staff works well together. After some excellent appetizers (calamari and bruschetta), we split a chopped salad and a pizza. Pizza was delicious, sausage and pepperoni. Be sure to save some room, the finale for us was the puff dough with the Nutella filling. Be sure to give this location a try and be sure to ask for Alison for a great experience. read more

A regular customer at Tustin location since they opened. For Orange, I went had breakfast twice and dinner twice within the first month they opened. However, last night with a full staff on Friday at 4:30 PM and only a few people in the restaurant, very, very weak. It appears the changeover from the experienced staff to the newer staff at the Orange location has fully taken place because everything was off, and nobody really cared. Ordered the same pizza I've had 100 times and it came dented in with two full pieces, missing, like a heart shape, and very small for the full size ordered pizza. Had the sauce and a few small spots of cheese, barely a handful of sausage on one, missing all the other ingredients. The runner who dropped it off laughed about it when I said it looks like it's missing two pieces and said yeah it's kind of heart shaped, like for Valentine's Day, a lot of them come out that way. He laughed and walked away. Nobody else ever came back. Different person gave me the bill and who I ordered with and who brought out the food. Nobody was running the place at all, lots of inexperienced kids. I won't to the Orange location. read more