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Mon-Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
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I really enjoyed this place but it was just a little on the expensie side for what we got. I mean really, no complaints other than I guess you can call it value?
We started with the prosciuotto and it was pretty good, not extraordinary but definatley good. I got the Spinach Gorgonzola pasta with chicken and it was pretty good. Bowtie pasta with a gorgonzola/marinara/cream sauce, tomatos, spinach (duh) and chicken. The chicken was a little underseasoned but when you slather it with the yummy sauce it was in, it was good! Also tried the veal parmesan and no complaints there, it was very good. I would recommend everything we tried if you are planning on going there.
If you go on their website you can get a coupon but it has time restrictions so make note of that. I might go again if I was going to use the coupon. Certainly no complaints food wise, just a little pricey for what was delivered. O yea, and the service was GREAT! So friendly and attentive!
So I just got back from lunch at Pasta Primavera Cafe and while the food was decent (though a bit overpriced...good quantity but meh flavor)...and the service from our server (Ceasar) was EXCELLENT...the overall experience was very far from excellent!
Whilst enjoying my linguine with white clam sauce (which was laden with clams and pretty good), I found one little piece of clamshell but thought "hey, it means they aren't canned" and continued on my feasting way. Lo and behold, a few moments later I find a shard...I mean, sharp on BOTH ends...like a little lance...of clamshell. For the most part I found it by the hard crunch on my teeth, but it did poke the roof of my mouth as well. As I said before, at least this means the clams were fresh, so I'm not overly unhappy...but still...clean them better people! (also got gritty clam poo in there too...blech!)
The waiter (the wonderful Ceasar) comes over to ask about my pushed aside more than 1/2 full plate...and is terribly apologetic...but explains that it must've come out of the CAN!!! What???!!! A) you are using canned clams in the Bay Area? B) the canned clams are so low grade that they have gritty poop and shells in them?
Anyway, he goes to the manager to explain it and comes back with the logic that the shell was in the can, so the manager won't do anything...but would I like a dessert? Um...no...I'd like to speak to the manager because I know that poor Ceasar has no control over this situation. He understands and goes to get the manager...who never comes over. The manager did however discount the meal from $12.95 to $5.95 for my troubles.
Top it all off with the fact that as we left, the manager (standing by the door) turned his back to the door to ensure that he wouldn't thank us for coming in or apologize for the lousy experience.
I hope Ceasar finds a better establishment to work at that will appreciate his talents...he's far too attentive, friendly and helpful for this place! As for the manager? Well...try the Linguine and Clams buddy...
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Not bad for a chain, and a step up from Pasta Pomodoro
but.....
Stranger than Fiction #1:
On the menu:
Spaghetti with Meatballs
but when I ordered the carbonara and requested spaghetti instead of fettucine, the waiter's response
"Ahh we don't have spaghetti, angel hair pasta, is that OK?"
How does one say WTF in Italiano?
Google translator says it's Che Cazzo....
Stranger Than Fiction #2:
The pastas were good value, yes. Included a choice of either minestrone soup or clam chowder. While the minestrone was decent, it was literally drowned in canned tomato paste, creating a thick soury tart (non froyo...) effect. I've had diluted watered down minestrone, but a tomato paste enhanced version I suppose this is a world's first.
Dunno if I should say ehhhhhhhh, or uhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
Stranger Than Fiction #3
So we each ordered a different soup to get some variety. The minestrone or should I say marinara sauce soup, was not well received by a family member, so we thought about leaving it on the table for a little bit and having some later. The waiter (the no-we-don't-have-spaghetti guy) comes by like an eagle and swoops it away, and luckily we said oh we're not done yet before he could make it to the kitchen like a superbowl touchdown.
Stranger Than Fiction 3B
20 mins later, the same eagle waiter becomes eager beaver quickdraw McGraw again and is poised to take away a side plate of pasta set aside for the junior family member, to which we had to say "not done yet" before he could snatch it away like the early bird going for the worm.
Two words: Che Cazzo....
On the upside...there is a giant jar of jellybeans on the bar counter top, and mini paper cups to hold samples, in case the fugly looking gelato they carry doesn't cut it for you.
