Spasso Italian Bistro

This place is absolutely terrible… I can’t believe it has even averaged 2 stars, that’s generous!
We were the only people there — I’m not exaggerating, the ONLY people there. That being said, the three clowns working the dinner shift couldn’t get it together to provide us with proper service. We sat for five min. before even rec’ing menus/​water (I had to ask three times for water).
One of the waiters kept sneezing and then putting his hands all over menus, napkins, etc. The other spent half the night in the bathroom and I’m not sure I heard the water running (i.e. I suspect he was not washing his hands). My husband and I were so disgusted with this place and will be seriously PISSED if we get gastroenteritis. In retrospect, we should have left before ordering, I regret having powered through the painful experience.
Of note, the aforementioned bathroom bound waiter came out and bragged to the other waiter loudly in Spanish that he’d «made the bathroom smell like sh*t» (I understand Spanish and was therefore able to make the unfortunate translation). The other waiter’s reply to this (in English) was that it smelled like his (waiter #1) breath.
Seriously, that happened. In earshot of customers. Customers who were engaged in the act of eating.
This type of inappropriate, unprofessional, bathroom humor banter continued throughout our meal amongst the waitstaff. It should be noted that these were all grown men (mid 30’s, pushing 40 years old). Gross.
The food was sad, just sad.
The host and waiter conveniently «forgot» to offer us the greatly reduced price early bird menu that we qualified for based on time of seating. There was no mention of it until we asked for it and even then it was handed over grudgingly (scam?).
The «appetizer» was really, really small (like a third of the size of most restaurant’s appetizers). Entrees were smaller than average as well. Taste of all food was lackluster at best, downright bad at worst. Meatballs were dry and tasted like one of the primary ingredients was sawdust. The veal parm was dry and rubbery.
Our early bird «special» was supposed to come with dessert; gelato, sorbet, or cannoli but of course they had no cannoli. So, we were served one scoop each of freezer burned vanilla ice cream.
Overall, I cannot believe this place is still open — who goes here more than once?! Perhaps it’s a cover for some shady mob operation. Nonetheless, I’d really like a full refund on the money I spent on this strange meal. Or, maybe I’ll just call the health department and give them a heads up on this place…

Not a bad place but not one dish that was served was really inspired. Veal Milanese was dry, overcooked and barely edible. Chicken Scarpariello was only fair with little flavor.
Not sure how a restaurant operator like this buys from another failed (Italian restaurant) operator, invests in a liquor license and does not elevate cooking of the food to take best shot to attain success? Spasso today is no better than it was years ago.

It was Very Good!
Awesome décor– looks like it should be in Manhattan!
Friendly Staff– food was delicious!
Very cute back room– for a Shower or Christening– or any party!
I’ll be Back!
=)

We are still on the lookout for really good Italian in this area, so decided to try Spasso’s based on some of the reviews online and some people who regularly go for lunch.
When we got there, at peak dining time on the weekend, the place was empty. But despite the lack of people, the music was blasting so it was impossible to talk to people at the table. Despite repeated requests to turn the music, all we got was an even worse radio station and some major eye rolls from the large amount of staff standing around with nothing to do.
Despite the lack of people and multitude of servers, we had to call someone over to our table to get menus (both the waiter and the hostess did not have them). We reserved a table for a set number of people, and they set it up for the wrong number (thankfully this was not a problem, there were plenty of tables). While our waiter did not do a bad job, we were already so frustrated with everything that his rather plain service without ever going out of his way to comment on our rather bad experience, was not enough to make us feel better about the place.
We ordered a bunch of different dishes and everything was rather tasteless. I don’t usually add salt to my meal, but I found myself needing to add salt to this food.
At the end of the day, we won’t be back again and I won’t recommend it for dinner.

