This place is phenomenal. Not only is the food fantastic, but they also bent over backwards to accommodate a rather strict diet I'm on. We almost left because I couldn't find anything I could eat. When we told the server why, she immediately spoke to the chef to figure out food for me. My daughter had pasta with a lovely meat sauce. Her dad had lobster ravioli, of which I was insanely jealous. I had spinach salad, salmon, steamed veggies, and dry rigatoni (because crazy restrictive diet), and it was delicious. Also, when one of the staff brought my daughter's booster seat, he gently lifted her up, put her on the seat, and scooted her chair in, which was incredibly sweet. I love this place. The second I'm off this silly ass diet, I'm coming back here and having a giant pile of proper Italian food! read more

Had the salmon and it was excellently cooked. The waiter gave us a comedy show and our party was laughing the whole time. read more

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I have wanted to go to this place for years. I like traditional American influenced Italian food. Loved living in New Jersey on business and sampling restaurants as well as being invited to family dinners. Had a good green salad and the bread and olive oil was good. I would have added some red pepper flakes, in a dish, plus a few olives and a few grilled red and green peppers. The gnocchi was delicious and my lasagne with beef was good, but needed some restraint on the salt from the Parmesan crust. I ate it all and we had a sturdy red wine- a Chianti type blend. Good food, but I'd expand the menu to include less pizza, and more vegetables and seafood. It's a good place. Will return. read more

Enjoyed a wonderful dinner delivered as part of a community fundraiser. Signature spinach salad with caramelized onions, walnuts, and mild cheese. Entrees of eggplant Parmesan (with delicious colorful vegetables alongside) and truffled gnocchi with beef sugo both exceeded expectations. Finished the meal with panna cotta topped with fresh seasonal berries -- light, sweet, and perfect dessert for this meal. We like this restaurant and look forward to "take-out" again and to dining on their covered patio soon. read more

Went there tonight - had a bit of trouble finding it, but glad we went. It was interesting that they asked if 90 minutes was going to be long enough for us to eat--- it was. Enjoyed the meal and the wait staff. WIll definitely go back read more

C'era Una Volta - Italian Near Me - Alameda, California

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Came for the valentines dinner and was greeted with complimentary champagne. We had a reservation but they still made us wait for a bit. Although the dinner/food was not bad, it was nothing amazing considering the expensive price. read more

This is one of those places where, if you are dining alone, you reeeaaaally feel awkward. I mean, I liked this place--music Louis Prima, Sinatra etc. was nice. I think they should offer smaller dinner salads for less than $8.50. The arugula salad with potatoes & haricots verts was good but too large & too pricey. But if you are a party of 2, it's perfect to share. The 1/3 bottle for wine is a great idea. They have what looks like an amazing tasting menu for 2-but you can't have it alone. I made the mistake of wandering in alone at happy hour, hoping they had some happy hour food specials. The waiter said they used to, but not anymore. It's great they are open early but well--the place is confusing. No happy hour food. Pastas & gnocchi with choose-your-own sauce? It's just too confusing & frankly geared toward large groups--yet there weren't any here. It's located in a little cozy alley, & you hope what you find is quaint and cozy. But then--it almost is but not quite. The front looks like a sandwich place--big refrigerated cases--but it's not. It looks like they had good ideas but then bought furniture at Home Depot. I suggest the owners go check out Da Flora in SF for atmosphere inspiration. Then choose 6 entrees & do them well. Then be flexible if someone wants fettuccine noodles instead of penne. read more

C'era Una Volta - Nice arugula salad with green beans & potatoes - Italian Near Me - Alameda, California

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Cozy room right off a quiet alley. Small list of wines by the glass (they were out of two). Broad menu for a small place (they were out of several things.) Nice dessert list (they were out of three things.) Young waitstaff made for friendly, warm, slightly erratic service. No complaints there. Mushroom ravioli was full of mushrooms but the heavy (really good) tomato sauce drown out any mushroom flavor. I think a light marsala/cream sauce would have worked better. Apps were tasty. On the bright side, we drank a nice bottle of Montepulciano for $44. A steal! read more

