Bellagio Ristorante

I’ve come here for lunch many, many times, solely because there is a dearth of food places near my office. One of the stars I dedicate to the outdoor patio, where I sit with my dog and use the free wireless. The other I bequeath to their veggie soup, which I sop up w/​their fresh bread and garlic olive oil. Very yummy. I’ve had two vegetarian pastas and was underwhelmed by both. The pizza was chewy and doughy. The bruschetta was unlike any I’ve had before — it was served on the same doughy crust and cut into pizza triangles. The service would not be out of place in Italy. I have never had a meal go smoothly — I always have to chase someone down to get the bill or have my order taken, though I am usually only one of a handful of people there. Most of the waitstaff don’t speak English very well, so mishaps have been known to occur. Roberto himself is a little friendly with the ladies. The woman owner told me that she thinks it’s rude when people try to customize their meals, rather than order exactly as is written on the menu. I took a bit of a hiatus after that, as I am a habitual customizer. Anywho, I came back today and found that they have a lunch/​dinner ($ 5.95/$ 7.95) special in which you get a mediocre pasta and the tasty soup, so whatevs, I’ll keep going since my only other option is Denny’s.

The prices are very reasonable but the food is mediocre. The pasta isn’t al dente… kinda mushy which is not a good thing. I was starving and craving Italian food so it would have been pretty easy to impress me… I couldn’t even finish it. However, it is the only Italian place that delivers non-​pizza items so I’m giving it an extra star for convenience and price. We just ordered two pasta items and it came out to about $ 16…pretty awesome price-​wise.

Went Wed. Aug 29 to celebrate a welcome home for 5. Seated next to loud party of 20. Asked to be reseated outside. Got to order 30 min. later, food didn’t arrive for another 45. One meal was not brought; waitress insisted it had never been ordered! Then I found something akin to a big «critter» in my pasta. Took the plate to the owner, who identified it as the tail of a shrimp (which I did not have; glad I’m not allergic). He had a little saucer with shrimp tails next to the cash register! I told him we had been «supporting» Roberto’s for 15 years! The food was always okay, but the service was always SO lousy we always waited 6 months to try it again. His response: well, you moved tables! To their credit, they served up the 5^th meal (they can whip one up in 5 min.!) and did not charge for it and honored a coupon… owner also had a loud argument with some man while we were trying to eat. We will NOT give it another 6 month trial; when the owner blames the guest, it’s time to get out.

the food selections are pretty good– the prices are very reasonable. I would avoid the pizza — not enough sauce for my taste.
the pasta was ok-​the angel hair that I had did not taste all that special at all — but I would be willing to go back again and try other dishes.

Sadly, I don’t have anything food related to share about this place. But, I can safely say that after my experience here, likely will not go to this little Italian resto for food. Let me explain…
I went here to actually go samba dancing. The samba band Sambajah plays there on Saturday nights and I was really looking forward to this event as it had been over a year since I put on my sambista outfit. Anyhoo, went here with a friend and could barely contain myself before walking in the door.
We walked into what appeared to be a really cozy restaurant and were greeted but a cute little older gentlemen with a thick accent who was taking our cover charge fees. I didn’t have anything smaller than a $ 20, so my friend paid the fee and then I was going to get change to pay her back. At the moment, the greeter didn’t have any change, so I figured I’d just go back at the end of the night to settle. Foreshadowing here… So, we sit down with our drinks, engage in some choice people watching and proceed to listen/​dance to some fab samba sounds.
Fast forward a few hours after dancing our fannies off, to when we were preparing to leave. I went back to our greeter to get change, as by this time of the night, I KNEW they have money so that I could break my $ 20 and pay my friend back. He looks at me, smiles and says, «Oh. You’re still here. I still don’t have any change. Let me get (some crotchety woman) for you.»
He tells her that I need change, she takes the $ 20, looks at me with a slight scowl and says, «No. I don’t have it.» What the fro?! What do you mean you don’t have change?! There are 5 million people here who have already paid their money and you don’t have any freakin’ change?! What is your malfunction?
To make matters worse, they directed me to the tip jar and told me to get my change out of there. Super classy. I’m sure people thought I was trying to steal the money, which if I wasn’t in my right mind, I would have simply because they were nasty. Oh, and the final straw was this — as we were walking out the door, my friend whispered to me that when I went to the tip jar, the woman nastily said, «It’s not my responsibility to get her change.» Really? Would it have been that hard to you to walk a half of a foot to check your register? It’s not like I was going to make you short at the end of the night.
The sad thing is that aside from those little money encounters, I really did enjoy myself. There were beautiful people and the samba band and dj were completely on point, but the service (or lack thereof) really turned me off.
I will probably check out one or two other samba nights before deciding if I want to try this place again. If I ever do go back, you better believe that I’ll have correct change on me!
Tchau, tchau!