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So i'm a little behind on the updates... we went here for mother's day this year... the fact that they lost our reservations and we had to stand around waiting for 20-30 minutes is why i knocked off a star...
other than that, my chicken pesto gorgonzola was to die for, the bruchetta we ordered was fantastic, and even the sundried tomato dip that came with the bread (ie not an appetizer, just the free bread and dip they put on the table) was super yummy.
they had a my favorite italian pinot grigio on the wine list (santa margarhetia) but having just gotten back from italy in march where this is about $6-7 at the grocery stores, having to buy a bottle for $50 (not available by the glass) just didn't seem worth the cost.
so being that it was a holiday, i'm willing to forgive the wait, and somewhat slow service, but the food definitely earns a solid 4 stars on its own
Don't ask for delivery. They'll direct you to Waiters on Wheels guaranteeing a terrible experience.
This is a good place to go to when you want an average, normal Italian lunch. It's perfectly average--not great, but definitely not bad. Food is good, but not outstanding. Service is fine, and it's a good location. I think their menu has been the same for years and years, so that can get boring, but it's not a bad place. The wall is lined with a huge mirror going all the way across, so I've seen that creep some people out before, as in "Ahhh, so that's what I look like when I shove the bread in my mouth and chew!"
Well came here for lunch. Not bad. But you should not be in a hurry. I noticed that there was a help wanted sign at the door. I was greeted at the door . We where seated very quickly and given menus and water. I noticed that there was only one waiter, bus boy and maybe 2 cooks. We ordered the calamari appetizer and the Greek salad. We got served warm bread and tomato dip.
The salad came first then the appetizer. The food was up to par. Never bad food, the staff does very well for what they have. I noticed that the owner or someone was seated near the back doing paperwork. I guess that is one thing that could have been done like in an OFFICE??? or even a back table in the rear of the place not in the middle of the dinning room at lunch time. Kudos to the staff Cesar is polite and especially friendly.
I have been to several I places to eat in San Mateo. Thought to myself why not try this place. It… Read more »
I'd remembered this place being really quite tasty, and was disappointed last night with my dinner there. Not sure if the chef was having a bad night, that might explain a few things...
The service was great. Our waiter was friendly, quick, and helpful.
The most flavorful thing that came out of the kitchen that day was the dipping oil for the bread basket. As far as I can tell it's just sun dried tomatoes that were packed in olive oil, and run through a food processor. Far yummier that it should have been.
I got the linguine with red clam sauce. The salad that came with it was dressed with the strangest almost-entirely-oil stuff, and made the whole thing feel seriously greasy. The main dish was reasonably tasty, but nothing to write home about. The pasta was a good al dente texture, but I think it was broken to get into a pot, because the noodles were really short, and difficult to manage. The sauce was bland, but had *lots* of clams. The clams were a very nice texture, not overcooked at all.
My friend got a salad and soup. The soup was the creamy tomato, and was absolutely revolting. we each took a bite, and set it aside to be taken away. Hardly any flavor at all. It really looked like someone had taken a pint of heavy cream, blended a red bell pepper in there for some color (no tomato flavor at all was present) and salted it lightly. The salad was not awful, but unremarkable.
We didn't stay for dessert. When I'd been there in the past, the cream brulee was fantastic. Last night, though, I just wanted to get the dinner over with and leave.
Wow, I'm surprised at all the bad reviews and bad experiences everyone had.
I popped in for dinner with 2 girlfriends and as always.. I'm running on Asian time so I'm like 15 mins late, they were already there and munching through the bread basket and that SUPER YUMMY tomato dip thing they give you. Seriously.. i sat down super starving and dug in and couldn't stop! We asked for seconds on the bread and dip and never was told there was a charge of any sort. Our waitress was very attentive and checked on us several times during the meal.
We started off with salads.. when it come sto starter salads, I'm not looking to be amazed honestly, if its an entree salad then id really be critical. It arrives pretty quickly and our entrees soon after. One of my girls had the Salmon which she said was super fresh, another had some sort of Gorgonzola pasta thing and i had the Calamari with penne pasta and a spicy marinara.