Where shall I begin… I went here for dinner with my kids and we all agreed that we had to Unilocal about the experience. Buts shortly after posting my review, I received an email from Unilocal that the restaurant requested (and Unilocal obliged) for my review to be pulled. Way to skew results. Well, I’m re-​posting so that Unilocalers get a fair view of this place and not just allow the restaurant to have their friends and family furnish it with glowing praise.
In short, the restaurant was underwhelming in every way. From the greeting by the hostess to the paltry service we received, we were made to feel as if we were bothering them yet the restaurant was almost empty restaurant. After an unacceptable delay, our food arrived cold and the order had been all mixed up.
You can continue to try and pull my review, Spasso. But I suggest you may be better off delivering good service and food. Unilocalers are pretty quick to catch on.

I went here for the first time today and ordered the 3-​cheese ravioli which was delicious. I’m surprised that the restaurant was so quiet, as the service and food were very good. It’s a very attractive restaurant as well! I’d definitely go back/​suggest others visit!

More of the 12 days of Christmas.
I have been here many times under the previous BYO ownership. I could never figure out why the previous owners could not survive because the place was always busy.
The new Spasso Italian bistro was established in 2009, originally also as a BYO and more recently with a liquor license. I really liked this place when it was BYO. It is a chic casual dining experience. Spasso, which means «joy» or «amusement» in Italian, specializes in southern Italian cuisine and brick oven pizza.
The entrée’s are reasonably priced. I like their Osso Bucco for only $ 25, but, today I enjoyed their veal saltimbocca, which was good, but, not as good as the Osso Bucco.
I will likely return here.

we were here after not going for awhile. feel badly saying this but the place is half empty for a reason. food was just ok and fish was overcooked. they now have liqour license which is too bad. we liked byob better. go here for salad and the pizzas. the food was too salty and not too good. why is there no good moderately priced Italian restaurant around here? the only option is Dimora which is terrific but way more expensive.
any recommendations?

Just went to their grand reopening for their liquor license. Good atmosphere for the bar area in the back, and more private dining up front. Food was good, and now there’s booze!

Really surprised by all the negative reviews of this place. My friends and I love it here. Staff has always been nice and accommodating. The décor is fine and the place is clean.
And the food is very good. Some items you should try: Braised short rib, chicken caprese, chicken francese, or an appitizer like shrimp with white beans. The shrimp tasted fresh and cooked perfectly. Give them a shot, you should like it.
Tony’s Money Saving Tip: They advertise in the local papers (Record, Suburbanite, Northern Valley Press, Clipper Mag, etc) and usually include a coupon for $ 10 off an entrée.
And the best part is that they are a BYOB! (As of ⁰²⁄₂₀₁₂ they are no longer a BYOB).

Always solid. One step over a pizza joint but really good casual meal.
Very good food and the Spasso chopped salad is great! The choclate pizza for dessert does not suck either!

Very pleasant atmosphere. Service was very good (David was our waiter). We were a rather large party so we were seating right next to the brick oven and it was a good spot for us. The salads were very tasty — I tried both the Spasso salad, which is a chopped salad and the special salad which was a roasted romaine with Gorgonzola and bacon. It was very good even though I prefer lettuce to be cold. My entrée was the special risotto of the night which included scallops, arugula and marscapone cheese. The waiter offered me Parmesan cheese and fresh pepper, and I enjoyed it — I couldn’t finish incredibly enough I had room to taste the Nutella pie for dessert which was eh, ok… I love Nutella, but the pastry crust was fair and I don’t like strawberries with my chocolate and there were sliced strawberries on top. I enjoyed the meal overall and would go back again since the other people in my party had some delicious looking food as well.

Nice interior: spacious and bright.
Service was, for the most part, attentive.
The food however was unremarkable… Especially for the price. The only part of the meal that I really enjoyed was the summer caprese salad which was served with watermelon. While they’re not in season just yet, the watermelon was very sweet but equally refreshing.
For my main course, I ordered a veal dish that was a specialty for the evening. I was a bit disappointed by it because the portion size was minuscule and the veal was overpowered by the generous slabs of cheese that topped it.
Aside from the dessert pizzas, all the other desserts were not made on premises. The cannoli looked like something that came from a supermarket bakery.
Would I return? Probably not.