Wow. What an experience. What a weird experience. First, the food was really good. I had the pasta ribbons in the Chianti meat sauce (I have no idea what it was called) and my date had the rosemary chicken with potatoes. The food was well above average. The service. We were greeted by a girl who turned out to be our waitress. She gave us a look that made me think we had unknowingly walked in to a cult pledge meeting. She gave us our menus and asked if we wanted regular water or some other kind of water....she mumbled the other kind of water so I went for the regular. The menu's were enormous. Not a huge quantity of food, just large in size. We were then asked is we wanted a wine list, which I did request. A couple minutes later, she came back and ask if we had decided. I said "Yes, can we just do a half bottle of Chianti?" She said "Sure". I then put my head back down in to my open menu to look for what I wanted...about 25 seconds later, I look up and she is still standing behind my date. My date finally says, "We're going to need a couple more minutes" I had no idea she was still standing there. Another lady brings the wine out, and maybe I assume too much, but I thought the half bottle of Chianti meant that it was just a smaller bottle, but no, we were presented with an already opened half bottle of Chianti. It got me to thinking, who had the first half? Did they have to cut them off at some point? hmmm.... We order our food, and a different girl brings us bread. We notice this girl give the table next to us a to-go box, and then curtsy, then leave the table....odd. Why didn't we get a curtsy? The waitress comes out with the food. She serves my date first by pushing the bread basket out of the way with the plate. The bread basket moves in to the water glass...guess what happens next...I'm wet. No worries though. They bring me another napkin after 10 minutes of eating. Five minutes later, I'm through. My date happens to eat a little more slowly than I do. I'm not worried about it. Apparently every other worker in the restaurant is. She was asked if she was through with her meal at least 4 times. 3 of the times she couldn't answer because she was chewing. The other time, she breathed. It wasn't late. They weren't trying to close. It was just weird. We ate, we drank, we laughed, I yelped. read more

I hate to knock any Italian place as anything bready & cheesy & gooey usually gets my vote but we were unfortunately not impressed w/ our meal at C'era Una Volta Out w/ Mom for a belated Mother's Day, girls-only night out & have to say we enjoyed our quality time over anything else The bread they gave us before our meal didn't include any butter or oil & while it was very flavorful, we were hoping for something to schmeer or dip it in Mom chose a Potato Ravioli w/ Red Snapper in a spicy Tomato Sauce. There was no discernible fish in this dish to the point she thought they forgot to include it...but looking at other patrons who had ordered this dish, theirs looked the same & no one was saying anything so we shrugged & motored through. I opted for the Gnocchi - rubbery & obviously not homemade. I asked they pair it w/ the spicy tomato sauce (as their original pairing was meaty) but the only taste from that sauce was the heat from all the jalapenos....complete overload on the heat - to the point it was inedible & no tomato taste was apparent I asked Mom how she stood eating that sauce on her ravioli - as she cannot tolerate spicy at all - and she said she felt the same as I did but she just didn't want to be rude & send it back.....my poor Mom! Dessert was Chocolate Mousse - it was okay & we thought it was the best part of our meal but we were not wowed So overall, while we completely support local, mom & pop establishments & recognize the hard work & effort that goes into living this life, have to say we've experienced better & prob wouldn't come back read more

I didn't exaggerate any of what I said. The facts are the facts, and I stand by my review 100%, as do all the people in my party that night. My daughter was served last, and that's a fact. My husband was served raw chicken, and that's a fact. We were never offered any apologies, and the owner did not come over "within 10 seconds" of noticing my husband was dissatisfied with his meal--we notified the waitress and she sent the owner over. Those are facts. If this was the only poor review of this restaurant, then obviously my experience would have been the exception and not the rule, and this would be evident to fellow Yelpers and the Yelp staff. But it's not the only poor review. There are quite a few one and two star reviews here. Regardless of this, Yelp is a forum to post reviews of businesses, and I have every right to have my review up here. Nothing that I've said is false or exaggerated. I didn't like the food, I didn't like the service, and I don't like the sour grapes attitude from the management that I got then OR now. read more

Excellent Italian food. The best in Alameda. The service is great too. Chef Rudy and his staff make for enjoyable and delicious dining. read more

