Cafe Troia

For Italian food in Towson Maryland, I must say this place does work well! Being half Italian and having lots of dedicated Italiana lovers, I know I can trust the stuff here when I bring my friends or associates.

Had a fantastic meal here. The waiter was very attentive and the food was fabulous. A great atmosphere and all around great restaurant. Everything from the fresh bread at the beginning to the crème brûlée for dessert was fabulous!

Very disappointing. We’ve heard mixed things about this place and when our favorite sushi place was closed we decided to give it a try. I ordered the house salad and flatbread appetizer for dinner. The salad was a tiny pile of wilted spring mix and tasteless dressing. The flatbread was a bizarre plate of crackers that looked like papadam but tasted like cardboard and became soggy 2 minutes after it was served. On top was prosciutto salami and fresh mozzarella. It wasn’t high quality and given the very pricey menu I expected far better. My husband had the pasta bolognese. Decent flavor but forgettable. No Italian bread at this Italian restaurant but instead a dry roll you would expect at a buffet style family restaurant and served with a tiny pat of butter. I asked for lime in my drink and got lemon instead. Otherwise service was friendly and attentive. This place is elegant and upscale but extremely overpriced for the quality of the food. Won’t return.

I ordered delivery and the delivery by Denise was awesome. I ordered the bolognese with papardelle and it was fine (hard to keep the same quality when delivered) but only warm and a little gloppy. Ceasar salad was ok but I think way overpriced — nothing specail.

Been here twice now.
Food is consistently good. Last night the calamari was just ok. Everyone enjoyed their meals– gluten free veal scallopini, bracciole with gnocchi, osso bucco, and more. The drinks at the bar were prefect and the wine recommendation worked for the variety of dishes ordered.
Love the staff and ambiance. Parking is metered only but we managed to park free out front after 6pm.

For an Italian place the pizza is rather mediocre. The service is average.

1^st time there had great service and food. Love the outdoor patio area. I saw they didn’t offer seafood linguini dish and the server Brittany said they can make that happen. That was a real plus for me! Before you know it I had a great dish before me. The other dish ordered was the squid appetizer and it was tender and the sauce was yummy. I can see why it’s been around for so long. Friendly family atmosphere, great food and service always a winning combination.

Food was edible. The waiter accidentally gave us a light fare menu but then said its only available at the bar. He refused to serve my vegetarian friend anything from that menu.

Chose café troia for a nice relaxing Friday night dinner. After reading rave reviews and good recommendations, what we got was nothing more than mediocre. We had the goat cheese truffles which were delicious. Then, dinner arrived. We ordered the scallop mousse mezzelune and the linguini with calamari. The scallop dish had a metallic taste and we only took 2 bites. The linguini was decent, however the calamari was mushy and not very appetizing. For the money we expected a lot more. We won’t be going back.

Great calamari and veal scallopini. Unfortunately the braccioli was unattractive to look at and the sauce tasted a bit like chef-​b-​r-​d according to the eater. My clams with linguini were sent back due to an off taste and replaced with well-​cooked but metallic tasting shrimp. The chocolate flan was very good but two of our diners got crème brûlée — one was cooked perfectly but the second was overcooked and grainy, probably because the dish was much shallower.

I have been to Café Troia twice, almost exactly three years to the day. I work for a company based in Towson that brings me out for corporate training. In 2012 I walked from my hotel, past all of the college town bars (no thanks) looking for a dinner place. Came across this and had one of the best Italian meals I’ve ever had.
Fast forward three years and again I walked from my hotel to the café. Sat in the bar, ordered a glass of the house Chianti and took a long look at the menu. A number of new items, but the originals were all still there. I narrowed my choices to the orecchiette w/​sausage and the Ossobuco, which wound up the winner after a conversation with my server. She suggested substituting risotto for the gnocchi, which was a great choice. Unequivocally the best meal I have had in years. The veal was fall off the bone tender and the risotto had a flavor /​texture balance that can only be described as perfect. I ended the evening with a chocolate gelato and an Americano.
Prices are on the higher end, but well worth it. Portion sizes are substantial and you will not leave hungry. I stopped and spoke to the owner before leaving to share my experience and truly hope that it is not another three years before I return.
Thank you to the staff for ending my week in Towson with a fantastic meal and experience! Ciao!

