Sole Toscano Italian Cafe — Restaurant in Irvine

I feel silly saying that I only just discovered this place, because it's been open for awhile, but it IS a solid restaurant. The sandwich/panini style bread is absolutely delicious!! Think, tortilla made to order, but slightly thicker and every bit as yummy!! I had a #9 Verona which was amazing along with a small side salad with Cesar dressing. Fantastic, perfectly prepared and the ginger ale "craft" soda was killer!! Super ginger!! I'll be coming back to try the breakfast sandwich soon!!

Update: so, I finally got back around to making it in for one of Piadina's egg style flat bread sandwiches today. I think I'm beginning to fall hard for Piadina!! First off, again I have to say I'm I little embarrassed that I'm only now discovering the goodness of this place, but I witnessed half a dozen other people who were eagerly awaiting the doors opening right at 11am sharp!! They know what's up! I had the Mattina, which contains scrambled egg, smoked turkey, fresh spinach, and mozzarella cheese. OMG!! And that Piadina freshly made dough, toasted to perfection. I really was in my happy place. That's only half of the story, I also tried for the first time thier coffee from Italy, Illy. Holy moly!! I haven't had a coffee THAT good since my last trip to Europe. It was a beautiful medium roast, medium bodied coffee, so wonderful I felt transported to another part of the world. And to top it off, a small Hazel nut Perugina chocolate truffle!! I have to say it was one of the best mid morning breakfast/brunch meals I've had in a long time! I can't wait to come back and try a new selection on their menu. Cue the Bryan Adams, One night love affair, only this affair is going to continue on!! 💯🔥😎👍

Update: I visited again this last week because I HAD to try the new PIZZA Piadinas!!🍕🍕😋🤓💯🔥

Well, as usual I was so hungry and Alex the manager made their Tricolore pizza sound absolutely killer!! Now, I've already raved about the delicious dough that Piadina makes fresh daily. It really makes a HUGE difference. So, I ordered the Tricolore which has mozzarella, tomato, and pesto. It was melt in your mouth good. The pesto was really yummy. The radio was playing Everlasting Love and I could tell my affair with Piadina had just moved to the next level. I told Alex I began to imagine all of my favorite kinds of pizza, but now I was imagining all of that on this incredibly delicious Piadina flat bread. It was revelatory to say the least. Dare I say epiphany. 🤓😆 So, I had just gotten finished with my last final for the semester, I'm just totally in my happy place with pizza and then it hits me.....sweet!! I ask Alex, " hey, do you guys make a sweet Piadina, like Nutella and bananas or strawberries?" Alex says, "WE DO!!" It just is not on the menu as of yet!!! Whaaaaaa!!! So, sweet Piadina, Yes please!! It's called the Dulce, or sweet...Duh!! 😆 And it's freaking amazing!! I totally recommend it. It's the perfect amount of chocolate and bananas. It's warm, crunchy, chewy, and all good!! You WANT THIS!! Truly. Again you gotta ask for it because it's not on the menu....yet!! Tell them Stromboli sent you!! 🤓💕💖💕💗

Update: I came through with my mom again and had a wonderfully delicious meal!! I joined the "Thanks" app for restaurants and there was an awesome deal for 2 Piadina or Pizzadias, drinks, and a dessert, I HAD to come through!! It was amazing!! I highly recommend the app for it's rewards as well as the Piadina specials. Alex and his team are fantastic at delivering great tasting, quality dishes. So good, in fact, this time I was able to get photos of my Newport Piadina AND the incredibly tasty dessert Piadina, the Dulce with bananas and Nutella chocolate. Shut the front door!!!😆🎉🎊✨🤯💗💕💖👌🤓 Enjoy...

I was starting to become a somewhat regular at this place, ordering through a delivery service. However, one day last week or so, they made me a Chicken Caesar with about 80% kale, instead of the normal and standard hearts of romaine. As such, the salad pretty much sucked and I called to complain.

Turns out that the store manager is actually the brother of the GM. And he acted like a jerk about the situation, insisting that I had to call DoorDash for a refund, when they will only agree to refund the delivery portion of the bill. I repeatedly made the point that the issue here was the food quality/preparation, not the delivery. Merchants routinely contact the delivery service, acknowledge that they screwed up a customer order, and the delivery service will promptly refund the entire purchase. He said that the GM, his brother, would reach out to me and refund the order.

Many days and several calls later, I still hadn't heard from the GM, so I called again in the evening. The manager wasn't in, but one of his employees reached out to him via text, and the manager inexplicably responded that I would have to take this up with DoorDash, which was still not an option. So I told the employee that if he or his bosses wouldn't make this right, I would no longer do business with them. And they just didn't care.

So I am done with this sorry outfit for good. They have no clue how to treat their good customers. And there are a good many other restaurants that don't serve thin, stale bread for their sandwiches and salads, and make Caesar salads that contain kale at all. This sorry excuse for a business does not keep its promises and displays a bad...

A true piece of Italy at reach in California! 5 stars for food (delicious Piadina Vegetariana beats the French baguette-based sandwich and delicious Crostata Nutella), 5 stars for service (they even speak Italian, and the bag of to-go food was delivered at the table, while all this time I was smiling and enjoying the conversation between staff including the hand gestures), 5 stars for prices, and 4 stars for atmosphere (not their fault with this location in the middle of Irvine, CA, but mine, probably from being used with the romantic atmosphere in restaurants across Italy)! We'll definitely go back again soon and more definitely I'll recommend it to others! "Buon...