C'era Una Volta - Italian Near Me - Alameda, California

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Don't come here. Read the reviews. We ate here before reading the reviews: Awful. We came here as a celebration for an engagement... Bad idea. Very disappointing. 6 of us, two of us had very dirty water glasses. Ordered the food, there was a bug buried in the future brides food, BURIED in there. The manager came out and instead of apologizing "you should know that flew into your food, it wasn't something in the kitchen." Um, how do you know looking at a bug where it came from?! No apologizes, they didn't care. Our waitress was nice, but managers and all were slightly rude and uncaring about it. There was basically no one else in the restaurant (maybe 6 other tables) at 6pm on a Friday night. That and the dirty water glasses should have been a sign but we decided to give it benefit of the doubt. Also, when we sat, the hostess completely ignored my mother. Gave everyone a menu except my mom and didn't bring her one. Had to ask, hostess was rude about it. Very disappointing. Going to in -n- out for better dinner. :) Added: I see the manager has been marking all negative, low reviews as offensive. This is reminding me of the Kitchen Nightmares... read more

Wow!!!! This place is seriously a comical error. Upon arriving I was greeted by this extremely odd hostess dressed in attire that quite simply looked scary. "And so was she". She asked if we had a reservation and indeed we did. But magically that reservation never made it to books. No Biggie. But after that, she asked me for my phone number and email address so we could be in her system. The last thing I ever want is to be in your system. Especially after what is about to happen. We were sat a table in a vacant parking lot. One other car in the far end was parked, but thats it. Within a few moments I was greeted by a young man reeking of cigarette smoke. He told me some specials and disappeared into his cloud of smoke. This is where it gets weird. The manager/hostess walks up to our table and ask's "how is everything?". I couldn't believe it. Are you high lady. We have not even got are water yet. My wife was extremely creeped out by her. Thank god we did not bring our children. Nevertheless, we ordered our dinner and wine and at this point it could of went 2 different ways. It went SOUTH!!!!!! Our caesar sale arrived looking like something out of a fast food stuffed burrito. The lettuce was old, droopy and chopped. The dressing was absent as well. I asked our Italian Waiter about the salad and he told us "thats how they do caesar's here". With a look on his own face of embarrassment. OK????? Then came our entree's. My wife's Filet Mignon arrived!!! I was in shock? Thats not a filet. It was more like a top sirloin cut. It tasted like it had been defrosted five minutes before cooking. No flavor.. Simply Disgusting for 26 dollars. Here's the clincher! My lobster Ravioli arrives. Looked good. Smells nice. First bite was ok. Uhh Ohhh! The center of all my Raviolis were frozen. They are selling frozen raviolis. This is not italian. Trust me!! I don't need to explain my credentials and culinary skill to tell you this is extremely offensive. After that I was done. We packed are wine "wrong vintage as on wine menu" to go and I asked for the check. It was brought to us by the crazy lady. She asked how was everything in peculiar way again and I replied "it was memorable". We walked past there dessert case filled with frozen bindi desserts "For those that don't know. Bindi is the equivilent to Hostess in Italy" and made are eternal exit. In closing, Alameda is nice town that is in desperate need of a good Italian restaurant. This place is a joke and should be closed. My guess is it will be shortly due to saharah we walked into. No thanks read more

C'era Una Volta is a really lovely Alameda restaurant. I was thinking 3-3.5 stars, I'll keep it at an "A-OK!" 3 until i try it again! I came in a few weeks ago and did a split plate on a 4 course meal. For a split plate the portions were very generous and I was very full upon finishing. For the Salad I had the Ave Cesare- The Anchovies on top were quite a kick. The salad was the smallest portion out of all the courses but came out quick and I was satisfied. For the second course I had the Gnocchi- This dish was a little different for me- I didn't really enjoy it that much. The balls tasted kinda bland, although luckily we had it with the meat sauce which tasted good. I wasn't sure what to expect from potato dumplings- I don't think i'll order this one next time. The third course was Salmon with Mashed Potatoes. This dish was awesome. The salmon tasted amazing, very juicy and no overwhelming flavor or seasoning- just right. The mashed potatoes were also amazing- they weren't whipped too creamy, they left just enough potato chunk to taste great. For desert they presented us with an apple tart pie thingy lol... it tasted pretty good and finished off the meal nicely. The waiters were prompt refilling our glasses the whole night. The owner of the restaurant was walking around greeting all of the guests and letting us know she was glad to have us dining there. The decor of this place is nice, too- lots of local artists. I'd like to come back to try C'era Una Volta again, this time using a discount code from restaurant.com -I can't wait! read more