Never made it to the old location, but love the new one’s patio out back. Downstairs is a comfy lounge area with a small fire pit and a few tables/​chairs, all under strings of white lights. Overlooking this area is a covered deck off the dining room that was perfect for dinner on a June Friday night.
Took Mom for her birthday, which I noted on the OpenTable reservation but the hostess/​waiter never mentioned. Little bummed by that but on to the food.
I got the linguine with clams special and it was fantastic. Came out with the clams surrounding the pasta, just like we make at home. Mom had the spaghetti puttanesca which was also quite tasty. Both meals came out piping hot, an absolute must in our books so kudos.
Cannoli was a bit light, couldn’t figure out what was different about the ricotta. Still good though.
No beers on draft, but a decent bottled selection. Waitstaff was VERY attentive so kudos to Giovanni for being awesome.
Prices really weren’t as bad as some of the people on here are making it out to be. This isn’t the macaroni grill, it’s a Little Italy transplant in Towson.

My friend and I had a wonderful meal there Thursday evening. At first I was worried that only 3 tables were filled (including ours!) but once Moises arrived we were in good hands.
We ordered the appetizer sampler platter and grilled calamari first – in a word, NOM! The calamari was tender and well seasoned – the best I’ve ever eaten.
Mr. H. ordered the veal saltimbocca with a side of pasta. I had snapper from the specials menu. We didn’t leave a drop on the plate! For dessert, tiramisu and ricotta pound cake disappeared in a flash. Thank you, Moises for your wonderful suggestions.
I will be back!

I’m really not sure how a restaurant this mediocre has survived so long. Perhaps its the lack of competition, perhaps its the captive audience of 50+ year olds who never venture outside Towson and think this is pretty good.
The ONLY thing which was noteworthy was the Osso Bucco, This was near perfect, except the risotto which resembled rice a roni.
I give it 2 stars only because the waiter was friendly, competent and actually seemed apologetic/​ashamed about the quality of the food which I found refreshingly honest, almost like «we’re in this together»
Although Towson-​Cockeysviile has limited options for Italian food, I would stick with Liberatore’s or Vito’s.

I was originally going to give Café Troia 2 stars because it has a decent ambiance («decent» — not «nice»). However, after my husband and I both got sick yesterday morning after eating there the night before, I wish there was an option for no stars.
We arrived a little early for our reservation and decided to sit at the bar to have a drink. They had someone playing piano, which was nice, and that is where the pleasantness began and ended. The bartender, though she was standing directly in front of us, did not greet us for several minutes, not even a quick «hello». When our table was ready, our hostess came to the bar to get us. We *quickly* paid our tab and when we turned back to the hostess station, she was nowhere to be found. Then, when we sat down, it took another 5 or so minutes before we were acknowledged, although the waiter was right next to our table the whole time. This — we found out — would not be usual for our waiter, as it would generally take a long time before he would come back to us throughout the night (it took us 15 minutes after we had finished before he returned with the check).
Our meal… was awful. We ordered the Calamari Vesuvio, which tasted like it was made in the same sauce that canned sardines packed in tomato sauce come in. My husband ordered the osso bucco ($ 38) and the meat was okay, but the risotto tasted like rice-​a-​roni. I ordered the shrimp with lemon butter sauce over pasta and bread ($ 30). The shrimp, I thought, were okay but most likely the reason why we were sick the next day. The pasta was strange — thick, chewy and dense — almost hard to eat. But the sauce was the worst part. It tasted like instead of using fresh lemon, they used lemon Lysol. We ate about ¹⁄₈ of our meals that night.
Finally, to add insult to injury (aside from the $ 110 bill — not including tip), it seemed as though every other table in our waiter’s section received complementary Lemoncello at the end of their meals. At least 4 tables — and there were only 5 in his section that night, including us.
I’ve waited tables for long enough to know that this experience should not be typical of a restaurant and their staff — and we would have sent our food back if we thought that it would have made a difference. But consistently bad food, consistently bad service, and a relatively high price tag… I’m wondering what the other diners are eating and where they’re sitting to rate this any higher than what I did.

Not friendly owner and your car will get towed in next door parking lot– AVOID!
My wife and I brought a huge party there and I was absolutely dismayed at how rude the owner was. We were drinking and ordering lots of food so its not like we werent ordering enough but I couldnt believe the owner– she acted like we were intruding on rather than being customers. overall, she just made all of us feel uncomfortable. IN ADDITION– we parked next door in the public parking lot, purchased time from a meter and voila– our car was towed. seems as if we didnt buy the ticket out of the right machine– unfreakingbelievable. $ 240 and 3 hours later– i finally made it home. Never to go to Towson again.