I was seriously in love with my dish. I love all this calamari, and these were the steaks lightly grilled and cut into strips. They were cooked perfects, very tender not at all tough and rubbery.
We ended the meals with tiramasu and gelato. I can't remember the flavors of gelato..but my tiramasu was light fluffy and not too sweet, not the best in the world, but still yum. I also had a cappuccino.. and it was perfect!! It had a huge huge huge creamy foam which i adore and they did something i don't usually see..they send out rock candy with the coffee! I thought it was cute as i stirred in a bit to sweeten it and saved the rest to suck on later during my drive home.. (yeaa for sucking on candy on the san mateo bridge)
As we were leaving, my friend Di who is a HUGE absolute vodka fan (she collects everything from bottles to whatever else they put out) and she noticed the bartender was mixing up a drink with an Absolute vodka shaker. Next thing you know, he gives her the shaker in a bag and tells her to enjoy it and he loves all things Absolute as well.. if i remember correctly, she was wearing a low cut top. In any case, i thought that was absolutely sweet of him and it turns out he was one of the managers.
I had a great experience in this long winded tale and i would go back!
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Just got back from a dinner with the family. Besides my uncle disturbing half the restaurant, we had a decent time.
The main problem was that service was incredibly slow. Once we placed our order, it took far too long for our salads / soups to come (each entry comes with an option.) I figured maybe it took a while because they were planning on serving our entrees soon after. This was definitely not the case and we waited a good 15 minutes after we were finished with our salads for the main meal to arrive (though our used salad dishes were cleared promptly.) We got our food, slowly ate and talked, and didn't see our waitress for another 30-40 minutes after she delivered our plates. We had two separate, random busboys? waiters? clear some dishes and box them to go. Two of eight plates were left on the table, obviously finished, until our waitress finally appeared again.
1-star for decent food.
1-star for the beginning bread and sundried-tomato spread or whatever it is.
1-star for the gelato.
I would not suggest the carbonara, I find it to be way too heavy and it just takes like bland alfredo sauce dumped on some pancetta and penne. However, the specials of the night were good, as was the chicken parm.
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Overall review: WTH?
I'll explain why. M decided that she wanted to have dinner here last night as she wanted Italian.
We sat down and started figuring out what we wanted to eat. I decided on the chicken parm and asked the waiter if I could have bolognese sauce instead of marinera. Imagine my surprise when he said, "No problem but that will be an additional $4.99" Needless to say, I opted not to. This is the first place where I've ever encountered an additional charge for a different kind of sauce.
It was odd but whatever as I mentioned this to M. A few minutes later, I asked the same waiter for an additional helping of the dip for the bread. "Sure, but that will be an additional $2.99".
At this point, I'm mentally going "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING." So, the final review is the food is okay but the nickel and dime attitude was way over the top and completely ruined dinner for me. Ugh.
Mediocre, at best.
This place is boring. From the menu to the service, there is nothing here that would make me think "Let's go to Pasta Primavera", which is disappointing. I wanted to like it, but alas.
The bread and marinera sauce was the highlight of the meal. I had the french onion soup and caprese salad. The french onion soup tasted like it came from a can with no flavor. The caprese was good, but something was missing. There are plenty of better Italian restaurants around.
Tastes delicious, pretty good selection of different types of pasta dishes. Moderately priced and doesn't take forever when you order take out. Translation=A-ok with me!!
Love their food. Prices are decent. They have great desserts and gelato!
Wow, not the best time tonight.
Got the french onion soup (soup of the day) to start, and it looked like a bowl of gravy with a clump of mashed potatoes in the center. I stared at it for a good minute convinced that the waitress must have brought over the wrong soup. The clump turned out to be d apiece of bread covered in melted cheese. I'm not even sure if it tasted like french onion soup -- felt like drinking gravy.
The "seafood primavera" another disaster. The "creamy" sauce was watered down, and was well, watery creamy sauce. Did NOT look appetizing whatsoever, on top of which, the waitress' sleeve in the dish as she set it down. Another no-go.