Disclaimer: I have high standards when it comes to food. As somebody who cooks very well and cooks often, I expect the same from a restaurant when I patronize their establishment. Food is personal. I ordered take out - A beet salad and two black bean soups to go. Took my order home and dished it out. My soup portions were pretty meager, literally 1 1/4 measured cups at most. The black bean soup was primarily bean liquid with some black bean puree'. The soup had no flavor and no thought put into in my humble opinion. The salad was not fresh as I had pieces of lettuce that were mushy and the salad was obviously refrigerated the entire day. My total was $18,75...really? Consider this a donation C'era Una Volta. For this amount I don't expect large portions but at least a very flavorful soup and fresh salad. How about a little pride in your offerings? read more

FOOD: Not good. I ordered the spaghetti with meat sauce and it was bitter and not very good. I kept thinking that I could make a better sauce at home. My husband ordered Italian crusted chicken and it was wet soggy mess. Dessert was horrible. My husband ordered an eclair and said that it tasted like an eclair he had once from Target. We also noticed that they used Hershey's syrup to drizzle on the dessert. Cheap? In total we paid almost $80 for a meal that was obviously made on the cheap. This place is not worth it!! We will never go here again. ATMOSPHERE: I think the reason why people come here is for the mellow decor. It is such a nice little restaurant. Its just too bad the food is so awful. read more

Great place friendly staff and a killer filet mignon Have been here a couple times and will be back again! read more

I love Italian and it takes a whole lot of bad for me to be disgusted by Italian food. I have no idea what the malfunction with my meal was but it was bad. I ordered the eggplant parm and not only was my meal the last to come out, a good 15 minutes after everyone Else's but they really mutilated such a simple meal The server apologized and admitted there was a mistake. When the food finally come out here is my best description. Very similar to mushy old bananas that are breaded. The breading is not crisp but instead soggy; likely the eggplant had too much moisture in it. So in other words the eggplant was not prepared properly. To hide the breaded mushy eggplant they smothered the whole thing in marinara sauce. So it appeared more like drenched breaded mushy eggplant in marinara soup with melted cheese on top. As the server was setting it down and apologizing, the look on his face told the story. Oh, my god are we really serving this pile of dog pooh. Better yet is the lady going to eat this pile of dog pooh? Well I did not have the guts to complain because I was out to dinner with friends and did not want to cause problem. So I did what my mom always told me I should do, "eat your food and be grateful because there are people starving in China". It was gross so I scraped the excess marinara of and did my best to pretend it was okay. Fortunately I did not have to eat a ton since everyone else was offering me bites of their food and I had a little bread to tide me over. Needless to say I will never go back to this establishment. It was ridiculous that I had to experience this meal. Every time I see or hear Cera Una Volta I think about that horrible eggplant. read more

Mmmmmmmmmmm. Add together the following: * one perfect sunny summer morning * outdoor seating with umbrella * deep, creamy latte * fluffy waffles with fresh fruit * delightful service This totalled the most pleasant brunch I've had in a while. I even stayed longer than I should have to greedily drink a second latte. I'm eager to try dinner here next time. UPDATE 8/07: I finally made it here for dinner, and it was fantastic. Very well done for Alameda, and on a par with fine dining in SF. The food was exquisite, our waiter was attentive and cute as an Italian button, and the wine was served nicely. I still have to dock a star for keeping us waiting for 15 minutes past our scheduled reservation and for being too brightly lit. Nonetheless, they are on my short list for a great dinner venue. read more

