L'Acquolina
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
90 reviews
Mountain View, CA
"We took our mom here for Mother's Day, and loved it! The service is impeccable - the owner and the rest of the staff treat all of their…" read more »
10 Reviews for L'Acquolina
L'Blandolina! seconding Rose S.'s review. non-descript, poorly-lit interior for a brand new restaurant was surprising. Where's the charm? The kitchen staff wandering the room near closing was odd, too. The service needed some polish with missed timings for food, bringing two small slices of bread for three people.
The menu was interesting though. The food was prepared well, a little over-spiced and nothing was truly outstanding. I had spiced grilled prawns, spinach salad, sea bass and tiramisu. Every entree that was ordered at my table included the same vegetables, green beans and potatoes. Portion sizes were slightly below average. Overall, food was ok but not great. For my $60 w/tax and tip, not worth repeat visit.
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Three of us went here for dinner about 3 weeks after it opened. I thought it was quite good and a great value. Most of the appetizers are $10 or less and the entrees are about $20. Portions were decent size and the food was tasty and served at the proper temperature.
Server was friendly, though not super polished or knowledgeable.
I do not really remember the wine list. I brought in my wine for $10-15 corkage.
Subsequently my mom went to L'Acquolina for dinner and she said that the food was all quite bland.
Sorry for the lack of detail, we visited quite a while ago.
Walking into L'Acquolina made a good first impression with its light airy atmosphere. We were seated quickly and a cone-shaped basket of bread and crackers was brought to the table. The garlic onion bread sticks were amazingly light and fresh. The lunch menu was impressive with a large variety of dishes, both Tapas-style and conventional plates. I want to try everything.
Since this was my first visit, I ordered dishes I've had elsewhere as a basis of comparison. For an appetizer I had a simple mozzarella cheese, tomato, eggplant salad toped with a tasty balsamic vinegar dressing and fresh basil. The dressing turned this into something special but I was disappointed that the tomato was the tasteless cardboard grocery store variety. I also ordered the pasta carbonara: wide linguine in a cream sauce with pancetta, porcini mushrooms, and peas. I don't know if the linguine was hand made right there but it tasted like it. All the ingredients were fresh and the dish was seasoned perfectly to my taste.
A co-worker ordered the rigatoni in a spicy tomato sauce. He really liked it and said it was very spicy. He is someone who orders Thai food "hot" and often sends it back because it isn't hot enough. This would probably be too spicy for me.
There is limited outdoor sidewalk seating but as the weather was nice, it filled up quickly.
L'Acquolina is now on my "go back again" list. The service was lunch-efficient, the menu interesting, and the food was very good. .
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Went there last night for impromptu mother's day dinner. HUGELY disappointed, had HIGH hopes for this place, given the chef/owner had prior decent experience. 1. The candle holder on table had MULTIPLE chips out of it, tacky! 2. The hostess meandered over to the bar and popped a marschino cherry in her mouth, TACKY! 3. The artichoke appetizer was so overdone and mushy, not to mention THEY DIDN'T CUT THE ARTICHOKE HAIRS OUT completely, it almost choked me! 4. The Cappelini d'Acquolina with "lobster" (really???, it seemed like some overcooked langostino) and mussels was a big mushy blob of pasta, with some of it drowning in cream sauce, other parts of it COMPLETELY DRY and not sauced. It was slightly disgusting! To top it off, we left for dessert and went down the street to Satura Cakes for a yummy mocha and other treats. AVOID THIS ONE, expensive and totally NOT WORTH IT! No kid friendly items on the menu either. Try ZITUNE down the street for a more appetizing experience. This place won't last, I predict! Ugh.
Oh, how I love new restaurants, and want them to succeed! Especially if they are filling voids in my sleepy little part of town.
So I feel really bad saying what I really feel about brand new L'Acquolina.
There is certainly nothing really wrong with this restaurant. I hope this review helps them improve.
Perhaps the first turn offis the anemic interior, looking very bland and uninviting--and it was very cold! There is ZERO character in this place.
Next, there are a few other small points that add to the anemic atmosphere. The waiters and other staff were friendly, in that sort of not quite friendly way. At one point, there were some weird screams from the kitchen. And at the end of the night (there were plenty guests still there), the kitchen staff were walking through the restaurant, high fiving and otherwise visible. All of this set a strange tone.
The food itself was generally quite good. It's a mix of tapas and full plates, the sort of place you might get several tapas and one entree for two people, which is fun eating. Prices are generally quite reasonable for the quality.
