Cafe Italia — Restaurant in El Paso

This location is best known for allowing patrons to participate in BYOB, as you may bring your own wine into the establishment and they will open it for you. Cafe Italia also prides itself on making fresh mozzarella daily. There is a modern but refined quality about the decor, the ambience, and the customer service.

There is sufficient parking and several servers who are friendly and attentive to your dining needs. I appreciated the fact that upon arrival there was a large patio area where one may opt to enjoy the sunset or a beautiful day while eating. Arriving around 6:30-7:00pm MST will guarantee a great sunset view from the patio outside.

Even though there is no person designated solely for the front of the house, we were taken care of quickly. Our server made every effort to ensure that we felt like family or a neighbor, to whom you would graciously demonstrate your own hospitality. Their customer service is accommodating and knowledgeable.

Make no mistake, albeit the prices are very competitive, the ingredients fresh and the service expedited, this is not like a Cici's nor Peter Piper Pizza. Children are welcome but this location seems better suited for romantic dinners or business meetings involving adults.

I ordered the Biancco and found it to be hearty, full of cheese, arugula, and other toppings we selected. The lack of a specific sauce like marinara, allows you to enjoy the experience of building on its flavor profile with each slice.

Areas for improvement include a larger selection for dessert and the design of the containers which hold red crushed pepper.

The dessert options for this location only included a calzone filled with Nutella, topped with powdered sugar. I found this to be slightly disappointing. The helpful female server stated the reason for a lack of dessert choices was because they were too busy. She did inform me that the Eastside location offers additional dessert choices.

Secondly, the crushed red pepper located on top of every table does not have a lid like a salt shaker. The crushed red pepper is inside of the container, with a very small teaspoon to portion the red crushed pepper on your dish, as needed.

People of all ages do come to this environment, indicating that young inquisitive ones, forgetful people, and others who may not be mindful, are given an opportunity to expose germs to the crushed red pepper.

The dining experience was excellent, the food was superb and service was fast. Had it not been for these two minor concerns, this location would...

Being an 1st gen Italian that cooks plenty of family recipes from back home, I was really excited to learn there was a reputable Italian restaurant here. Before you read a wall of text I think this place really specializes in their pizza, but clearly not so much their pasta. Next time I will definitely try the pizza.

First things first. I would've given 4 stars had the chef remembered to peel all of the shrimp properly, instead I got to ingest a nice hard shell. So minus 1 star for that.

I ordered the Linguini alla Scampi which is a classic southern Italian dish. This restaurant doesn't claim to be authentic Italian so I wont rate them that way. They did in fact capture the spirit of Italian food here. The sauce went really well with everything, the pasta soaked it up well. The foccaccia like bread provided had proper yeasty taste to it.

Everything is a bit on the heavy side. The bread is just a bit dense, the pasta was a bit much to how much shrimp there was, the sauce was pretty thick. Truthfully this pasta sauce should be very light and the wine and shrimp should really be the star, not the cream and pasta. So if you like a heavier pasta dish I definitely recommend this place. Nothing wrong with that.

The couples of things that don't get a pass are:

1. Putting cheese on shrimp
2. Telling me you are unable to cook the pasta "Al Dente"

Please next time give me the option of having Parmesan in the dish, even though you offered it after served to me I could tell some had already been put in. Cheese hides the flavor of fish and is never done in Southern Italy.

As for not being able to cook the pasta properly, either you pre-prepped the pasta then cook to order (please stop that), or you don't know how to cook pasta.

The atmosphere is great though, especially outside. The service is good, they made sure I was well attended to and were quick about orders, refills, check, etc. I do wish they would have remembered to bring lemon wedges instead of me asking 3 different times (this dish should absolutely be served with lemon), but it's fine. Also next time black pepper, not red pepper flakes.

I think this place has potential to be 5 star if they just put as much passion into their pasta as everyone says they put into...

I have passed this place time and time again in the westside and wanted to give it a try. I was craving pizza, so I ordered the 'Smoked' Pizza for $15 to-go from about 10 minutes away. I walked in the little cafe and it is ALIVE! If that's what you're looking for then I'm sure you will enjoy sitting in for your meal. Nice atmosphere, everyone looked happy and chatting away. It's a pretty good noise level, so it's not the place for a quiet meal. Pizza was ready quick, so by the time I got to the counter my pizza was good to go. Pizza looked and smelled great. I could smell everything - the smokiness (brick oven), peppers, and fennel sausage! I just didn't like the size for the price, medium. It was just a medium size pizza 😐. Since I picked it up to go, I immediately had a slice inside my car to catch the freshness of the pizza. VERY VERY GOOD and smokey 😋! The flavor is unique and delicious, so it can't be compared to any other pizza place - franchise or not. I got home and the pizza (dough) was already getting stale and chewy like a day old breadstick. Still tasted delicious, but not as good as fresh, so if you're gonna have a pizza eat at the cafe and make sure to take your wine since its BYOB. I heated 1 slice up with a toaster oven to see if it would help and it didn't. I tried the water cup in microwave for another slice and that didn't help either 😀. The pizza is definitely good, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 for it at that size, again no matter how different the flavor. Italians in Italy don't even pay that much for it 😂. If you got money to blow or try to impress a date or whatever go for it. - 1 star for value (pizza). Definitely overpriced since there really isn't much to justify the margin. I'll probably return to try for a calzone or pasta since their spices...