First, let me say that our two entrees were satisfactory-​to-​good. Specifically, the fairly generous portion of salmon was well-​prepared and the fish fresh. Also, the wine (they don’t have a wine list… you tell them what kind you want and maybe they bring you that kind) was very tasty.
The spinach and corn (spinaci e granoturco) and Italian bacon (with house dressing) salad was kinda frightening. Admittedly, I’m no culinary expert, not a gourmand or a «foodie»… but unless Italian bacon is a special kind of very burnt and cold bacon, unless «house» dressing means Von’s dressing, this salad sucked.
I think half the reason for my low rating was I was expecting Italian (ish) waiters, a wine list and candles and I got some low-​end neighborhood joint with people talking loud on cell phones, that was pretending to be a nicer Italian restaurant. But there was zero flare, zero ambiance, small little tables. But, admittedly, that was all reflected in a very low bill. I’m actually a big fan of dives and hole-​in-​the-​walls but this place didn’t do that well either.
Here’s the kicker. Even though it was not crowded (understandably) the only time I got any sort of smile or acknowledgment from the lady who I assume is the owner was when she came over to pick up the tip I had left for the waitress. She took two steps, opened up the folder, took out the tip and handed it off to a man (husband?) who was sitting two tables away who stuck it in his pocket. Now, I’m not saying that they don’t share all the tips later but this seemed pretty weird and surreptitious. When I leave a nice tip I at least want to think the wait staff knows that I was appreciative of the good service.
The word that keeps coming to mind is «creepy». Won’t be going back.

After driving past this place numerous times, I finally decided to give it a try. They had an interesting musical entertainment, frank Sinatra wanna be impersonator wearing a bada bing shirt singing over a recorded track. Good, but kinda kitschy. His singing got better after my second glass of wine. I ordered the eggplant parmigiana and it was tough and undercooked. My bf ordered linguine with mushrooms and ham, much better than my dish. The waitress noticed that I hadn’t touched my food and immediately took it away and said she told the chef to cook the eggplant longer and would take it off our bill. I didn’t even complain! The owner, Roberto came over soon after, smooched my hand and brought us two glasses of nice Chianti. So while the food may have not been so great, and the entertainment a little off key, I’ll be revisiting this place to give it another try. I liked that Roberto was actually there working, but I can imagine my service would have been much different if he weren’t.

Actually… Make that 3.5 stars.
After driving by this place every morning, a co-​worker and I came here for lunch on Valentine’s Day and the place was pretty packed. We knew the service would be pretty slow, but dang… it took about 35 minutes! We only had an hour for lunch so we were famished and by this time, pissed.
The server kept coming by and filling our basket with their bread — and fine, it was delicious and so was their dipping sauce. He kept checking back in the kitchen to see if our food was ready, but it wasn’t.
Just before we were ready to walk out, our food finally came. I was so irritated and told him to just pack it up, but he said while he runs back to get the to-​go boxes, to try the food. I did, and I hate to admit it, but it was outstanding. I had the Salmon Cappellini alla Checca (it had capers, lemon, tomatoes, lots of garlic and mushrooms) and my co-​worker had the spaghetti with meatballs. We took as many bites as we could before he packed it up for us. They cut our bill in half and kept apologizing for the wait…
I ate the rest at my desk and hated the fact that it was damn good because the service sucked so badly. They made excuses saying it was V-​Day and because they were short-​staffed… but whatever. I’ll go there again for the food and definitely not the service.
Oh and they’re changing their name to Bellagio Ristorante.

My issue with Italian food is that for the most part, it all tastes the same after awhile, and to me, it’s hard for an Italian restaurant make their food really stand out among the rest. However, Caffe Roberto’s food REALLY stands out to me, and I kick myself for not going their more often since they are 2 minutes from me, and we constantly get «buy one entrée, get one entrée free» coupons from them in the mail. Their cioppino is GREAT for a cold winter’s night, and other pasta dishes are just really flavorful and well-​made. Good stuff!

Mediocre Italian food but better than others I have visited in the area. I am also highly critical of Italian food comparing it to mine and an even higher standard, Mom’s. The food was a bit bland but the hot steamy bread and garlic dipping oil dipping were a highlight.
I’m still searching for an Italian restaurant nearby that I can be a regular at. This is definitely not the place.

Caffe Roberto is a hidden Italian gem. The owner was trained at a Michelin three star restaurant in Italy, and opened a couple places in Southern California. One of them unfortunately closed a few years ago due to being in a strange location, but this place is still open.
All the food is very good, and the wait staff is friendly. On one of my visits, a waiter accidentally knocked a glass of water over and got one of my legs wet. The manager sprung immediately into action with a towel and comped me my entrée before I had a chance to react.