La Fornaretta Restaurant — Restaurant in Auburn

I’ve always enjoyed the food at la fornaretta, but my recent experience left me feeling a bit unsettled, especially given the situation with my elderly father. My family and I were dining there when my father, who uses a cane, got caught on a poorly placed rug near the entrance. He fell forward, hitting his face on the corner of the bar and landing on his knees. It was a scary moment, but thankfully, we quickly called 911, and paramedics arrived promptly to assist him. What really upset me, however, was the way the situation was handled afterward. Even while the paramedics were working on my father just a couple of feet from the main door, the restaurant continued seating customers as usual. Some guests even had to walk around the scene, which seemed to get in the way of the paramedics trying to help. I understand that they probably didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the restaurant, but it would’ve been appreciated if they had paused seating customers until the emergency was over. Additionally, when I spoke to the manager about the situation, I mentioned that there’s a lack of any handrails or support structures near the entrance, which could have helped prevent the fall in the first place. The manager was very kind and understanding, and I appreciated that. But still, I couldn’t help but feel that the restaurant could have been a bit more proactive in ensuring that the space was safe for those with mobility challenges. While I’m grateful that my father is okay, I do think it would’ve been a nice gesture if the restaurant had offered something like a complimentary meal, given the circumstances. I’m not looking to bash the place—I know accidents happen—but I do think there’s room for improvement in terms of safety and sensitivity to emergencies. That said, the food is still great, and I’d likely return for that. Just hoping the restaurant takes this kind of feedback into consideration...

My wife and I ordered a portion of the steamed clams and a large La Fornaretta pizza. The pizza was a five-stars Sicilian pizza, hands down, just to get that out there. Unfortunately 8–10 minutes after placing our order we were informed that they had run out of clams, and we were offered a substitution of mussels, which we accepted. After another 10–15 minutes the mussels finally arrived, but the portion turned out to be small — way smaller than the ¾–1 lbs of clams the menu promised for a single portion. Our plate contained a whopping 11 mussel shells, with 4 of them empty and one mussel floating separately in the broth, for a total of 8 mussels. That must've been about 2 ounces of mussels excluding the shells (and probably

I am 100% Sicilian heritage. I rate it as one of the best Sicilian restaurants in California. It is a family-owned restaurant and one of the sons was our waiter. Super nice guy. His name is John Lucca. They first start you out with homemade bread with a dish of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I don't know why they use a small bowl for the balsamic vinegar and olive oil because it was hard to get down through the olive oil to get some of that balsamic vinegar on your bread. So I asked for a small flat dish and that's the way they should have served it. I think the bread was probably one of the most outstanding breads I've had at a restaurant. I asked for some to take home and they gave me about a quarter of a loaf. The bread was served hot right out of the oven which made it even better than cold bread. I ate a lot of the bread so I have plenty of food leftover to take home for another day 😊 the restaurant is located in Newcastle California. I believe that was an Old gold-mining Town. It's right off of Highway 80. We left Loomis California and drove a few miles north on Highway 80 in the direction of Reno I had cioppino, my daughter had tortellini, my wife and son-in-law each had raviolis with a side of Meatballs. I usually don't eat Italian pasta dishes with marinara sauce because it's nothing like the way my mother makes it and my wife makes it. Bon...