Trellis Restaurant

Trellis Restaurant in Menlo park is a family owned «old world» restaurant. We went there recently for a company party for about 70 people. We had drinks in a hall above the restaurant which also had a fully stocked bar. We came down to the restaurant for dinner. The owner himself was buzzing around the place making sure everything was going well.
Dinner began with a serving of Caesar’s salad. I am generally not a salad person. And I was not hungry. But each bite of the crunchy salad was delicious. The main course was a choice of fish, beef or Vegan. For vegan they served a penne with portobello mushrooms which was really nice. For dessert, I had spumoni and biscotti which were great. Overall, the food was above average but not excellent. The ambiance was appropriate and servers very courteous. I noticed senior servers constantly monitoring the junior servers making sure they were being attentive.
Overall, a nice Italian restaurant and I would probably visit again.

2 stars for the tranquil atmosphere and above average service. The food is where this place falls painfully short. I ordered a caesar salad and fettuccine carbonara. The greens in the salad were not very fresh. Giant chunks of romaine stalk were part of the mix. Powdered parmesan, uneven dressing distribution, and store-​bought croutons — not a winning combo.
On to the carbonara. Very sad to say this was truly the worst carbonara I’ve ever had in my life. It was completely flavorless. Sauce was thin and non-​descript, pancetta was barely there, peas were peas, and the fettuccine was unbelievably bland. More powdered parmesan and black pepper couldn’t save it.
TL;DR: The food here is not good. It’s also expensive. Sadly I won’t be back, because I wanted to like this place.
Update — 5 hours later I heat up what I took home. Turns out I wasn’t hallucinating, the carbonara is still flavorless. It’s like they ran out of salt, olive oil, basil, red pepper, basically anything that would give this pasta flavor. Sad.

Good service, portion sizes are OK. Good-​tasting food, though slightly pricey… but definitely reflected in the $$.

Really sweet place. Doesn’t have a hip vibe but if you want a good meal with good service in a good location, it’s there. The only point to this place is its rooftop terrace, go there to eat outside, with the real grape vines growing all around you. Also the prices are really over the top — $ 18 for a lunchtime Caprese (tomato and mozarella) salad? seriously? but if a few bucks too much don’t bother you and you are looking for a Menlo Park place that is not junk food and/​or jarringly loud, it is really charming.

I have no complaints. Delicious well prepared Italian food. Attentive service. Nice atmosphere especially on the terrazzo. Probably the best crème caramel I have had outside Europe. Lovely.

Excellent food and service as always. Our favorite Italian restaurant for many years now!

A stuffy atmosphere with a musty cave — like smell. The spaghetti was absolutely disgusting and the food is overpriced. I guess I was expecting decent Italian food. What I got was garbage. The service was decent, however.

First time here. I had the Susan’s Downfall and was pleasantly surprised. Very rich but well worth the intensity. I was happy with the service and enjoyed the atmosphere. The waiter was kind and kept replenishing the bread with a smile. FYI you will need the bread to soak up the goodness of Susan’s sauce. The dishes size is filling too. I will be back.

Nice to know there is a great Italian restaurant close by! If your into Italian and seafood, I recommend this spot! They’ll definitely get my business in the future. Unfortunately as a College student I won’t be coming here as much as I want to. but the food is definitely worth it’s price!

Went for Valentine’s Day. The steak and wine were excellent, as were the desserts. However, service was a bit slow. Also, the decision to limit the menu was incredibly frustrating. I selected this restaurant because of the nice vegetarian options as well as the signature dessert. The Valentines menu had ZERO vegetarian options and they were not serving their signature dessert. Quite a disappointing experience, mostly because of poor decisions regarding the Valentine’s Day menu. I’m sure the restaurant is fine on any other day, but I wouldn’t recommend this place to friends.

I am not sure what any of these negative reviews are about. We ate here last night and it was delicious. The service was great, the bread they served was AMAZING. I had to hold myself from eating all of it so I would eat my dinner!
We shared the warm spinach salad as an appetizer (delicious), and I got the penne vegetable pasta and had them add scallops. The scallops were the best I have had in a long time. My fiancé had the rigatoni with the sausage and he loved it.
We also had some great wine with dinner.
Overall fantastic dinner and will definitely be back!

Its been a long time since I enjoyed italian food this much. The atmosphere was great,
food and service were terrific.

Some of the worst food I’ve ever had in the Bay Area. The duck was severely overcooked, sauce was horrendous (tastes like ketchup), linguine with clams was mediocre, but it’s not a good sign when the crowning achievement of the meal was that it’s «not horrible.» God, and the prices were outrageous for what you get. I will GLADLY pay $ 25 for a well-​cooked duck breast and fried polenta, but this is prison food.
The only redeeming factor was a very polite waiter who I wouldn’t burden with trying to convey the dreadful quality of the meal.

For me this location was a bit hidden. But I am glad I found it. On a nice warm day go upstairs and sit out side, it’s a cute little garden terrace. Food is good, lots of great options, server does a great job with recommendations. I will be sure to return!