The only thing that was semi-decent was the "warm chicken salad" although a) SOAKED in balsamic vinegrette and the chicken was a bit over done. I've had this once before, and it was better...you definitely need to ask for dressing "on the side".
The table next to us spoke with the waiter and was also complaining about the food.... The only reason I've given this place 2 stars, in because I'm hoping since we went on New Years, the chef was on vacation and they had a random backup chef covering. Bit of a disaster..
Ok let's start of with the minestrone bland tasteless I mean if the minestrone is not up to par at an Italian restaurant what does it say right off. I had the veal parma which was pretty boring too, the breading on the veal was soggy and just falls apart I mean come on.
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This busy bakery café successfully uses floor to ceiling mirrors and faux Corinthian columns to confuse its patrons into thinking that the space is much larger than what it actually is. The columns associated with Roman architecture, decanters filled with olives and olive oil, faux flower arrangements and the marble top tables with what looks like wrought iron table legs help to bring across a nice contemporary Italian feel.
I walked in at 5 PM on a Saturday evening and was seated immediately. Shortly after I opened the large menu my waitress arrived to take my drink order. At the time of my arrival there appeared to be about six tables occupied and the young lady that waited on me was the only waitress working. I thought to myself how a restaurant with so many tables could employ just one waitress during the busy dinner hours, but I was mistaken as other waitresses began to appear within the next half hour. Meanwhile, I was quite impressed that my waitress was running around the room keeping everybody happy until the additional staff arrived.
It was a very short wait for my drink to arrive along with a glass of ice water and a basket of bread with a dip. My waitress introduced herself as Leila and took my dinner order. I wanted pasta with a creamy sauce, but with so many choices on the menu I decided to choose something with ingredients familiar to me. I selected the Chicken Saltimbocca. A choice of soup or salad came with the selection, and I chose the minestrone.
The basket of bread was hot out of the oven. It was a chewy and crusty sourdough loaf of about five thick slices. The dip was out of this world made up with what appeared to a mixture of tomato puree and olive oil. I could have scooped up the dip and just dined on that, but I refrained.
A bowl of minestrone topped with crunchy croutons arrived. Leila offered parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper. I chose the cheese only. The soup was very good with big chunks of yellow squash, potatoes, celery, parsley and pasta that appeared to be bloated grains of rice all in a tomato-based soup stock. Given that it was served in a shallow bowl I really wanted more.
The main entrée was nicely presented on a large, heavy oval plate. A chicken breast is sliced in half lengthwise to make you think you are being served with two chicken breasts. Each piece of chicken was very lightly breaded then topped off with a melted slice of provolone cheese. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the meat was quite moist. The portion of penne pasta served to the side was huge. The pasta was cooked al dente and mixed in with a creamy caramel-colored Marsala sauce featuring big slices of prosciutto and mushrooms. I asked Leila if I could have some parmesan cheese on the pasta also. I really enjoyed the seasoning on the pasta which was accented with just a hint of lemon and garlic.
I was overstuffed by the time I finished my meal, but for you big eaters take note because this restaurant has a freezer filled with colorful gelato and a pastry case filled with decadent looking, chocolate-laden treats. I guess next time I'll soak up all of the delicious dip with one bread slice so that I can leave just a bit of room for dessert.
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Like the other Yelpers, I love the bread and dip (if I can get some before my husband eats it all). I am a vegetarian, so I have a different take on places from omnivores. First, it means that my menu is more limited. So here I've only had the various salads and veggie options.
Salads: Caesar. Fairly typical, and they use that granulated Parmesan that you can get in the supermarket, not the freshly shaved stuff.
House: Whatever, it's greens, an onion slice, a tomato, and a cucumber. It's fresh and my rabbit likes to eat it when we have takeout.
Greek: well made, a cavalcade of flavors, but still typical.
Mozzarella: I like this, because most places have only mozz and tomatoes with olive oil dribbled over it, maybe a leaf or two of fresh basil. But I really like fresh greens, and this dish includes generous amounts of the cheese and tomatoes on a bed of greens.
Gorgonzola: delicious cold pasta salad, but make sure you like bleu cheese.
