Cavallario’s Cucina

Arrived at the restaurant and we were not greeted by any of the staff. We waited for 20 minutes with staff passing in front of us. We were acknowledged at minute 15 but weren’t told a wait time or anything. My wife and I waited for 5 minutes before leaving.
Pretty disappointed because I heard the restaurant was good but after this experience I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Food, wine, and beer were all good. Waitress was friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. Only thing not happy about was waiting an hour to get our food even though there were only a few other people there.

We’re still new to Watertown and wanted a night out somewhere that wasn’t a chain restaurant. Cucina didn’t disappoint at all. Place was very clean and had a great atmosphere for a quiet dinner for two. I wish I had caught our servers name but she was very pleasant and kept the wine glasses full.
We ordered the chicken parm and the chicken Alfredo. Both made with handmade pasta that was cooked perfect. Fantastic meal, we even finished it off with a slice of chocolate cake that was made with cinnamon and kahlua.
We’ll definitely be back!

Bottom line is that you are better off at Olive Garden and I am not a fan of chain restaurants or Olive Garden in general.
Here is why.
1. The food is bland and over priced. I tried multiple dishes and appetizers unsuccessfully. My wife and friends agreed that the dishes were bland.
Why should you listen to me? Because I’ve eaten at 100s of restaurants all over the world to include Italy. However I did not expect it to taste like Italy’s pasta, nor am I stuck up about food. Nonetheless, it did not taste good by American Italian restaurant standards.
2. The service did not take kindly to poor opinion of food. Details below.
3. The ambience is a poor attempt to give reason to charge 20 – 30 $ per dish in Watertown.
Details: When the waitress asked me how the appetizer was I kindly said it was ok, not that great and apologized for being picky. She then responded loud enough for the restaurant to hear that she would go let the cook know. Everyone turned to look at us and it was an off experience. She then stated that she deals with picky people all the time. Strange to hear that.
Another waitress came to collect the main course and offered to go boxes. When I declined to take it home she asked why and I stated it wasn’t that great. She stated that no one has ever mentioned that before and walked away.
The check was collected swiftly with no apology for the food and I was left with only an odd feeling like I was rude to share my opinion. Of course I was charged in full.

Terrible sauce, very poor food. All the right items described but falls very short of Italian food. You’re better off at Olive Garden, and Olive Garden sucks.

Delicious food and great service. The waitress was so friendly. A bit on the pricey side, but a great place.

I had the spinach chicken pasta which was delicious. My wife’s drink was «yummy» (orange fizz?) and the flatbread app was great. We had the lemon raspberry cake for dessert which was good but had coconut which I am not a fan of. But the cake was moist and perfectly done. Waitress was great and they had amazing rotating fans!

As a road warrior I’m always looking for non chain restaurants Not disappointed at all. Very nice ambiance, antipasto salad was huge and fabulous. Bread great. Go

Yummy Italian and nice ambience. The calamari was cut differently than I’m used to but was tasty. The pasta was filling and the chicken was good. One of Watertown’s more romantic restaurants.

Disappointed & misled (and as a former restaurant critic, my husband’s really irked).
We were driving back from Montréal and called an hour before closing for reservations. A pleasant woman with the same last name as the restaurant said they had closed early that night because of slow business (which often happens with non-​chain restaurants). But when we asked for restaurant suggestions in Watertown with a nice food and a wine list, she said there wasn’t any and mentioned only a Irish Pub and a sandwich place.
But while driving out of town, we happened across a wonderful restaurant called Sborro’s with a nice wine list and a wonderfully inventive menu (we had Lamb Normandy and Roast Duck Jubilee).
Why didn’t the woman recommend Sborro’s? It wasn’t because she didn’t know of it. When we recounted this experience to the Sborro waitress, she said, «That’s strange, they are cousins with our owner.»
That’s not something you’d expect from confident, stand-​up restaurant.
Two stars because my husband said the woman was polite and did provide two suggestions on non-​direct competitors.

As close as one can get to the north end in upstate NY. Nice wines and the food is appropriate for the area. The waitstaff is wonderful.

Blends in on the outside, but once you walk in, wonderful atmosphere, can be considered a fine dining establishment for Watertown. Is a great date night, or celebratory spot. Dishes are true to Italian style, as is the dining experience. We were not rushed at all, same style as European dining. Wine, app, salad, dinner, dessert was about 2 ½ hours. Gives you time to put your phone away and spend quality time with your table, and no children to disrupt the atmosphere. Food is generous portions, fresh and homemade, unique, authentic Italian dishes which represent most regions of the country. We were checked on by waitress, as well as 2 other staff members to personally ask how the meal was going, and not in an interruptive fashion.

We eat in little Italy in NYC and the North End of Boston 2 to 3 times per month. This place is on par with the better Italian restaurants in both cities.

I had a great date with my husband here and enjoyed an authentic Italian meal that I hadn’t eaten in a long time. Their fish is wild caught and flown in fresh from the Pacific. The head chef/​owner responded to our concerns about bringing our children here for a future family dinner due to food allergies to wheat and dairy. She offered for us to call in ahead of time so she could prepare a specialized meal for us. I will never eat at Olive Garden again!

Good food, but horrible service. We had a reservation for 730 and we didn’t get seated till 830, the host was more worried about gossiping with his servers than helping his customers. Horrible service!

Amazing food, romantic ambiance, and pretty good service. However, I think the prices are a tiny bit steep. For my husband and I, dinner was around $ 100 including tip. (We also had beer & wine, though.)

A nice place to eat. Food was awesome and atmosphere was really nice. Took a little bit for our food to get to us, but everything we drank or ate was amazing.

I decided to give this place another chance after a lackluster initial outing. It seems that was a mistake.
This time around I started with their fried mozzarella. To get the full context you must know that I detest raw tomatoes. With that in mind, the appetizer just tastes like salt and requires the assistance of the tomato to even be able to swallow a bite. It simply tasted like salty mush on an oil drenched crustini.
Next, I gave the Veal Marsala & Mushroom risotto a try. The Marsala as use was more like a thick soup in the bowl which only served to make the veal a soggy mess. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if any part of the dish had any flavor. What’s doubly sad is that the mushroom risotto also had zero flavor. All the components were there, but nothing had any taste. I might as well have been eating a $ 24 plate of baby food.
I’ve seen many people commenting on how classy the place is in reviews. While the decorum certainly isn’t bad, in any major city it would be considered just adequate. Heck, most every PF Chang’s I’ve seen is about 10x more classy. Basically, if you think this is classy and a good meal then you need to get out more and try new places. For the prices they charge I expected a LOT more.
I will not be giving this place a third chance. Skip this and go virtually anywhere else.

Forget the italian restaurant franchises because this place has class class class! My boyfriend and I decided to have date night here in Watertown and we wanted something low key and upscale so we decided to go here rather than the franchises on Arsenal street.
All I can say is that we were impressed! The ambiance if the interior is very custom and romantic. Even though the wait took about 10 minutes, our table was neatly set and our server was really nice. The seating seemed reasonable and not crammed at all. As for the wine and dine, they have an amazing international wine selection and the homemade salad and bread was delicious and complimentary with each meal. To add, they also have a very good and creative selection of vegetarian entrees than your simple pasta with sauce that you can get anywhere else. I got myself the Eggplant Caprese and its plate presentation matched the taste– DELICIOUS!

I would actually give this place a 4.5 star if I could. It’s not quite 5 star… but VERY CLOSE.
The food was lovely, the service was great, and the atmosphere was excellent! And yes– the BREAD is AMAZING!
We WILL be back on our next business trip!