Everything needs salt. Supposedly they said that some people complained that there was too much salt so they cut back, but c'mon now...if you're a professional, you get it right, not inconsistency. Ordered the burrata special...I love burrata, and this is the first time I've ever had burrata that was served with unripe tomatoes and CHOPPED ROMAINE LETTUCE?!?! What...caprese party foul! Only come here for the pasta courses...the chianti meat sauce is not bad. The pasta is ok, but it doesn't sound like they make it themselves since the pasta they sell at the front is made in Italy. The risotto with shrimp and zucchini was pretty well seasoned and spot-on. Could use more cheese though and pepper, but the server never offered any of it when the food was delivered. The entrees are decent at best...no seasoning or depth of flavor. The mashed potatoes were clumpy and looked like they sat around for ages. The spinach had too much liquid. My lamb chops tasted like liver; it was unappetizing to say the least. The biggest offense was the Vesuvius lava cake. It was supposed to be a lava cake as advertised. You could tell they micowave the cakes, and that's probably why the lava was all gone by the time the cake hit our table. We broke it open and alas...no lava! How do you serve a lava-less lava cake? There was a space in the chocolate muffin *ahem* I mean cake that looked like where the lava was supposed to be. It was over-nuked, dry, and unappealing. Not sure if it was housemade. No amount of ice cream and whipped cream could save that mess. Service looked confused the entire time, and our server didn't seem to be really attentive to us, which is sad because we always try to tip generously for great service. 1 star cuz my friends thought the decor was cute and setting was nice. 2nd star for the pasta courses. read more

Really a 3.5. I was home for not quite a day when the messages and phone calls wondering if I was back in Oakland started coming. I missed the posse's trip to Bagan and Fudgelato because I had to go to a work dealy on Saturday, but I did make sure to see my peeps this morning at brunch. Tina, Gil and I had brunch here. The menu has a pretty good balance of breakfast, brunch, and lunch options. I chose the mushroom omelet with fruit and a small croissant. The omelet was good - very fluffy with a crisp, but had not nearly enough cheese in my opinion. The croissant was warm, but disappointingly dry. The coffee, however, was great and they kept it coming (Tina and I were so jittery during our later trip to Big Lots). The restaurant itself is cute and the service is quick and friendly. read more

A wonderful place to have brunch on the weekends. You can either order a la carte or get the prix fixe for $20. We went the a la carte route. Our omelettes were perfectly cooked...the eggs were fluffy but were browned just enough on the outside to be a little crispy. We ordered a side of roasted potatoes with pancetta, which was also delicious. The waffle we ordered was okay---I'm not really into Belgian-style waffles---but you could get it with Nutella or walnut butter on the side. Our friends ordered off the prix fixe and got the crepes. The sweet one was peach and the savory one was ham and cheese and both were really good...I'm just not into crepes all the much. If you're looking for a place for a nice brunch on the weekends, head over the C'era Una Volta in Alameda. It was definitely worth the trip! read more

Thought we found a gem in an alley. After our 2 bottles of rose, apps and bread (at 430pm, between our lunch and dinner), when we asked for another bottle of rose, they told us we couldn't have it unless we ordered more food. This is 1 hour before my dinner plans so I was appalled that i HAD to eat more food in order to have more drinks. It's not like we were driving. We were having fun in the patio with no one around. In my decades of drinking, i have never experienced such blatant refusal of more business. I own my own business and always welcome more business but this restaurant wants to police people's drinking and having fun. Our future plans of hosting girls brunch there is now dead and we lost our gem read more

Upon entering C'era Una Volta Italian restaurant, the vibrant, rustic interior and warm ambiance reminded me very much of the Tuscan region in Italy. Adding to the European feel of the restaurant is that its location is on a tree-lined cobblestone alleyway. Aside from the very friendly staff and chef, the food quality and taste here is superb and very satisfying! From the warm, soft bread served with dipping olive oil mixed with Dijon mustard to the different pasta dishes we ordered for lunch, everything was cooked perfectly and nicely portioned so as not to feel over stuffed. Most of the main dishes also come with a side order of salad. We finished off our lunch nicely with a spongy, cocoa powder covered tiramisu. The tiramisu was pure perfection! The prices are quite reasonable given the freshness and excellent quality of the food served in C'era Una Volta. Occasion or no occasion, I will be returning to C'era Una Volta Italian restaurant and once again savor a pleasant dining experience! read more

Went here last night with my beautiful friend and uber fab yelper Mortiche W. The restaurant was a little quiet, which was nice for us to just sit and talk. The waiter was warm and polite and came around just the right amount of times. I had roasted chicken with vegetables. The portions were generous and everything tasted great. I couldn't finish my meal, so I have a doggy bag in my fridge tonight. read more

