Sergio's Caffè — Restaurant in Grass Valley

My friend and I have been waiting to try Sergio's for some time. We are two middle-aged businessmen with homes in Grass Valley. It was "boys night out" so we headed for Sergios. We were warmly met at the door and requested seats at the end of the bar. We were seated a sufficient distance apart, brought menu's and ordered. We were then approached, by the owner himself Sergio who made amiable small talk and recommended and excellent wine we very much enjoyed. Coming from an Italian family I asked him what part of Italy he was from. I came here from Argentina he replied. I remarked that was quite a coincidence as I have a favorite Italian restaurant in Miami and although the entire staff speaks perfect Italian, not one of them had even been to Italy. "You have quite a great Italian community In Argentina I remarked, Sergio smiled and nodded his head

Then what occurred was the most bizarre, and unhinged behavior I have ever experienced from any employee in any restaurant in my life. Sergio, inexplicably and for no reason whatsoever asked "So are you Socialists" This was not a joke. There was a certain menace in his voice so we asked "excuse me, what?" Sergio repeated, "Are you, socialists?" We were dumbfounded. We didn't know what to say. Well, we do get social security and do take advantage of other socially supported programs, police, firemen, sewers, etc, I mean there are socialists programs in this country but we don't consider ourselves socialists" We just were not sure where this was going.

Then with real menace, Sergio pulled down his face mask and not two feet from our faces snarled as he gestured toward the mask, "This is one-world government, this is what socialism looks like a global government" OK, so at this point, I knew we were dealing with a full-blown right-wing nut case. I was ready for the Qanaon speech next. I told him to please just go away but he persisted. Just go away I repeated again and again to no avail.

Imagine harassing two customers of your own restaurant for absolutely no reason. There had been no trigger regarding politics in any part of our interaction none whatsoever. I asked for the bill promptly paid it and we left. We threw his food in a garbage can and retired to Tofanellis across the street. How could someone radiate that unseemly behavior for absolutely no reason on innocent customers?

Then it occurred to me, Sergio, perhaps in his 80's, Italian and living in Argentina .... suddenly it all fit. So if you want a nice Italian meal prepared by an avowed fascist, now you...

An update: when trying to decide where to eat last night, I immediately dismissed Sergio’s because there was an event on Mill St and I assumed we’d NEVER get a table. We decided to eat at another downtown restaurant, instead. After waiting AN HOUR for a table (even though the restaurant was only about 50% full), we left, resigned that we’d have to get fast food somewhere because of our tight schedule. We walked down to Mill St and thought we’d salvage some of the night and at least get a sweet treat to take home. I noticed Sergio’s wasn’t 100% full so we popped in and asked how long the wait was. She seated us right away. Another person came and set the table as soon as we sat down. She took our drink order immediately. Then, our food order. Another person brought us bread. A short time later our food arrived and it was delicious. We were checked on by our server and one other person. We were in a hurry due to losing an hour at the other place and they whisked us in and out with to go boxes in hand in about 35 minutes. The food was delicious! The service as fabulous!! THAT’S how you run a restaurant!!

I met a friend here for dinner and am so glad she chose this place! I was too busy catching up to remember more than just the one picture of my half eaten dinner - but the atmosphere is nice, the service was good, and my dinner is my new favorite dish! I had the gnocchi with walnuts, fresh spinach, and a Gorgonzola sauce. YUM-O!! Rich and delicious! My friend had the salmon salad and said it was amazing! Will definitely go back and try...

I really had high hopes for this place. Came in from out of town. I’ve been eating at another Italian restaurant closer to my hotel that I’ve eaten at twice and each time it was amazing and consistently great. The first thing that was odd was the music here is not Italian. It’s Spanish on every other song. I still like it but the Italian place down the street plays beautiful Italian music. Unfortunately due to being vegetarian my choices in food are limited. I had the spinach ravioli and sadly it was hard. It was most likely frozen but heated so hot it burned my mouth and still was not easy to cut or chew. Very firm almost old and stale. Flavor not great either. The garlic bread was hard. Very hard. Did not have any flavor either compared to the place down the street where it is warm soft and flavorful. The wine tasted stale as well. As if it had been opened for days. The wine at the other place absolutely some of the best wine I’ve ever had. I really wanted to like this place as it’s in such a cool location. But it just wasn’t for me. Customer service was great. The people that work here are so friendly. Food not so great. I...