I’ve been to this restaurant twice: once before traveling to Italy, and once after. My appreciation for their cuisine was so much more upon my return from Rome! I can speak to the authenticity of their menu with appetizers and entrees straight from menus in Rome; prosciutto con melone followed by bracciole and gelato– fantastico! The atmosphere, inside and on the back deck were beautiful. Our waiter was attentive and quick. With the elegance and price range of some Harbor East restaurants, Café Troia is a great find in Towson for a special Italian dinner.

This is one of my favorite italian restaurants in the area. We had a romantic dinner with candlelight and fresh flowers on each table. Our server was very nice and well informed on the entire menu and winelist. I had the osso bucco with rissotto Milanese. Amazing. My husband had the penne arrbiatta. He loved it. For dessert we tried the trip of desserts. Cannoli, chocolate crème brûlée and my favorite chocolate flan. This is a great restaurant for a special occasion or a date.

My wife and I live in Ruxton; about ten minutes from Café Troia. We have eaten at many restaurants downtown, midtown and up here in Baltimore County. Our favorite place for dinner, hands down, is Café Troia. (Sorry Little Italy) We have been going there for at least six years or more. It’s expensive so you won’t find us there every week.
This summer we came in for a meal. They had a soft shell crab dinner for $ 29.95. I asked the waiter how many crabs came with the dinner. He said one! WHAT! He said no one had complained yet. Then I remembered, this is Café Troia. They always get it right. I ordered it, almost as a challenge. The crab was huge, meaty and perfectly prepared. I have never had a soft shell crab that big and that good and I grew up in Annapolis.
I took my wife out for her birthday in November. The Rib-​Eye was $ 42.95. That’s expensive! It was a special occasion. It was Café Troia, so I went for it. I’ve eaten a lot of steak; not so much any more. It was huge, (I had to bring some home) a great piece of meat, exceptionally well cooked and seasoned and… amazing.
I could go on, but you get the idea. Expensive, but Amazing. The kind of place where you put a fork full of food in your mouth and sit there going «mmmmmmm» for a few seconds before chewing and swallowing. The mixed drinks are always good. The service is tops. Oh, and the Belgian chocolate flan is stunning and their home made dark chocolate gelato is the best I’ve ever had.

I have been eyeing Café Troia for some time and finally visited it for a late lunch the other day. Eeeeeek, kinda wished that I hadn’t.
It’s not that anything horrible happened; in fact, our first waiter was friendly and cute nice. Sadly, due to the ending of his shift, we received a replacement of someone much less attentive paired with a lukewarm demeanor. Maybe it was the managing of a nearly empty bar that limited the time she could spend with us… yeah, that must have been it.
Other than the funny service, the food was really subpar in quantity, quality, and sizing. We chose a lovely wine (The Zin from Lodi, CA) to go with some pizza and a few small plates from the Lite Fare menu. The mushroom, onion, and «sausage» pizza had a delightful thin crust but this was pretty much the only thing going for it as the meat was practically non-​existent. I am not talking about skimping on the meat: it was barely there at all! The veggies were well-​balanced so the dish particularly saddened. What sort of Italian place messes up pizza?
Before you order, recognize this: I postulate that the Lite Fare menu needs to be retitled to reflect the airplane peanut-​pack sizing. Although diners are advised to choose 4 small plates to constitute a ‘meal’, this is entirely insufficient. Our choice of lamb chops (2 sad, chicken nugget sized chops with globs of fat), petite – aka gumball sized – crab cake (ha! they were not kidding on titling of this pair and, especially for Maryland, this was an embarrassment in taste), grilled vegetables (greasy, uninspiring, visually unappetizing, small like all else), and carpaccio (under-​salted and plated thinly on a surface smaller than a teacup saucer).
We also ordered a couple of other small plates to try but these were not better portioned: the caprese was 2 toothpicks with a tiny mozzarella ball on each surrounded by a grape tomatoes – cut in half. As for the bresaola (dried tenderloin), this sad little sliver resembled the carpaccio plate in all aspects other than being a different dish.
Now, I truly do get fancy dining and understand that some places have single serving portions that are not meant to be eaten in several sittings but how do 4 of these miniscule dishes constitute anything even remotely resembling a meal?! What’s the deal with false advertising of pizza toppings? Never, never again!