Diner beware - this is not good food. If you like $15 Spaghetti-0s you won't mind this place, but if you've ever had good food of any kind, anywhere, you'll know this place doesn't have it. I'm very sorry to be harsh, but this was my experience. Also, except for the busser who did a great job keeping our water glasses full (which I really appreciate), the service was bad. I never did get my Arranciata. The bread was hard and dried out - not just the crust, all surface area. They serve the bread with a little bowl of olive oil with yellow mustard squirted into the olive oil. I've been to Italy many times in my life and I've never seen olive oil served with mustard in it. I don't mind French's mustard on a hot dog, but not at a seemingly nice Italian restaurant with bread. My friend's ceaser salad was served on a hot plate. The waiter described the "Roman Coins" salad as red and yellow beets, warmed in a light vinegarette. What I receieved was a pile of mixed greens in the center of the plate decorated with about 7 slices of beets around the border. Red beets only and I swear I could see rings of the bottom of a can indented on a one of the beet slices. The waiter said it was fresh, but that really looked like can marks to me. My friend ordered pasta with meat sauce. It was OK. I ordered a pasta with spicy red sauce. When I placed the order the waiter told me it's very mild even though the menu says it's spicy. He said if I like spice, he'll ask the kitchen to put in a little extra spice for me. My pasta tasted like burning. If it weren't for the burning, however, it wouldn't have had any taste at all. I've never been one to leave food on my plate, but both my friend and I had about 5 bites of the meal and left the rest. We'd spent the day hiking and were starving, but both of us agreed that the food they were serving wasn't worth the calories. I'm so disappointed in this place. My friend was visiting from out of town and I wanted to take her to what I thought was the "nicer" Italian place in Alameda. Cer'a Una Volta is not it. If you want Italian food in Alameda, go to Linguini's. The food, service and prices are all better at Linguini's. (No, I have no vested interested in promoting them - it's just the truth). read more

Down an alley way off Park Street, C'era Una Volta has a nice concept. Cozy and quaint Italian food. We came last night in a big group to celebrate the end of the year. We were seated upstairs. We waited a long time for everything. Apparently they don't serve the olive oil until all menus have been collected for fear of dripping oil on the menus. Yes, the menus are nice. Yes, it would've been nice to appease our hungry with some bread. When the bread finally arrived, it was good. Loved the oil with mustard combination. I ordered the penne arrabiata and it was good, but not stellar. I could've sworn that it was listed as $12.50 on the menu, but was charged $14.50. Then again, I could have just mis read it. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their food...but the wait...it was just so long. At one point, a girl walked up, saw that we all had finished eating, and walked on downstairs....it look another 10 min for our server to come and gather our plates. read more

I've never seen this place packed or even busy for dinner; the food is actually pretty good and the ambiance is rather lovely, so I'm hoping more people will wander on down for some Italian grub. Meanwhile, Tomatina just a stones throw away is packed. I don't get it; is it even real Italian food? Anyhoo, C'era Una Volta is not what I'd call "family friendly" (maybe that's why more people are going to Tomatina, Alameda being a town full of young families and all). It's in the $15 and up range for the entrees. It has a charming patio out front, good for warm evenings with your sweetheart. The inside is dimly lit--not really helpful when I'm suffering from food coma after ingesting a full plate of carbs--and very echo-y, so it's not the best place to bring your rowdy group of jovial pals or for large boisterous family reunions. It's best for romantic dates and little get-togethers with a few of your most polite friends. We've been here for dinner two times now, and got the same server both times. Emily, I believe. She's delightful. I hope her bosses are treating her well. There's something about the bread that I really love. Slightly warm, aromatic, crusty without being hard. Olive oil and mustard to dip it in. I've never seen that before. I like it; it's different and tasty. The white fish that I got on the first visit... oh man. I don't normally order fish in restaurants or eat fish, period, because it's so easy to get an overcooked bland dry fish. But this fish was just perfect. Even the vegetables that came with the fish were perfect. Upon first look, I thought my dish looked small--especially considering it must have cost almost $30--but turns out it was so filling, I had to take half of it home with me. My boyfriend is a fan of the beef ravioli with meat sauce. I guess they change their menu every few months or so, because there was a different type of ravioli on the menu the second time we visited... lobster ravioli, I believe. But luckily, they had some beef ravioli left over I guess, and they appeased my boyfriend by cooking it up for him even though it wasn't on the menu. I also like their meat sauce, although mine had a bit of chianti in it, which is different from the meat sauce my boyfriend had. I appreciate that it wasn't watery or sour like some other sauces I've had. I couldn't really taste the chianti itself but there was definitely that sexy deep, somewhat heavy flavor that told me that the red wine was there. By the way, their wines are actually from Italy. So the chianti in my meat sauce was actually from Chianti. I appreciate that. But by far my absolute favorite thing here is the tiramisu. Best tiramisu I've ever had. This is quite a bold statement on my part; I hope they didn't just buy it from Costco or something because that would be embarrassing. But oh how pleasantly surprised I was to take that first espresso-drenched bite... totally unapologetic dark espresso flavor. I wish all tiramisus were this unapologetic. read more

