Il Postale
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: No
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
63 reviews
Cupertino, CA
"If you're looking to throw a banquet for a large party, look no further. We held a baptism/birthday celebration for 100 people at Arya.…" read more »
90 Reviews for Il Postale
I went here for lunch with some coworkers. We sat outside in the back patio area. Surprisingly, the place was pretty crowded. I decided to try the pan-fried halibut with avocado salsa and some lemon wine cream sauce, which came with a side of risotto and fresh vegetables. (I opted out for pasta since I'm on a low carb diet). The fish portion was much bigger than I expected but it was a little bland for my taste. The pasta dishes looked delicious though. Seemed like big portions in which two people can split. Service was not too great as our server was rather rude. Plus - they accept Passport cards.
I've been to Il Postale a handful of times for lunch, and think it's pretty good. I love how the smell of garlic almost knocks you on your butt when you walk in.
I've tried a few entrees (mostly pasta) and like the penne with chicken, broccoli and red pepper flakes the best. Yesterday I ordered the penne with asparagus and pesto, and the huge puddle of oil at the bottom of the plate really put me off.
The place is tiny, and yesterday, the waiter had to wedge himself between our table and the one next to us in order to serve and take our orders. He kept almost knocking over the oil/vinegar on their table with his bum.
Honestly, the food at Fontana's in Cupertino is better for the price, but I like the location and ambiance at Il Postale.
Still haven't gone back since the last experience. I did send the manager a very detailed letter and he responded with a very detailed explanation. I appreciated that he went back to the staff and researched the situation rather than just saying he was sorry about my experience. We will eventually give this place another shot. We certainly will not offer to sit at the bar!
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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04/20/2008
WOW- In the 7 months of living in the bay area this was the worst dining experience I have had, and… Read more »
Just had a nice dinner here with my wife and daughter. The bread was ok, not terrible but not write home good, either.
The lobster bisque was tasty but not very italian, and tasted more of tomatoes than lobster. It was good, but not fantastic. My wife's beet salad was similar, a very solid 3, nothing wrong with it, but nothing to get hugely excited for. Both were huge and we were both almost full after just the starters.
My wife's seafood risotto was alright. Risotto is best when it has a nice blend of subtle flavors and served nice and hot. Her's tasted a bit reheated, and very bouillon-ish, salty without much subtly at all. The seafood was all mediocre, not bad but not great either. The mussels were all a bit sandy. The prawns were pretty good, but the bay shrimp tasted frozen or freeze dried... I give it a solid 3, maybe a 3.5 if I was in a generous mood.
My capellini was not very inspiring either. The tomato cream sauce was sparse and not salty enough. It definitely wasn't offensive, but it wasn't great either. I am a huge fan of langustino, I think it's very under-appreciated, so I thought a nice pasta with langustino sounded tasty. Unfortunately, what they meant by Rock Shrimp was more shrimp that tasted like rocks, rather than the little ugly cousin of shrimp, the succulent langustino. Oh well. The shrimp wasn't really that bad, just small and not very flavorful. (which is better than tasting rotten)
I really like that they leave you with a big bottle of cold filtered water to drink, and the service really was great, the staff could be right at home at a much higher caliber restaurant. We definitely enjoyed our evening there, so I gave it a 4, but I think that the food was more of a 3. The service made up for it, though!
(I did use a passport card which saved us about $18 off the total as well)
If you can find one, this is a great place for a coupon date.
The food is good, decent wine selection and service is usually very attentive.
It's a small cozy place and during the busy hours (lunch and dinner), the restaurant din can get pretty loud. S and I usually try to come for either a late lunch or early dinner - and when the weather's nice, it's great to sit on the back patio area.
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I was pleasantly surprised. We had a diner's club discount of $15. So for what we paid with tip ($27.00) it was wonderful. We only had water with our meal. They do serve bread, but that is it. Pasta is served ala carte basically. We had the seafood over fettucinne with a standard marinara. The seafood tasted fresh and pasta was perfect. My only complaint is the price. $18 for a smallish serving of pasta is a little steep in my book. Otherwise...delicious and if I had another discount would jump on it in a hot minute.
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Very nice little place in underrated downtown Sunnyvale. I recommend that you try the special - I have gotten the daily special about 4 times and have enjoyed it each time. There are items on the menu I want to try, but the special sounds good each time, so I have stuck with that!
Great Ambiance! The bread that they served was kinda hard as rock but other than that the pizza and pasta was good! A friend and I went for dinner and ended up ordering a medium pizza which was a little much for us to finish; the waitress could have given us a heads up that the serving was big. Good Italian.