Grilled Primavera sandwich: I've had mixed results with this: sometimes it is a to-die-for mixture of flavors on a crispy grilled bread, sometimes it is a clash of too-oily (they kept slipping out of my sandwich) ingredients on soggy bread, and sometimes it's in between.
Pasta: generous portions, fairly well prepared. I like the things I've gotten, and the hubby LOVES the carbonara to death.
They let you sit outside with your doggie. That means that my friends loved their dishes, too, even though they couldn't finish them. The hamburger was enormous, the spaghetti with meatballs came with meat balled up by someone with an enormous fist, and the mixed seafood seemed like a bottomless source of shellfish and seameats.
So, like many places, it's underwhelming to be a veggie (but at least there are a lot of options, and they are quite tasty), but the meat-eaters in my life love it.
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Looks can be deceiving. When walking into this place, you get the feeling it is large and airy. Then you notice that the party on the other side of the restaurant looks just like yours. You note one half of the place is floor to ceiling mirrors. Very disorienting. But the illusion does not stop there.
The menu is fantastic in terms of pasta dishes. Great options, wonder full classics. Well presented. The wine list is sorely lacking. I ordered the Gabiano Chianti. Not a bad 38 dollar wine I've had before. The waiter brings me a 20 dollar bottle of Placido and with the label facing away from me (strike one) he starts to open it. I ask him to let me see the bottle before he does and he shows me the label... Nice try pal. I ordered the Gabiano. "Ohhh - the Gabiano" he says - he disappears for about 5 minutes and tells me they are out (after a conference with 3 other people in the back).
I settle for the Placido - not bad for 20 bucks. We order our meals, I got the Manacotti, My wife the Seafood Alfredo, a couple salmons, a Bolagnese (with fettuccine??? Madonna!), and a Veal Picatta.
55 Minutes later our salads arrive. 55 Minutes. "The kitchen is backed up" he says. We were the first people in the restaurant, which is now full and everyone else is done with their salads. Methinks YOU are backed up and everyone else nicked your salads.
The food arrives hot and swimming in sauce. The pastas are good, but way over-sauced. The salads are very good. The bread is hot and they offer you a nice dipping marinara for it. The absolute piss-poor service costs them a star. And happily he automatically added 18% as a tip for 6 of us. I would have of tipped him, but only 15%. My standards are higher.
The food is probably 3 or - on a good day - even 4 star, but the service experience left me underwhelmed. When will front of the house learn that this is what kills a restaurant? Probably never, since people's expectations are lower and lower.
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My girlfriend and i love coming here for there fabulous Tiramisu, we usually get it to go but tonight was a girls night out!!
We got seated right by the window, which was nice considering they had to big parties happening a few tables away from us. My girlfreind ordered the mixed seafood and i ordered the veal osso buco, let me ask this, where these days can you find a osso buco?? its been along time since i have seen that on a menu anywhere, was so juicy and tender, love that old style taste, it was so big that i got lucky and i now i can have it for lunch.
we had our dinners and well as our wine, but the one thing that we save ourselves for was the yummy tiramisu, which every bite counts!! If i saw it packaged in a super market anywhere, it would be the one thing that i would always buy, there is alot of restaurants in San Mateo that try to make it right but this place gets 1st place!!
I and my family and friends always enjoy our time here, see you soon tiramisu....
I desperately wanted to give Pasta Primavera a 1 star review but I can't. I thought of a place that is actually worse, Sbarro. Think of this review more as Sbarro + 1 rather than Pasta Primavera actually being 2 stars.
I'm not even going to waste time typing in something, instead I'll let the photos speak for themselves.
**** This section deleted, apparently you can't add captions inside of your photos. The captions I had were pretty funny, I suggest you look at my un-adorned clams photo and try and find the two that didn't open. It's kind of like Where's Waldo, except in this case Waldo is an unopened clam. ****
A one tripper for sure. In fact, I'm going to have to recommend that you just don't come here. The only way you'd like this place is if your idea of tasty Italian food is sitting down with a can of Chef Boyardee.