I’m absolutely baffled by the positive reviews of this restaurant. I had to double check to make sure I was even reading the right restaurant’s page.
Went here a couple of weeks ago for the first and last time. We ordered the calamari and should have left after that. It was obviously prepackaged, frozen and reheated in the oven. It was the worst calamari I’ve ever had. In this area, there is NO excuse for serving frozen seafood. Ever. The sauce it came with tasked like it came out of a tin can.
The entrees were so bad that while we were picking at them, we noticed some people outside trying to decide if they should come in for a meal – we caught their attention and shook our heads to try to warn them off. They listened and hopefully they had a nice meal elsewhere.
I made the mistake of ordering Susan’s Downfall (trademarked, for some damn reason, as if anyone would want to copy it). It was inedible. Burnt cheese and oily sauce over frozen ravioli; I had one bite and that was all I could manage. I then had some of my boyfriend’s gnocchi, which was rubbery mediocrity, but edible.
The waiter was a bit strange, but with food like that, he was the best thing about the whole experience. He offered to get me something else, but I elected to cut my loses. He didn’t, however, offer to remove Susan’s Terrible Accident from Hell from the bill, but I didn’t want to argue about it – just wanted to get out of there. Please, please, please – do yourself a favor and steer clear!

Where do I begin with this restaurant?
The only reason I made a reservation here is because my mother-​in-​law wanted salmon, and everywhere else in downtown MP was closed on a Sunday.
The service was weird. The server came very frequently towards the beginning, then less and less frequently.
The bread: absolute garbage. Room temp, white «sourdough» which hardly tasted or felt like sourdough at all (there was no crunch to the crust, like good sourdough, it was like WonderBred sourdough).
The food: my husband’s beef bourguignon was blah. The noodles were undercooked, and the beef itself needed more salt and more flavor in general. It also wasn’t very tender, it had a bizarre chewiness to it, like it was thawed from frozen, or had been sitting for awhile. My father-in-law’s gnocchi (store-​bought, I’d like to point out, which is a crying shame for an Italian restaurant!) was undercooked; seems to be a theme of undercooked pasta! The sauce was decent, according to him. My mother-​in-​law was the only one satisfied with her dish of salmon: it was nicely cooked, and paired with orzo and steamed veggies. However, in my opinion, it was very uninspired. The only thing Italian on that plate was the orzo which was fairly bland. It looked like a cafeteria could have turned out that food. I ordered the tiger prawns (which were NOT tiger prawns, FYI, they are just large-​ish shrimp) with bordelaise sauce. Mine was noted to come with «orzo and sauteed spinach». It came with both, but it ALSO came with the SAME steamed veggies that my mother-in-law’s dish came with. SO unoriginal, and so uninspired, and SO LAZY. SO GODDAMNED LAZY. The shrimp were slightly overcooked.
Also, what’s up with French dishes at an Italian restaurant?! Bourguignon? Bordelaise? it’s like the «chef» graduated from basic skills class at the local culinary academy and went straight to work. What a fucking joke.
The menu was frighteningly too large to be feasible for fresh, local, or rotated often. The menus themselves looked old and food stained, which to me indicated they hadn’t changed the menu (neither the items, nor the physical menus! gross!) in awhile.
What a disappointment, when the total bill was close to $ 100 for 4 people.

I love this place! The service is exceptional and the chicken/​grilled polenta dish and chicken salad is my favorite. I have been for lunch multiple times, and enjoy the outdoor rooftop seating on warm days.
This is a great spot and they easily accommodate substitutions if needed for customers with dietary restrictions.
Great local spot worth visiting!

Amazing dinner on the patio. Heat lamps and cute lights. I recommending eating up there.
They serve delicious warm bread and an amazing veal parm. They also have a lovely Cab that pairs excellent with the pasta. It was our first time dining and they gave us a tiramisu dessert on the house. LOVE the hospitality. Highly attentive wait staff. Will come back for more!

Seriously, something about this place transported me back to Italy. Maybe it was the playlist in the background with songs from the 40’s/50’s, the décor, and the bread. Whatever it was, I instantly warmed up to this place before ordering a single dish.
Our server, Angel, was extremely good-​natured and helpful.
We ordered Susan’s Downfall, best pasta dish on the menu, and another type of pasta with shrimp which was not as memorable. The bread was warm which is such a simple but important touch to beginning a meal. Let’s keep the cold, crusty bread for prisons and Oliver Twist.
The portions are generous.
Will definitely be a repeat customer!

The restaurant is beautiful. My family came here for an early dinner, so it was empty. We decided to sit outside — definitely recommended if the weather is nice. The patio has grapes growing around the perimeter and there are heat lamps and umbrellas by the tables. There was an older gentleman here, he might have been a manager or owner, but he grabbed some grapes for us from the vines and invited us to eat. Pretty fun… ate some grapes while waiting for our food to come.
+Gilled polenta w/​portabello mushrooms and tomatoes
+Calamari — lightly breaded and cut into strips
+Susan’s Downfall — cheese and herb ravioli w/​Gorgonzola and toasted almond sauce; wow this was a really stand-​out and interesting dish. The Gorgonzola is a strong cheese, so I found it a bit salty, but probably goes well-​balanced with wine.
+Tiramisu — soft and moist in a sauce with strawberries too
+Cheesecake — nice and moist cheesecake, yum!
Check in on Unilocal for a discount! The food is on the pricey side, but with the Unilocal discount, it wasn’t too bad.