The dinner started with two corked glasses of Chianti. The waitress politely replaced them and told us that she cork had felt funny when she opened the bottle. The wine from the new bottle was fine. We order Spaghetti Bolognese and Penne with Asparagus. The food came heaped on big plates and did not look very appealing. Unfortunately, it did not taste much better either. Everything was very bland. We were happy to leave after having eaten only a few bytes.
I went to this place for Lunch along with a couple of friends,
the atmosphere is good, but the food is on the expensive side of things
and i have to agree with one of the reviewers , pasta pamadoro is a better choice compared to this place.
The customer service is ok not the best i have seen.
It's a nice little italian restaurant in the heart of Sunnyvale. It's get pretty crowded and if you are claustrophobic might be not the right place for ya. The tables are really close to each other and the noise level can get pretty high.
The food it was decent. If you expect upper class italian food (don't fool yourself by coming here). Hubby ordered filet mignon (it was decent for a 30$ steak). I got the seafood risotto (BIG MISTAKE.. rice was way too soggy... it reminded me more of a paella than risotto).
My parents in law got the special of the day ... was decent.
Service was very friendly and professional. Can't complain about that. The portions were big.
All in all a nice little italian restaurant if you wanna have something better than the chains like Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill.
This is by far the best italian restaurant in downtown Sunnyvale (that isn't saying too much since its only rival is Gumba's), but I would go so far as to say it is my favorite italian restaurant in all of Sunnyvale. I think the ambience is great- it is small with a cute decor- the wait staff is friendly, and the pasta dishes have not disappointed. I really love the four cheese ravioli with pesto and the chicken linguini with a butter cream sauce. My husband loves the pasta dish with asparagus, olives, and prosciutto. Other dishes, however, have not quite hit the mark, such as the salmon and the risotto.
I recommend giving it a try, but sticking to pasta.
GOOD
nice decor. food is decent but not amazing. and if you're on a date and splitting your order, they serve you the dish you ordered on two plates.
BAD
staff is kinda weird...really annoying guy for a waiter. we said we weren't drinking and he said "OH, COME ON!!!" ... I know he was just trying to be funny, but, the whole night he was saying stuff like that. also, the oil/vinegar bottles were totally filthy. salad had a lot of dressing on it. and the penne chicken had very little sauce on it.
at the end of the day, this is just an average place.
Came here for a work dinner. Service was great; our waitress was very attentive. Great wine list; we ordered 3 different bottles of wine.
For starters, we had the antipasto platter, fried calamari, and garlic bread. I tasted on a couple of the itmes on the antipasto platter, and it was pretty tastey. Calamari was good, but not spectacular either. The garlic bread was pretty good, buttery and crunchy.
I had a house salad and the balsamic vinaigrette was very good. My entree was the lamb shank. It was cooked well, very tender, but it was a little too salty though. The vegetables served along side was excellent, not too soft or overcooked like most places. I didn't care for the polenta though. For dessert, I shared a flourless chocolate cake with a co-worker. It's chocolate, so how could it not be good?
Overall it was an enjoyable dinner. I would come back again.
One of the nicer italian restaurant... small so could be long wait.
they charge a $2/person cake cutting fee..
I had dinner there for one of my friends b-day. The service and food was good. The drinks could be better and I think it is on the pricy side.
I came in for lunch today with a client and WOW what great service I received. The lady who served us had a new gal with her and they both worked so well together. It's nice to go out to lunch and be taken care of. The beef braciola?? It was awesome!
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I've come to Il Postale on four prior occasions they've proven to be pretty positive experiences each. It's not a large restaurant, but there is a somewhat cozy ambience. Often you may be seating just a foot away from your neighbor, but it's not too bad. The open kitchen and brick wall give it a homier appeal.
However, last night was different... and not in a good way. Il Postale is usually pretty busy on a Friday or Saturday evening, but I noticed a bunch of empty tables when my girlfriend and I entered the restaurant. We had no reservations and were seated immediately. Perhaps those empty seats should have provided a hint?
There are a decent selection of wines on the list, but marked up quite a bit. If want some wine with your meal, I'd recommend bringing your own bottle for a $15 corkage fee. The carpaccio we ordered was all right, but I don't remember being so much shredded lettuce on top when we had ordered it before. Their mixed green salad served with a balsamic vinaigrette was quite forgettable... I remember they used to offer a spinach salad that was quite good, but it was nowhere to be seen.
