Doppio Zero Campbell — Restaurant in Campbell

Have been here twice now. Decor is modern and updated. Patio and inside seating are available which is nice. There are only a few patio tables available and they are all two-tops so pretty small. The inside seating opens up fully to the patio creating a sort of faux patio feel which is a nice touch with natural lighting and exposure to foot traffic. There are a few four-tops available in this section. Inside there is a nice bar with seating for about 12. They also have booths and tables for larger parties. We sat inside both times and it was fine.

Unfortunately the updated decor did not match the menu or our service experience on either of our two visits.

First time was on July 16 for a friend's birthday party. We were a party of 6 and arrived on time and were seated immediately at the booth nearest the pizza oven.

We ordered a few small plates for the group and 3 pizzas to share. I can't remember what we ordered specifically. The food seemed ok but nothing overly amazing to shout about.

Anyway the memorable takeaway from this visit was the service.

Starting with the bottle service. We ordered a bottle of champagne and two bottles of wine throughout the evening. The server clearly was not experienced enough to lead this. He started with pouring the champagne too fast so he filled every glass to the rim with bubbles. He would then proceed to fill all six of our glasses this way and then came back to the beginning and started pouring again. Unfortunately he did not anticipate running out so quickly so he filled 4 of our glasses full and left 2 others with minimal pours including the birthday girl. It was embarrassing.

For the wine, we asked for recommendations but he did not know or understand what we were asking. Maybe a language barrier but it was just unclear. After multiple attempts he brought over someone from the back of the house who appeared to be in charge which was helpful. The wine glass pours were fine, no issues.

On the second bottle of wine, we ordered a 2020 Caymus Cabernet which we were excited to find. After 10 minutes, the in charge person came out again and explained that they had just finished their last bottle of 2020 and only had the 2021. We were mildly disappointed but in the end decided to stick with the 2021 Caymus which ended up being very nice. The odd thing is we were not offered a discount on the 2021 bottle even though it was a year younger. On a $160 bottle, I thought this was an appropriate expectation.

We also had trouble with our food service experience. When bringing out the pizza plates (our 2nd service), the bussers crowded the table with the new plates before clearing the used appetizer plates. While doing this, they started creating space by pushing the new plates into the old old plates forcing them into each other and eventually creating a mess when one of the plates was pushed into our guest of honor's wine glass and spilled her wine across the table which eventually dripped off the table onto the guest of honor's purse and gifts that were sitting on the bench seat. Wine also dripped through a crack between two tables pressed together and got all over my shoes and another guest's shoes. All of this happened before the server even realized that she had caused the spill so it took forever to clean up and the damage was done. The guest of Honor was not offered a replacement glass of wine and to my knowledge the person in charge was not aware of what happened. It didn't appear that we were comp'd for this.

After dinner, the staff brought out a festive slice of cheesecake with a candle and a song for the birthday girl. It was very sweet and we felt honored for the moment.

Our final experience was the check which was brought to us excluding the Caymus wine which we were pleased about and thought was fair given how the evening went. However after we provided our credit cards to pay, the person in charge returned back to the table to admit they had made a mistake and presented us with a revised bill that included the Caymus cab. I felt so ashamed for this team...

This business has the rare Italian Verace Pizza Napoletana certification for their Mountain View location, and while this location doesn't comply (at least yet), they make their pizzas according to the same strict standards. This is both a blessing and a curse, as fans of the pure Neapolitan style will exult in compliance that results in a pillowy soft crust with a light char on the bottom and on the cornicoine with floppy and wet center. But they could do better with a few minor deviations that would give the pizza not only more body such that a slice can be picked up without folding or having the toppings slide off, but also with more flavor and a slightly more crunchy texture. I'm happy to share details with management if they're interested.

The pizzas we had were three:

Margherita: A very good example of the classic Neapolitan style, but not enough basil, of which they should put some pieces under most of the fresh mozzarella rather than just throw a couple of leaves randomly on top. It includes the VPN-compliant San Marzanos tomatoes crushed with a bit of salt, but those tomatoes are over-rated and always put to shame in my taste tests compared with California-grown Alta Cucina tomatoes (by Stanislaus).

Salsiccia: The proferred ingredients are: San Marzano tomato, fior di latte mozzarella, light spicy Italian sausage, bell peppers, onion, black olives. A very good pie, but there was almost no sausage on it--I'd guess not more than 1-2 ounces. The black olives appeared and tasted more like Kalamata olives, which is good as black olives belong on a big crappy Round Table pizza. The peppers were thrown in a clump onto the pizza, as the pizzaiolo apparenty didn't have enough time or concern to spread them around. And my comment above about the too soft and floppy dough and overrated San Marzano tomatoes applies here as well.

Doppio Zero: The proferred ingredients are: Burrata cheese, 24 months Prosciutto di Parma, arugula, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano, E.V.O.O. It's a mouthwatering, excellent pie with the perfect amount of each ingredient evenly distributed, including a tasty high quality Prosciutto! Obviously none of the pesky San Marzanos, but the same overly soft and floppy crust.

They do use a wood-fired oven, but in reality the pizzas are in the oven for such a short time that the wood or wood type doesn't really matter; the key is in the dough ingredients and fermentation process as long as the oven temperature can get to 800-1000 degrees. Wood and wood type matter for long smoked cooking of things like brisket and pulled pork.

Ambience and service...

Update: Went a 2nd time on a Friday night, without reservation. Picked this place as it shows on Google that it closes at 11pm and it was after 9pm when we were looking for a restaurant to have dinner at. This visit was better than the previous visit. We ordered the Polpo Alla Griglia, Marechiaro and Lasagna. All of them tasted good. Definitely sticking to these options in future visits. Love that the food came to the table pipping hot. Very tasty and well executed. Service felt less intense and uncomfortable and more relaxed this time around which should be the way to go. Thus added another star and more pics with this review. Went there on a Sunday night, without reservation. Was seated immediately. The restaurant seems bigger than its Mountain View location. Like the modern setting. Was debating between pasta or the fish (Brazino/Salmon) but finally settled for the Bottarga spaghetti since I liked the Marechiaro pasta at Mountain View. My friend got the La Carne pizza. The salmon were small little cubes and I didn’t think the taste of the pasta matches the description. I couldn’t see nor taste the cured fish roe, roasted garlic or the lemon zest. I only tasted and saw some green herbs and chilis. I took a picture and had to refer to the picture to determine if the ingredients were as described…there appears to be shaved cured fish roe but definitely no lemon zest or roasted garlic. The taste is very light and the pieces of salmon were lukewarm and small. I had a piece of my friend’s pizza. Same as at Mountain View, the pizza had salty and crispy burnt chorizo. Nicely shaped though and tasty italian sausage but dough was burnt underneath so pizza tasted a little bitter. Would be nice if the dough wasn’t burnt and not as thin and soggy. Ordered the tiramisu although I really wanted to have the tartufo which I was told was sold out only after I tried to order it. Tiramisu tasted ok, but would be better if it was nicely chilled/cold and have a cocoa taste to it. I felt like I was eating an airy sponge cake with whipped cream topping in a glass. Overall, a better set up than Mountain View but not impressed with the...