It was our third time here. Place has seen better days. Service very slow, uneven, and at times poor. Food was brought in an order that made no sense; e.g., kid's plate last. Had a hard time getting a glass of wine. Prices steep for what you get. We split the seafood stew, but the waitress messed up the pasta order; ate some soggy pasta with a bland red sauce. The stew was light on seafood, heavy on the thick sauce. Kid's marinara spaghetti late, cold, and bland. Olive oil with mustard, so requested plan ollive oil. Received bland, blended oil (not an EVOO). Sorry to say, but will not return to a place we had really liked before. read more

We went there for a brunch/lunch on Sunday. The waiter couldn't understand our orders - clearly not only had trouble with English, but didn't know the menu at all (I blame the lack of training and the lack of self-starter energy for that - another person would have taken the menu home to study it before trying to serve customers). The service included several trips back and forth between the kitchen and our table to ensure that the order was correct - but the potatoes were wrong, the panini was cold, and the cocktail turned into a mimosa. The dessert, a lava cake, was so over-baked that it was dry all the way through and actually tasted mostly of flour. Won't go back. read more

We went for dinner during "Dining out for Life" and appreciate their participation. My baked brie appy sure sounded yummy but then it came to the table on a warmed plate making hot mushy greens and lukewarm brie. Portion was large enough to share. Pasta dishes were mediocre due to lack luster sauces because the pasta was actually cooked perfectly. We liked the option of two portion sizes to choose from. Oh, the atmosphere is just off a bit as the yellow walls make your partner appear jaundiced. The extra serving staff were delightful to watch refill water and bring GOOD warm crusty bread with delicious mustard and oil to dip in. Our waiter didn't tell us the specials but made a big deal to the table next to use after we had ordered. What gives? read more

Just had dinner here last night. All I can say is the food was below average. Dinner service was slow. We have the 3 course prefix dinner. Menu says there is Filet Mignon but when I try to order it, the server say they run out (u serious?). god..so I stuck with a pork tenderloin which was blend and dry. Before I go into the entree part, the appetizers were bad as well. We order "fresh" oysters and grill shrimp. omg the oysters were horrible, they were not fresh, they were dark in color, they were immerse in slimy seasoned sauce which has a strong odor. I mean it was bad. On the other hand, the shrimp was dreadful, tasteless, u would wanted the shrimp is juicy and tasty. naw, not the ones i had..omg. taste like they were just defrost and cook at the same time on the grill. and back to the entrees, my gf had the Stuffed lobster Ravioli. I cut that crap half, I see moshy crap stuffed, The taste of the sauce was average. The stuffed lobster was not lobster. Maybe it was typo on menu, they must meant Lobster sauced. Otherwise how u explain that crap is stuffed with lobster, it was just stuffed with tasteless moshy paste. and..the presentation was not inviting. Definitely it was cooked with no passion. When I dine here, I don't expect excellent food, but I don't expect crap neither. At the end, the server was like:" Do you want to pack it to go." LOL no..thank you. I have no pet at home. There were some good things in this place. The music, the bread and the water. So u get the picture. read more

Dined here with the GF on a very sunny and warm evening last week. We sat outside as the weather was perfect. The service was friendly, attentive and informative. We started with the beet salad which was good. I had the roasted chicken which was awesome! The gf had the salmon which was delicious as well. The volcano chocolate cake for dessert was ok.. since it was microwaved unfortunately. Overall it was a very satisfying experience that I look forward to dining there again! read more