My girlfriend ordered the Blackened Mixed Grill which consisted of three types of fish (halibut, salmon, tuna) blackened and served with some cajun spices. Word of warning... do not get it. The fish were completely overpowered by the cajun seasoning and the fish weren't cooked properly. While spicy, the flavors were completely bland and the risotto that the dish came with bland as well. A marinara sauce of some sort was poured over the fish, but it didn't do much to save this dish. Yikes. Luckily my linguini with diced chicken, linguica, italian sausage, and mushrooms tasted much better, but the tomato based sauce wasn't nearly as flavorful as it could have been. I'm not sure what happened to the good food that used to come out of their kitchens.
Overall, it was a rather forgettable experience which made me a bit sad. To be honest, my Italian food experience at Pasta Pomodoro at Santana Row put this one to shame and at half the cost. I used to like this place quite a bit, but last night threw me for a loop... did they change their chef or something? I actually asked out waitress if there had been a chef change recently and she said "no." I guess the mystery shall remain unanswered for now.
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I ate here a while ago, the host is a friend of mine and he recommended this place a while ago. The food is very well done, and the taste could not be better -- the lobster bisque though was a bit salty for my taste and there was a lot of insects on the right hand corner of the restaurant at the time flying around.
I don't know if they've done anything to clear that up, but it was the worse part of the evening. The room is small, and not very ventilated -- I'm fairly claustrophobic, but it was a tall enough ceiling that I can deal with. Though the room was stuffy and I couldn't stand being in a stuffy room.
Anyway, bottom line: food is quality over quantity -- service is decent, but restaurant space/atmosphere is a bit lacking due comfort.
I like this location, downtown of Sunnyvale. Do silicon valley people all like to hang out here? I went there with a coworker and went into another coworker.
It's a very small, cozy and nice Italian+American restaurant. Although it's small, it actually fits a lot of people. Of course you can listen to your neighbor table's conversation because we are so close to each other. They have a nice and small backyard too.
The price is about right, between $15 and $20 per dish.
I ordered lamb shank which is very tender. I noticed a lot of people ordered pasta.
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I came with a couple of coworkers during lunch. We first called ahead and made reservations but upon arrival, the waitress seemed a bit lost and couldn't find our name. The manager then came out, found the reservation on a different note pad, handed it to her and instructed her to keep it with her so she had something to refer to. Uh whaa?. What's the another note pad for then? Straaange.
The seating space is small and the open cooking area made it hard to hear the person across from you but my dish was good. I ordered the Fresh Blackened Salmon salad which came with hearts of palm, water chestnuts and fresh mozzarella balls. What a delicious combination.
In short, I found the food appetizing and price decent but I can see how one might have an all across the board experience here.
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Went here last night for a work dinner. I had high hopes, which is probably why I wasn't completely impressed.
I was the first to arrive for a party of 8 reservation. When the hostess tried to put some tables together (it wasn't set up yet and I was on time) another waiter stopped her cause I didn't say the right name and I was alone. Another co-worker arrived shortly, and he confirmed the name and 8 people, THEN the guy started setting up the tables. What the..? Was it a male chauvinist thing, or was he just being lazy?!? Not a very good first impression, especially when you argue with the hostess in front of the customer.
Everyone else arrived soon and our waitress arrived. She seemed really nice, don't get me wrong, but her service was not so great. The beer she poured was half full of foam, and when my co-worker said something about it, she had a huge question mark floating over her head. Maybe she's just not a beer drinker, but at least it made for funny dinner conversation. She just seemed very flustered the whole night.
What saved this review was the food. YUM. Appetizers - calamari/shrimp and bruchetta was good, but the chicken in filo dough was DELICIOUS. For main dish, I ordered the lamb - YUM x2. The meat was perfectly tender and fell off the bone - no need for a knife at all. Polenta - surprisingly tasty. Dessert was apple streudel - YUM x3. The apple pieces were bite-sized (I hate it when the apple chunks are ginormous) and the dough was soft and crispy.
Here's a tip: if you order a soda, ask for a regular sized glass. Otherwise you'll get the sodacan and a dinky sized cup that looks like an oversized shot glass to drink out of.
Back to the waitress, when my co-worker (the same beer drinker form earlier) asked "What's your gelatto" she said "it's like ice cream". After he politely said "well... DUH" she told him the flavors.
So I guess you can say the funny commentary she provided us also saved this review. I wouldn't mind coming back to give them a second chance. At least so my fiance can try the lamb and ask about their gelatto.
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I went here last night for my birthday dinner and what a great birthday it was!
I had the New Your Steak with perfectly cooked veggies and yummy lumpy mashed potatoes.
My fiance had the Penne Chicken with red pepper, it had such a great kick at the end of each bite. When we first walked in we were greeted by what I believe was the owner. He was very nice and talkative with everyone. This place has such a great vibe, its small and quaint and but not intimidating. We live really close to Downtown Sunnyvale, so this will definitely be our new favorite restaurant!!