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This is one of my mom's favorite places. Their bread dip is awesome and is consistently my favorite part of the meal.
When my family first started going here years ago it was consistently really really good, but service and quality have both slipped over the past couple of years. The selection of gelato is decent, they usually have mint chocolate chip which is a particular favorite of mine.
I usually enjoy whatever I end up ordering here and mom always loves her pasta primavera, so that counts for something, right?
If I could, I'd give this place 3 1/2 stars.
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I returned here to see if there signature dishes are better than the salad I had before. Tried their chicken saltimbocca and it was OK but not great. My husband felt the same way about his dish a seafood pasta with a light butter sauce.
Some good things:
bread and tomato spread- 4 star
tiramisu - 4 star
service - 4 star
I took my family there for lunch and had the Eggplant salad but there was almost no eggplant in it.… Read more »
If I could, I would come here just for the dip/spread that comes with the bread. it is sooooooooooooo good. They food is okay but what you will remember is the dip/spread. It is soooooooooooooo good.
The last time I came here it was with a bunch of my friends and everyone enjoyed it. Service was good. Average prices.
The dip/spread is sooooooooooooo good.
People thought this was:
My co-worker and I were at the city of San Mateo to do some work and browse the quiet city for a hopeful lunch. There are so many good places to dine, which will be no doubt in the upcoming weeks.
We were in the mood for Italian and there are a couple of the ethnic food-venues along the Downtown area. This place has a dating-atmosphere. My co-worker is a dude, so don't think Matt is, "you know!"
We were so hungry, so we started with a plate of Brushetta as an opening appetizer. The $5.00 entree has sun-dried tomatoes, melted provolone cheese and chopped basil on top of a toasted baguette. Not a bad way start, would you say?
I had the Pasta Jambalaya. The crafty $12.00 pasta dish had pieces of shrimps, grilled chicken pieces, proscuitto, mushroom with Fettuccine pasta and cover with a spicy marinara sauce in a pasta bowl. The dish was rich and spicy, but good.
Co-worker had one of the specials, which is Salmon Melissa. The $11.95 Seafood dish had chopped Salmon with artichoke-hearts, in an infused lemon-tomato garlic-oil sauce over angel-hair pasta. He was blown away on how his specialty pasta tasted. You can easily tell, he doesn't dine out much.
Both of us had glasses of water. The friendly waitress was attentive and giving us continuous refills. I hope she don't think were "you know".
The city of San Mateo has been better for me, and I'll definitely check out other restaurants in the downtown area. If I want to eat Italian again, this place will get a second chance!
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I can't take the credit for discovering this place. A fellow yelper of mine actually took me here when we worked at Sony PlayStation together...She swore by the tortellini and said it was the freshest she ever had. So we went and she had the tortellini salad and I tried their cheese tortellini dish....
Oh-my-god.
So needless to say, I can't really review anything else on the menu because everytime I go here, I look through every item, check out the specials, and then like clock-work, order the cheese tortellini.
I kid you not! I've ordered that damn dish at least 100 times (awww, I feel like a fatty). And good luck trying to even get to your main course. Before that, they serve you freshly baked and still hot bread with that sundried tomatoe sauce on the side (I can probably live off of this stuff) and either a bowl of soup or salad included with your entree.
Thanks Josie, still one of my favorites in San Mateo =) Chow!
My family and I go here often and we've always had a good experience. Good service, good price, good portions, good quality. Not much more you can ask for.
I personally really love the chicken Parmesan, and the bread and dip is amazing (I could seriously eat nothing else and be satisfied).
There's lots of good food in downtown San Mateo, but this place is definitely worth trying it out if you haven't already.
People thought this was:
Well sized portions for an average of $12 per entree. We were seated in the alcove by the kitchen and I swear the restaurant was right next to some railroad tracks... or the room was abutting a pro-wrestling establishment, because the china cabinet would thump and rattle every so often. Maybe haunted. A bit spooky.
Anyhow, I had the chicken pesto gorgonzola and it was amazing. Especially with a hefty scattering of parmesan cheese that just melts right into the pasta and sauce.