Where to begin. I went here for dinner tonight, and came back and had to write about it. In the almost empty restaurant, we were sat right up by where the brick oven and food was prepared. It was also right outside the kitchen doors, making it the highest traffic area in the place.
The waiter came right over and was very nice and friendly with everything. I got an iced tea, which said free refills but there was no such thing. Luckily I also had a water. The bus boy continued to hover over us and tried taking the salad plates with the salad still on it! He did not really speak english so it was difficult saying put it back, and actually had to try to grab the plate.
Then came the main course. We got our food, mostly pasta, and the other bus boy asked us if we wanted parmesean cheese and fresh pepper. The cheese was probably one of the store bought in a little jar, and the pepper never was brought over. The chicken and shrimp marsala, which was $ 2 more than the chicken marsala, had 2 shrimp! I know this is a recession but come on! Once again, the bus boy came along and as soon as the last piece of chicken was picked up, he was back to grab the plate. That was when we called over the waiter and complained about it. My pesto pasta was OK. Nothing great, but not bad either.
Otherwise, the food was OK, but I would not recommend going there. Maybe doing take out but I wouldn’t after my experience tonight. And here might be the kicker. My water was not refilled until after my dinner plate was taken away.

We took another family out to this restaurant. The atmosphere was good and the services was excellent but a bit slow. On the downside, the food was average and nothing special. However, it was crowded on a Friday night and I must have missed their signature dishes.
Since the food was just okay, I was able to maintain my diet and weight for another day! For that, I am giving this restaurant another star !

Very pleasant atmosphere, nice menu, friendly staff and fair value. Ate there last night for third time and had nice relaxing evening with friends. Good salads and above average fish entrees. Wish they had wider variety of pasta dishes. Bring your own wine keeps tab reasonable. Good place to go for local casual dining with friends.

my wife and i had dinner last night and it wasn’t very good. our waiter was excellent (willy), and the salad was good, but the chicken parm was terrible and the pasta special was equally inedible. sorry but we’ve written this place off, at least for dinner (my wife my go back for salads for lunch).

A friend planned a get together after work. Spasso is BYOB so armed with our bottles we descended on the place after a long week. For $ 18 they provided our group of 14, chopped salad, calamari, buffalo calamari, penne al la vodka and three kinds of pizza. The food was really tasty and we were well taken care of.
They are definitely in the running for the Christmas party. I’ll give a more detailed review when I choose what I eat.

First of all, this was our 1^st visit, our old standby, Umeya was closed on Mondays, sniff, sniff, and we wanted a nice dinner so we walked across the street into Spasso. They are renovating, so with that in mind, the hostess was quick, the service was s-​l-​o-​w. They were understaffed, the waiter apologized, and he did try his best to accommodate us. We just wished that we had more space, we were crammed into a corner, and our son was definitely uncomfortable. The food was good, the Branzino fish was fresh, our neighbor’s pasta with clams looked amazing even if she did send it back. My son’s Chicken Parmesan was delicious, my Spasso Salad with Chicken was great! I just wished my son would let me enjoy it there. The Décor was nice, very clean and modern. The pizza that was served a few tables down looked good too! I’ll have to come again to see how it compares to say the real deal in Napoli? The Veal Caprese, Chicken Marsala, was delicious from what my husband and mom tells me! Which reminds me, I ordered Garlic Knots! I didn’t even check if they charged us for them because they never came!
So, I’d say go on a well-​staffed day, and it would have been great, ASK for a bigger table if you were shown a crampier table, just for a better dining experience. I’m hesitating if I would come back to Spasso. Still, maybe I’ll give them another chance, once the remodeling is done, and hopefully they are better staffed.