This place is hidden in an alley, next door to a Japanese restaurant. Although if you Yelp "Italian", it will pop up and it's not hard to find. However, this is not a place where you walk by thinking, "Hey, let's check this place out." 3.5 stars for the food. It was salty. The staff seemed a little out of sorts. I went there for lunch with my family. The pasta with bolognese was pretty good for my daughter. She kept shoveling it in. My pasta with salmon was salty. Like 2 glasses of water afterwards and still felt like I came back from the desert salty. The inside of the restaurant was cute but sticky. The chairs had crumbs and the table was sticking to my elbows. There weren't many people in there. 5 tables total maybe? I just wish they took care of things a bit better. There's definitely room for improvement and I hope to see it. I will try it again to see if it was a hit-or-miss situation. There's potential. read more

I came here for brunch with several friends and overall it was underwhelming. We sat outside on the patio since it was a nice and sunny day. Service was not very good though. The waitress was not familiar with the brunch menu, so we had to resort to Google to find out what some items were. Later, a waiter came by with salads, but he didn't know who they were for and we also didn't know which dishes came with salad. A friend noticed all the other tables inside had bread and we had to request bread from the waitress. The food itself was ok, but I don't think anyone was really impressed by their meal. I had the croque madame. It was a fairly small portion (thick slice of bread, cheese, ham, egg on top) with a small side salad. Granted, the prices are commensurate with the portion size, but I generally prefer larger portions for brunch. There was some live music inside (viola & guitar duet) which was nice. Parking was pretty tough on a Sunday afternoon, but at least the meters were off. There appeared to be a small parking lot behind the restaurant. I can't really recommend this place for brunch. Perhaps it's a better option for dinner. read more

Ate here for lunch today and ehhhh, this place was just ok. The service was awkward, maybe the waitress was new? She greeted us with an offering of the cocktails for the morning and abruptly finished with an "So that's what we have" as she walked away from the table instead of the normal "Would you like to place your drink order?" Strange. As dessert approached, two salads appeared at our table as well, with an another abrupt pause and correction to deliver to the proper table. The food was equally peculiar. Our order spanned the various options on the menu to include an omelet, a crepe and a pasta. -Pastore aka a basic ham with cheese omelet - think Ihop. -Crespella alla "de Cocco" aka thick pancake-like wannabe crepe with dry chicken as we unsuccessfully searched for the pesto and tomato that was so deliciously described on the menu. -Ravioli di Spinaci aka ravioli stuffed with cheese and spinach which was actually the best pick of the three. (But a meal that could also be reproduced by a quick trip to the grocery store courtesy of Buitoni!) The best shining star of this dining experience was the warm fresh from the oven focaccia type bread. Mmm that was good stuff. It was served with the traditional EVOO + a giant dollop of mustard? Err? My void for traditional Italian food was not filled. read more

We had a very nice brunch, the service and the atmosphere were the highlights. I really like sitting in their outdoor area - alley = open + a little more private + no cars driving by. The food was fine, but nothing to write home about. I had the crepe with jam, but it was far more jam than crepe. read more

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Mothers Day Massacre :( What a let down!!! Where do I begin? The hostess was so confused that she was paralyzed and could not make quick decisions on seating anyone. I asked if we could sit outside and they said it would be fine. For Mother's Day Dinner they offered a set menu along with some entree choices, so we went with Rack of Lamb and the Osso Bucco instead of the Salmon ( I felt let down because they did not have wild Salmon even though the season opened up two weeks ago!) The Ossso Bucco was like rubber - it was sooooo undercooked it needed to be braised at least another hour. The Rack of Lamb was a joke - the portion was three very small ribs with loins that weighed less than 3 ounces total. I realize it was Mother's Day but it was not that busy and now I know why.... read more

Wonderful ambiance, personal & warm service, and consistently high quality dishes. Dined solo on a Friday evening: Starter: Spinach salad was great and there was no skimping on the goat cheese (Yum!) Entree: Couldn't decide between entrees, so I had the starter portions of lobster ravioli in lobster cream sauce and gnocchi with chianti meat sauce. Excellent as always! read more