Eatalian — Restaurant in West Rancho Dominguez

An unexpected treat.

I've been to Italy several times, and this contemporary restaurant is literally plucked from the side of an Autostrade (highway) in Northern Italy. Highway rest stops in Italy (aree di servizio) are nothing like the U.S., and in addition to fuel many offer light shopping (kind of like a truck stop), a snack bar that always serves espresso from machines the size of Volkswagens, and a scratch restaurant. Enter Etalian Cafe.

The food here is fresh, they bake their own bread on site, have a cheese laboratory, and a medium size dessert display.

For an appetizer my friend and I shared the small Emilia Salad. It was definitely more than enough for two. A medium plate of hot, perfectly grilled eggplant, zucchini, onion, yellow and red bell peppers with hand shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese flakes, drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar. Honestly, it easily could have sufficed as a lunch plate if you weren't looking for a big lunch.

For my main meal I had the Tagliata di Pollo con Verdure. When it came, I was a little concerned because apart from the chicken, it looked exactly like the Emilia Salad appetizer with chopped rosemary chicken, grilled vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, onion, yellow, and red bell peppers) with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and an aged balsamic vinegar drizzle. That's what I get for trying to order and chat with an old friend at the same time! BUT, the rosemary chicken completely transformed the entire plate and made it totally different. What a surprise. It was amazing how most of the exact same ingredients tasted completely different with the addition of the chicken, and as a bonus, I feel pretty good about having a large lunch of mostly vegetables. It was amazing.

My friend had the lasagna, of course with home made fresh pasta, and meat sauce. He ate the whole thing, minus one bite (that's how I know it was incredible, I stole a bite before he could finish).

Finally, my friend had an espresso, of course, and a few bites of my House Cake. When I go back to D.C. I will think about this desert. It's the mischievous cousin to tiramisu, with biscotti dipped in espresso and layered with cocoa, chocolate and thick white cream (probably mascarpone), with sliced almonds sprinkledon top - OMG - this alone would be worth the trip.

This was as close to an Italian experience as you're going to get in the United States. The flavors will never be exactly the same as they are in Italy because the milks, cheeses, and meats taste different there overseas. But minus the variations in ingredients, this is the real deal.

Dress casually and step into a contemporary Italian Autogrill hidden in an industrial building that looks like a tire warehouse from the outside. But most of all, enjoy, because the food and the atmosphere scream...

This visit was the third time I have been to this restaurant. It was not the same as I remembered. The ambiance was not warm and inviting as before. It was seat your self and the tables were numbered above them on the wall. The service was almost non existent and the first thing I ordered was a cup of hot tea. I got hot water with a wedge of lemon. No tea. I asked the waitress for the tea and she had forgot to bring me the wooden box. Finally I got the tea bag, but no sugar. The fresh bread was served without butter. There was olive oil and vinegar on the table in jars that was offered but butter is a special request. The appetizer we ordered was a soggy blend of red peppers, green peppers, and olive oil with some Parmigiano cheese that tasted like the seeds and webbing were not removed from the peppers...bitter. We didn't like the appetizer and asked the waitress to replace it with a garden salad. This became an issue with the manager having to visit our table and he acted like we were wrong for ordering food we didn't like. What? If we had known....we wouldn't have! He was a middle aged grey haired man who was obviously the manager or supervisor. He seemed uptight and had the waitresses scrambling and the cooks looking stressed out. We were served by a kitchen worker as we were not worthy of a waitress because we had complained. When the main dish came I was very shocked by the small amount of lasagne on the plate. It was hardly shareable and it did not have the delicious flavor as I had remembered. It was more of a canned taste rather than authentic Italian sauce made from fresh ingredients. As I looked around the restaurant I noticed things that needed attended to such as dirty floors and walls that could use fresh paint. Even the ceiling had issues as the clear ceiling panels that provided natural sunlight from the roof had been tagged with graffiti. Finally, the check came. It was over $45 dollars for a salad and a piece of lasagne. We split the meal or it would have been double! This restaurant is no longer the hidden gem that I raved about. The neighborhood has become infiltrated by homeless people living in motorhomes up and down the streets in the neighborhood of this restaurant. It does not seem to affect the customers, but they probably have seen their share of drifters coming in to the restaurant. On a scale of 1-10 (1-Poor/10-Excellent) My rating is a 2. Cleanliness: 3 Service: 2 Food: 2 Price:...

I ate here one time with my family. It was just after lunch hours and it was rather slow; since the lunch crowd had just cleared out. the food and service was incredible. The pasta was delicious, pizza was a bit thin for my liking, but delicious non the less. Afterwards, I had the best gelato that I have ever had and it was a wonderful experience all around.

Since this experience was so great, I could not wait to return with some family members who were visiting from out of town. Unfortunately this never ended up happening because the restaurant was unable to accommodate us. I called and spoke to one woman who informed me that they allow reservations for parties of 10 or more, otherwise it is first come, first serve...fair enough...

So, I rallied my family to go, 5 adults, 5 children under the age of 5 and called back to make a reservation for the following evening. NOW, the policy is that the reservations have to be before 3pm. This unfortunately wound work for us because I have a baby shower, so I asked if they could accommodate us at 4pm. The girl on the phone said "only a manager can allow that"...okay, "may I speak to a manager?"

I spoke to the manager and explained that with having 5 children with us, waiting could be a little chaotic, since there is nothing else to do and to be honest, it isn't the nicest area, where I would let my kids run around outside. I was hoping that they could accommodate us at 4pm, rather than 3pm. This woman was so cold and rude on the phone. She snapped at me, shut me down, said that they have well behaved children there all the time and basically treated me like an idiot for even calling her to the phone. And idiot with unruly kids.

I think the reservation policy is rediculois and I especially hate when the policy conveniently changes and has time cut offs that it didn't have 5 hours ago.

I definitely have a bad taste in my mouth about this restaurant now, because I do not like to spend money with rude people. So sad because the food...