This place gets four stars considering it is in downtown Sunnyvale. Food is kind of pricey but it's pretty good.
The ambience is pretty nice. open kitchen rustic...
Food -
Pasta is pretty decent. Meats aren't bad.
Bottom Line - For you entertainment card owners this place is definitely worth coming out to. Don't expect five star food, but overall the food has been consistenly good.
"
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Been here about three times now. First time was years ago so don't remember what I had. Second time was just a few months back with E and we had a salad and shared a risotto. I remember both being quite nice. Was here again last week for lunch and had the fettuccine with seafood. The entree came with plenty of seafood however the marinara sauce was a bit too sweet for me. Not my favorite Italian place (Cafe Torre is) but not on my blacklist either.
I finally found time to visit Il Postale! While my wife has enjoyed this restaurant for years - had a few larger company gatherings here which went very well and served to indoctrinate a few regular customers - this was my first experience.
The location is great. The decor is a nice California meets Trattoria/Bistro vibe. I felt quite comfortable at the table.
Even though our server did not know what a Negroni was at first, she went on to make one like a pro! Cheers!
Very good beet salad! I will look forward to having this again.
Carpaccio was nice. Was that head-lettuce on top? I love Carpaccio and order it whenever I see it on a menu. Arugula or Radicchio would be good here, not sliced head-lettuce, please. The beef was truly excellent, though, and accompanied by a nice mustard drizzle & EVO. I only wish there were bread-sticks to go with!
We enjoyed a great bottle of Nobile di Montepulciano with our Chicken Saltimbocca and 4-cheese Ravioli. The Saltimbocca was okay (7/10), though I found the poultry to be quite bland. To me, it recalled so many "buffet" chicken dishes tossed out at too many wedding receptions over the years . . . Maybe marinating the chicken and/or searing to produce a bit of crust would have helped. If there was Sage (this is Saltimbocca, right?) in the dish I could find no hint of it.
The 4-cheese Ravioli was awesome! I will surely return to treat myself to this excellent offering! The pasta's texture works perfectly with the taste/texture layers of cheese inside each tasty pouch! Wonderfully paired with a delicious Pesto cream sauce and dollops of sun-dried tomato pesto. Yum, yum, yum . . .
We adored the Zabaglione (more whipped mascarpone-style versus custard-style) with Berries for afters - especially with a few nice Ports!
My friends live within walking distance and love this restaurant so she naturally picked this restaurant for her birthday celebration.
I was impressed with their wine list which is quite interesting. We began with the calamari and rock shrimp appetizer which was pretty good.
For dinner, I selected the duck. I was just looking at the website to refresh my memory and the description of the duck wasn't what I had so perhaps things change??? The duck I had came with a pear which was so delicious!
One of my friends selected the Veal entree and my other friend selected something - oops, can't remember as I clearly focused on MY dinner :) They both loved their dishes so we were all happy.
For dessert, our server heard us talking about a birthday so he surprised us with a birthday tiramisu. Excellent!
I will definitely be heading back!
Baked penne with wild boar sausage! It is the only thing I ever order and it is awesome!
I'm surprised by the sub-par reviews, that's unfortunate that this restaurant doesn't garner higher marks. I like the open kitchen ambiance, and the rustic interior. It's not a big restaurant, hence the "Bistro". They seem to have plenty of wait-staff to serve the tables though, and they have always been exceedingly friendly and attentive. I most recently had the fettuccine diced chicken with sausage and other stuff in it. It was tasty, and I couldn't finish the entree. The corn chowder was good, although not piping hot. I like the water bottle that they put on the table.
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This place was decent. The service was good. I am giving Il Postale 3 stars because the portions were on the smaller size, especially for the price. I think $15+ for pasta is too much. My pesto was tasteful but very oily. The risotto side dish was very dry, but the Halibut was excellent. A good choice if you in the mood for Italian food, but definitely not the best out there.
Food's bland. Ambience is just ok. Price is ridiculous.
I went to this restaurant w/some friends.. apparently they have this minimum that they don't quite advertise with their ads. They forced us to order more to meet their "min. order requirement" on weekend. Bull crap.
To be honest, I don't know how in the world you can mess up spaghetti w/meatballs or linquine w/cheese. Service was mediocre and food wasn't that great.
I will never go there again nor will I ever recommend it to anyone. In fact, I would tell bday or group folks to NOT go there. Don't expect good.. or even DECENT treatment.
Read rest here:
http://www.speedyword....
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Loved this place!! The food is great and service is wonderful! I love their penne dish with Wild Boar so good with tons of cheese!! Portions are large and I generally need a to go box. I also love their two kinds of bread!!!! Their desserts are amazing as well. I can't wait to go there again!