The meal was so filling, though I could only just fit in a bit of gelato for dessert. The white pistachio sounded appealing and I ordered a kids size (recommended) but it turned out tasting alot more like minty almond gelato with old pistachios inside. A bit anticlimactic, but how can I complain when it was a two hour company lunch... gratis!
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Dipping sauce with bread at the beginning of the meal is super duper good. I always have too much of it! My staple is the Calamari Diavolo but I get shrimps instead since I don't like squidy things. It's very good stuff, the sauce is thick and hearty with a bit of zip to it. I'm always so stuffed that I've never had dessert here! Which sounds like a shame, maybe next time I am there I will save some room in my tummy for something sweet :)
Do love the Jelly Bellys!
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Wow. I so do not eat Italian food (see review for Capellini's a few blocks away) but my friend is a huge fan, and I wanted to treat her to dinner, so we went here after a horrible inability to find parking of any kind in North Beach.
Started with warm bread, caponata spread, and a bottle of pinot grigio. The french onion soup was horribly lacking in cheese, but they remedied it quickly. The salad was...salad, you can't really screw up a tossed salad...right??
The entrees were really quite good. My friend had the chicken saltimboca...basically marsala, looked good, she loved it. I had the seafood ravioli. Delicious!! Really genuinely delicious! We all but licked our plates.
Dessert. We got the tiramisu, a little too creamy for my liking (I like it more like cake than pudding) but still good. The creme brulee was awesome, chocolate shell it comes in was a great touch. A little gelato never hurt anyone either!
Overall, splendid and very affordable. Definitely a winner!
People thought this was:
Let me start by saying that this is not a restaurant that you would normally find me in, but since I was invited to a Christmas dinner party here with some old friends, I decided to forgo my food snob ways and give in to peer pressure. As soon as I walked into this place, I could pretty much tell I was going to hate it...the girl who greeted us at the front was one of the most inarticulate, dazed, deer-caught-in-the-headlights excuses for an employee I've ever seen. Everything went downhill from there...
Okay let's talk about the food...it's bad, and even just looking at it grossed me out. Most of the people in our party got pasta and you wouldn't believe how much watery sauce they drenched those poor noodles in. Horrible! Our pasta dishes looked more like soup. I ordered the chicken saltimbocca, which consisted of two rubbery chicken breasts that tasted very un-fresh and were covered in cheese that had already hardened by the time I was served and pasta in a marsala sauce that was okay, nothing great or anything I wouldn't be able to make (better) at home. Yes, the portions are generous, but what good does that do when you don't want to eat it??
Now for prices and service. Prices are average; I don't know why everyone says their prices are so low and great...$15 for a plate of spaghetti seems pretty normal to me. I would maybe consider that low if the quality was much better. As for service, I think it was probably the only thing that saves this place, and why I decided to give it 2 stars instead of 1. Our server was very nice and attentive. At times she came off as a little fake, but I guess that happens when you're working for tips.
Bottom Line: there is really no good reason to eat here, especially with all the great italian restuarants in San Francisco and the peninsula. You'd even be better off eating at the Olive Garden. Yup, that's right, Olive Garden.
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I like this place because it's pretty standard Italian food and it's served up quickly enough that you won't feel rushed on your lunch hour.
Times visited: 2
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say it with me.
CAR BIN AR A
now go.
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1 star for the tiramisu
1 star for a longing of the old pasta primavera
The food is ok and I mean exactly. Thinking back, my mouth doesn't water nor does it cringe at the thought of the pasta served here. I had the pesto seafood pasta, which was nothing I couldn't have made at home.
What I really want to comment about is the service. There are 2 hostess who don't seem to know what they are doing and don't do their jobs. The restaurant was about 1/3 full and we stood there waiting for the hostess to acknowledge us as she was rearranging menus. After we were seated, we weren't greeted by a waiter for about 15 minutes. Our salads and soups came about 20 minutes later and after another 15 minutes our entrees came. The waiter came around maybe once to check up on us in addition to the many times we had to wave him down to remind him about the bread or coffee or water we wanted. Ironically, when it was time to pay the bill and collect his tip, we saw a lot more of our waiter and the response time was ridiculously faster.
