Etto Pasta Bar — Restaurant in California

Etto Pasta Bar has a lot of potential, but our first ever dining experience there was a bit disappointing, so I'd give this place a 3/5. My friend and I decided to stop by Etto Pasta Bar on our way to Hearst Castle. They don't take reservations for brunch, so you can walk in and place your order at the counter. Once you've ordered, they'll give you a number. You can take that number with you and find a table for your group. Etto Pasta Bar is a casual and relaxed dining restaurant. The dining room is bright and airy with plenty of natural light with an open kitchen. There is also outdoor seating on a patio. We ordered the following items. Local beef bolognese Aglio e Olio with Italian sausage Garlic bread Tiramisu A pumpkin dessert (not listed on the menu)

Garlic bread was soft and easy to break, but it was dry. You get 4 pieces of garlic bread. In our case, 2 pieces were more cheesy than the rest. Overall, the garlic bread lacked consistency. My friend ordered local beef bolognese, and it was cold by the time it was served; almost as if this dish was sitting on the counter while the other was being cooked. The flavors were alright. Nothing really that stood out. I would have given Aglio e Olio 5/5 if it weren't for these 2 issues that I encountered- 1. All the noodles were clumped together in a big patty shape. 2. All the white wine sauce was at the bottom, and noodles didn't have anything on it. Those 2 things combined, the pasta tasted really bland. I only got to experience the true flavors of the pasta at the very end, thanks to the pasta that was already soaked in the sauce. Had it been done right, this dish could have been the highlight of our meal. It's a bummer. The tiramisu was rich and delicious with great consistency and not too overpowering coffee flavor. The pumpkin dessert was very appealing when it came to look and feel. It was good too, but neither of us like pumpkin as much, so tiramisu was definitely the better dessert for us. The service was okay. We had our server's attention up until we were served our food. After that, we had to wait and track down our server to ask for anything. Overall, it was an okay experience. We were in a rush, so we didn't have the time to tell the staff about the problem...

We had a great dinner at Etto Pasta Bar recently for my moms birthday. This was my second visit and both times we had a wonderful experience. Their back patio is adorned with colorful wall paintings and a beautiful waterfall feature [which is helpful in drowning out other guests, but still allows you to hear the people at your own table] - it sets a fun and peaceful ambiance. Our waiter was great at checking in on us and the staff even took the time to bring out a bin of fuzzy blankets that we could choose to use - they were nice when the breeze picked up later in the evening. Our food was delicious, and we ordered an array of different dishes. My choice was their pesto pasta which was not overly salty (which I prefer) and it left me feeling full (even with the choice of going with their GF spaghetti squash alternative). Each of the other dishes looked expertly crafted with fresh pasta ingredients and lots of flavor. Additionally, they gave my mom an array of birthday desserts to choose from - she went with their Tiramisu which was light and delicious. Overall, we had a great experience and it was nice to have another restaurant to choose from as we're so limited in our County. This would be a great birthday spot or an easy date night out - bonus points for being in Tin City next to plenty of other easy to walk to spots for dessert or a...

Pro: The pasta was very tasty. Con: They gave me the wrong pasta. I told the waiter that, and said they can make me it if I wanted, but we waited so long for our meal I said no. It is also very loud there. Maybe it was just the dining groups around us with the wine flowing, but we both felt like we had to talk loud to hear each other. The biggest complaint was the lack of attention we had. The two of us had to wait much longer than the larger groups to receive our meal. After 20 min I timed it, it was over 45 min to receive our dishes, while the other tables received their appetizers and meal before we received our meal. I noticed the manger? head waiter? not sure of his title, went to every table to pour their wine, make sure everything was ok, but not once came to ours, maybe because their tab was going to be larger? Maybe because he knew we were waiting so long for our meal and didn't want to hear a complaint? Who knows? I did see him looking at us, so I know he knew we were there. Bottom line, pasta was good (even though it was not what I ordered), but the atmosphere, service and long wait for food lacked a desire to make a...