Pricey
Food is ok
Atmosphere is ok
Service is ok
I've been there a few times, so I feel like I've given it a fair shot. Not really sure if I would go back.
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While I do very much enjoy the ambiance of the place, I seem to leave a little unimpressed. The cuisine is a variety of American-Italian selections with a few other additions and vegetarian choices in the menu. Expect a busy Friday and Saturday night as the rest of downtown Sunnyvale gets the same way. Overall, The selection of produce and ingredients is high quality and cooked just right so everything served is always appetizing. However, the raves and reviews that had come from many sources had me expecting more flavor. A very worthy suggestion to somebody in the area, Il Postale doesn't seem to merit traveling great distances to experience.
I hadn't been to Il Postale since I stopped working in Sunnyvale and when I stopped in last week for dinner, I remembered why. There is nothing memorable or particularly good about this restaurant.
I ordered the asian chicken salad and it was awful, really-really awful. I suppose it serves me right, ordering a non-Italian dish at an Italian restaurant but in all honesty, this salad was the worst salad I'd ever had. Shredded iceberg lettuce with a watery-vinegar like dressing and under seasoned breaded chicken - I didn't know you could eff up a salad this badly. My friend didn't fare any better ordering the gnocchi. I didn't know gnocchi could be both doughey AND hard. Even the bread at the table was bad - totally tasted like colombo-grocery-store-style sliced bread sold in plastic bags.
I am really surprised that they can continue to stay in business.
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The best thing about Il Postale? I could stop at the pawn shop on the corner and pick up a tambourine with a picture of a glowing green crucifix on it before moseying over to the restaurant. Ahhh... the delight that is downtown Sunnyvale. Only here can I indulge in the joyful noise buried deep in my holy spirit-lovin soul. Sister will play a Jesus tambourine all night long. Don't think I won't.
I've been here a few times thanks to a BOGO work discount and - even when half off - the food is still kind of "eh". The service is a bit on the slower side, but the outside patio in the back in quaint and quiet.. good for dates if you want to feed them moderately priced mediocre food.
Note: I'm a local, so I can talk all the smack I want about Sunnyvale You try it and I'll slap you silly. Don't think I won't.
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This place is probably one of the worst Italian restaurants I've ever been to, and I've been to my fair share. True, I'm not Italian, but I know what pleases my taste buds and this place gets 2 stars when it comes to flavor and quality of food.
The prices are a bit on the pricey side for the level of food and service you get -- I would have expected dishes for about $10 max for our "dining experience" there if you can even call it that. We had a group of 8 plus a 5 month old baby. The food was mediocre. But it was the rest of our time there that makes me want to demand a negative rating chart on Yelp; the reason for this?
1) One of the 7 dishes we ordered was completely burnt -- the pasta, the chicken, the garlic, everything in it was burnt and bitter. The response from the waitress? No apology, instead it's just burnt garlic. Yes, I know that it's burnt garlic but it's also burnt pasta and burnt chicken, don't talk to me like I do not know what burnt food tastes like.
2) A waiter almost knocked over my niece...my five month old niece. One minute she was staring at the ceiling, the next minute she's tilted sideways. And again, no apology. The waiter instead turned around, caught the chair, and pretended to play with the baby. He did not acknowledge the parents and left.
There are other small little details about the place like how loud it is, how crowded it is (for apparently no good reason), but you might get bored. Either way, I will never return to this restaurant. The service was horrible and the food was nothing more than mediocre.
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My heartbreaks seeing all these negative reviews for Il Postale.
This is actually my favorite restaurant in the South Bay. The service there is great, I've never had a problem with them.
Food is splendid. Expect large portions too, everytime I go there I always get a to go box. My favorites there are the Four Cheese Ravioli & Braised Lamb Shank.
Don't get the Duck though... its..ummm crap. No restaurant is perfect.
Oh yeah.. save room for dessert! You'll thank me.
Reservations for 5 - Birthday Dinner = $0
Mediocre Blacken Ahi = $12.95
Flavor less Lobster Bisque hidden in tomato soup = $5.75
Nice long hair in our Penne and chicken = $14.25
Having the worst impression of this place while our pissy waitress over heard us claiming she was from Denny's = Priceless.
Yelpers, Keep on driving past this place and head to Gumba's around the corner. It will be worth it.
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Real good food, but slightly overpriced. It's a small place with small tables. They do have a full bar, which is to say that they have all the liquor but no bar top to serve it on.
The service is adequate. Prompt and courteous, but not noteworthy.
This place has potential!
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