We had ahi tuna, seared wonderfully, but it seemed a little dry and a little small for the price. We also had a squash soup with a fried shrimp. The whole combo was delicious, although the shrimp required fork and knife, reminding me of the 1980s Chunky soup commercials, where you could eat the soup with a fork. Awkward, but worth it. We had a delicious puff pastry with mushrooms. We also had an amazing oxtail filled tortelloni in an delicious sauce. The lowlight was the artichoke. It was overcooked to grey, swimming in a brownish pesto, with a dollop of aioli swimming in the greasy pesto. Meh!!! Oh, and the stale sliced baguette rounds--please, serve real bread.
And, what's up with the wine by the glass? There were TWO reds by the glass, neither of them good. For a tapas-type place, wine is key. Huge miss on this point.
All that food wasn't quite enough to satisfy, but was a reasonable $60, with tip. The flavors by in large were great.
I guess I remain stumped. What niche does this place serve? The atmosphere is so bland, it's not festive, even if the food is. It doesn't seem like the best place for a special occassion, although the food would fit that. It's a little too upscale foodwise to be really casual. I just can't tell what mood would drive me here, and that saddens me.
Perhaps in time, the owners will work out some of these issues, and find a solid theme and service. I hope so!
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We went to L'acqoulina for Valentine's Night. The place had a nice little vibe going on. Only complaint about the setting is the tables are a little too close together. You feel like your neighbors conversations.
I would say the food was alright, we had their prix fix, so we didn't have a lot of choice. I had the salad, my gf had the lobster bisque for starters. For the main course, I had their mushroom and goose liver risotto and she had the scalloped veal. To finish the night, we both had the citrus souffle.
The food was flavorful and descent for the price about 45 dollars.
We'll definitely be back to try the regular menu.
Well after a few hiccups, the place s finally open. Taking over from an old Chinese restaurant, which I never really saw patrons in, it's been fully revamped with the space being a mix of traditional/modern European. We were seated in the middle of the room but tucked away from the entrance.
After reviewing the menu we went with the following:
- Sliced smoked duck breast with poached pears
- Spiced grilled prawns
- Spinach salad
- Arugula Salad
- Winter Squash Soup with Grilled Prawn
- Spanish grilled half chicken
- Sea bass
- Rack of Lamb
- Tiramisu
- Berries with cream
I thought the food to be pretty tasty, but the service to be uneven. There were a few mistakes on the delivery, incorrect salad/dessert, lukewarm soup. I know it's tough with new places and was thinking of giving three stars. However I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they work the kinks out.
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Coming soon, opening Dec 2007
I tried l'acquolina for the first time last night...I had the most delicious artichoke I have ever had in my life...then came a perfect arugula and smoked salmon salad and finally a fantastic pasta with clams and venison meatballs.
I went there to catch up on life with an old friend..but instead we ended talking mostly about how truly special the food we were eating was! This would be the place I would go for a Valentines day...truly classy but still unpretentious..Don't miss it.
We were hesitant to make a reservation as previous reviews were lukewarm, but it was a very enjoyable experience. The service was prompt, but not fussy. The quality of the food was excellent. I had the braised chicken and it was perfectly cooked in a very interesting sauce. The appetizers were all tempting so it was hard to choose - I had the seared tuna which was small, but perfectly prepared. My companion had the spinach salad and the risotto, both were excellent. The atmosphere was very good, it was Saturday night and the place was crowded. Other reviewers found the interior dull - I thought it understated. Overall I was very satisfied and it represents good value for money. I will be back!
Must agree with other posters that the interior is kind of boring and empty looking, but at least there was enough light to see your menu and food. The place has only been open 5 days and I'm afraid it shows. While well-intentioned, the service seems a bit confused. Our waiter didn't tell us about the evening specials (we heard them afterwards at the table next to us) and it took a long time for him to take our orders. I do give him marks for offering both "ice" or "bottled" water without implying one was better than the other (I hate it when they pressure you to buy bottled water!) We all liked our artichoke appetizer - thought it was well seasoned and tasty, but it was a little confusing that the soup arrived first. I enjoyed the carrot gnocchi with red sauce (went nicely with the red wine and the gnocchi was light - not doughy), but my SO said his mushroom pasta dish was only OK. Apparently the texture of the pasta seemed too rough, but the sauce was good. They didn't rush us while we were eating our entrees, and took our plates after a graceful pause, but it seemed rather abrupt when our waiter asked if there was anything else we wanted. No offers of coffee, dessert? Overall the experience wasn't bad; the food was fine and not outrageously priced - but I think they need to work out the kinks. However I'm not sure the overall package is worth going back to check up on them again. I will be keeping an eye on other yelpers experiences to see how they fare.
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