The food is mediocre, but the service is terrible. The hostess came to clear our plates but was unsure of what she should and shouldn't take, she would grab the salt shaker and put it down and then grab my glass of water and then put it down and ask "wait, do you want this?" Is it not common sense to not take the salt and pepper shakers off the table when there are clearly other dishes? Why would she take my water when I'm not done eating? The lack of professionalism in the waitstaff is what surprises me the most at a restaurant that is supposed to be more of an upscale italian restaurant.
Great non-chain Italian restaurant in downtown San Mateo. It's on the fringe of downtown, so parking is a little easier to find. I've tried many dishes there, and they're all pretty good. The ambiance is great - not too stuffy, but not too casual either. It's a casual date type of place. They also don't rush you while you're eating.
My favorite thing is their bread and dip. The dip is an incredible marinara sauce that's the perfect blend of flavors. I haven't asked, but I wish they had a dish that was pasta topped with the marinara bread-dipping sauce.
Definitely worth a try if you're in the area and in the mood for casual, inexpensive Italian food.
When I first entered the restaurant, I was impressed with the gelato (italian ice cream) display and the italian sweets in front. I knew that if I didn't like the food, at least the desserts will be yummy.
Their food was fairly good. All relatively huge portions but the food was too Americanized for my Italian palette. The pasta is a lil overcooked...not al dente. Which is why I'm removing a star. But I wouldn't discredit it as bad food because it was good. I enjoyed every meal I had there (for the last 5 times) and needless to say the dessert was awesome. The gelato was sooooooo yummy. It's a great restaurant for families too since the huge space can accomodate.
Of the last 5 times, I had excellent service throughout. I'm impressed by the smiling waiters and waitresses. It's a potential restaurant for a hearty meal and hanging out with family and friends.
I went there the other night, food was great. I had the Linguine with bolognese sauce. I was pretty impressed. Not cheap, not expensive. They served fresh bread with a great marinara sauce. I will go back there.
I don't understand this restaurant. I felt like the interior decor was trying to be several kinds of places at once. We waited a looong time at our table and no one brought us water or bread and I got up to ask. After that, the manager was super attentive. There are strange autopsy looking jars up on the wall lit by neon with labels that say "Pasta sauce," etc. on them. This would be cool if they MEANT them to look like autopsy jars. The food was good but I didn't pee myself over it and strangely, and I'm not being lame, the place smelled like dirty mop water. I'm very sensitive to smell and I know what dirty mop water smells like so that was a bummer. I don't think I'll go back because it didn't thrill me.
I have passed by this place easily over 200 times through the years and never stopped in. My mom mentioned that after she got out of work she would want to meet up with my bro and I for some "Italian" so we came here.
My first impression is this place is huge, but it stank like vinegar. I soon learned that it was from the spread they served with their hot, fresh bread.
We had ordered an appetizer of "calimari" which was pretty good. It was in some creamy, lemon alfredo type sauce which came also in handy for the hot and fresh bread.
I ordered the Pesto gorgonzola, my moms got the seafood ravioli, and my bro got the seafood rigatone. All the portions were huge. Everyone was extremely pleased with their entree.
It wasn't crowded and the only waitress was very attentive and even though she had about 6 other tables she did her rounds in great fashion.
I was eyeing the tiramisu from the time we walked in the entrance but I was too full to fall prey to it.
Overall I will come back and recommend to anyone to go on a weekday night, to get the best service.
Nice big portions at reasonable prices. The food wasn't bad either. The bread was warm and the dipping sauce was good. Plus points for the great service! Hey, it's way better than Olive Garden!
I didn't realize that one side of the restaurant was mirrored. I spent most of the night wondering why they would design two sides of the restaurant in the same way. (That is until I saw that weird guy staring at me.. and then I figured out that was me.)
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Special 20th Anniversary…
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San Mateo, CA
Category: Italian
San Mateo, CA
Category: Grocery
San Mateo, CA
Category: Italian
San Mateo, CA
Category: Italian
San Mateo, CA
Category: Italian
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