Che Fico Parco Menlo — Restaurant in Menlo Park

Went to the new Che Fico location in Menlo Park for Valentine’s Day on a rainy night. They had a Prix Fixe menu that was slightly upgraded from their normal menu.

The focaccia and marinara was a great starter. Very delicate texture for a rustic bread. The citrus salad, oysters and crab Louie lettuce wedges were all nicely done. The beet fritters were not as big of a hit with either our table or the one next to us.

Of the remaining courses, there was a vegetarian lasagna that was comprised of mostly spinach, mushroom and cheese. The duck was seared with a machaca-style duck on the side. I probably enjoyed the lobster agnolotti in crab broth most. The pasta was slippery and really easy to chew. Full of crustaceanic flavor in each bite.

The dessert was a flop for me. The chocolate cake had bit of jagged walnuts which were also in the small cookie that was offered as well. The texture of the cake was flat and tasted just like a plain chocolate cake.

Don’t know if it was because of the rain, but there were ladybugs crawling all over the seat cushions and water splattering on me after bouncing off the awning. Made it a bit difficult to enjoy. This was after we requested to move from another table because the heat lamps were too high up and angled away from us to keep us warm. Might recommend dining inside to avoid this during the winter and early...

I wanted to love it but the food was pretty meh, IMO. Upon reflection, it gave the impression that it was prepared by someone with no idea what Italian food should taste like. It had zero subtlety or balance or even the basic foundational flavors.

Chopped salad was pretty bitter and very overdressed. Lasagna essentially flavorless save for the strong Parmesan flavor that more or less defined the dish. The mushroom pizza was quite literally covered edge to edge with raw shaved mushrooms which completely dominated the other flavors, while the crust was actually sour. The margherita pizza was quite heavy with the Parmesan so that too drowned out all other flavors to the point that my son described it as the pizza version of Pirate Booty from Trader Joe’s.

The focaccia was delicious.

Prices very steep for food that’s a step down from Olive Garden. But that doesn’t stop them from adding a 10% charge to your bill for a “living wage.” I honestly thought that might be baked into my $40 brick of flavorless lasagna. But mind you, that’s not a gratuity. So if you want their staff to be paid properly, apparently you need to fund that separately.

Staff was very nice but not very attentive.

This place does everything it can to look like a fancy restaurant on the surface. I’d recommend investing more in the food rather...

Their Kitchen staff is a joke, wannabe Michelin Star restaurant. Went there with wife and inlaws, started with ordering a couple of Caesar salads to split, underdressed and over cheesed, had to ask for more dressing. Entries eventually came out, mother inlaw lasagna, wife with a pasta, 10 minutes pass, father inlaw receives steak (mind you wife and mother not eating out of politeness, food getting cold), 6-8 minutes later my pork chop finally comes out, I had also order a side of potatoes which I waited another 5 minutes and asked my waiter if they weren't ready to cancel the order which was canceled. Manager walked over and blame their standards for the potatoes and that their wood fire grill was acting up even though we had clear sight of it and kitchen was cooking food from it. She offered some other side, I declined. If my inlaws weren't there I would have had some choice words but I refrained out of respect to save our night. Bill came, hadn't even taken off the potatoes and didn't comp anything, not even our dessert or glass of wine. Wife asked if I would go back,...