Cafe Pro Bono — Restaurant in Palo Alto

I had a disappointing experience at Café Pro Bono.

We came on Christmas evening, a group of five with a reservation for 8pm. We showed up at 7:55pm and saw a table for five sitting open, waiting for us. As we walked in, another group of five walked in just ahead of us. They check in with the manager and said they were early for an 8:30pm reservation. The manager told them not to worry, then sat them at the table for five. When we checked in (still early for our 8pm), the manager suddenly looked panicked, and mumbled something about "let me see what I can find". He then went around the restaurant searching for another spot to seat us at, before finally pulling a chair to the end of one of the booths. The five of us crammed into the tiny booth, with me at the end. There was no apology, no admittance of his error, just some more mumbling about "well we're busy tonight" and that was it.

Not impressed with how the meal started off, we perused the menu. It was a limited menu for Christmas but we all managed to find something we were interested in. The server started to bring us bread and drinks, though it was incredibly awkward for her to serve us given our seating arrangement, something that plagued the table for the rest of the evening. We ordered a bottle of wine, a 2014 Pinot. The wine that was brought was not the 2014 Pinot, but the 2015. We were told that this was all they had, but that it would be equally good. The bottle was perfectly mediocre, nothing to write home about, and definitely not worth the price quoted for the 2014 ($62). We weren't sure what we'd end up being charged, though we assumed surely less.

We ordered a few starters: Kale salad - 4 stars. Hearty, plentiful portion. Goat cheese, yogurt dressing, and kale. Fall salad - 3 stars. About half the size of the kale salad, and while the ingredients were light and fresh, it left something to be desired. The ricotta was more similar to a hard feta, in texture, as opposed to the lighter crumbles that I'm used to, and the salad was mostly arugula with just a bit of citrus, endive, or pomegranate. Octopus over yuca - 4 stars. The octopus was cooked perfectly but there wasn't much of it for the price tag and the yuca lost its flavor in the frying process.

The entrees seemed slightly better: Coq au vin - 5 stars. Perfectly braised, tender chicken with the perfect amount of red wine and a large enough portion to render leftovers. Pappardelle with short rib - 5 stars. A healthy serving of short rib over freshly made pappardelle in a tomato-based sauce, hearty but not overly rich, filling but not to the point of being stuffed. Lobster ravioli - 2 stars. Six or so raviolis in a cream sauce, topped with two scallops. The scallops were not cooked properly, both were impossible to cut through and became stringy and chewy. The ravioli had no lobster flavor and the cream sauce was too heavy to taste the dill or other herbs that accompanied it. I would definitely not order this again.

When we received the bill, despite the seating issue and the wine issue, there was no discount given and no acknowledgement of either. We even went so far as to gently ask if there was anything they could do to make it up to us. We were told flat out, no. It was a disappointment, and I felt bad for our server, who got stuck in the middle of it. She clearly had a difficult time serving and clearing the table given the arrangement and she seemed to want to help, but was outranked by her manager. Not only did it make our experience a bad one, I don't want to support someone who doesn't even support their own staff.

I'm glad most of the entrees made up for the comedy of errors, but needless to say, I won't be...

Went to Pro Bono last night with my sweetie and 2 industry friends.

We started with their special appetizer, venison carpaccio, which was absolutely STELLAR. I've had their regular beef carpaccio, and it's excellent, but this venison number was really marvelous. Pro Bono's venison carpaccio is even better than, well, Carpaccio's in Menlo Park, and that place is terrific too.

I had a really nicely done arugula salad with goat cheese. This is a rather standard dish, so the trick is execution. 5 stars on the balance.

One of my friends has a severe gluten intolerance issue so she must be careful everywhere we eat out. Pro Bono made a magnificent dish for her sans gluten, and she raved like a lunatic about how terrific her duck was. One friend got a maple glazed duck, the other, duck confit. Sweetie got a shrimp pasta dish, and I got the gnocchi, which I thought was fantastic. The sauce was light and the salmon was as flavorful as it was unexpected on a gnocchi dish. Who knew?

The wine was EXCELLENT. The food was EXCELLENT. The service was GLORIOUS.

The best part is that their prices are quite reasonable, especially considering the high quality. There's a reason this place lasts and lasts while other restaurants on California Ave. come and go. Pro Bono's is class A Italian cuisine like my ex's Italian grandmother used to make, but without the high-tension drama and exaggerated histrionics.

Pro Bono is a jewel. You can eat like a VC on an engineer's budget. I've never had less than an excellent meal here, and last night was no exception. One of the chefs came out to clear out dishes and see what we did and didn't eat. We ate EVERYTHING.

Thanks Pro Bono for making me look really good to my...

Sometime you forget how really good a place is until you come back after not dining there for a while and realize that this is one of the best restaurants in Palo Alto and on the peninsula. I've been here on several occasions in the past and hadn't been here for some time. Decided to celebrate a wedding anniversary with dinner and couldn't have asked for a better evening, especially with our son picking up the check!

He and I both ordered the braised short ribs special and my wife had the veal scallopini marsala, which she and I have both had before more than once. It's really done well. The short ribs were exceptionally good and came from a ranch specializing in organic, grass fed beef. The ribs were boneless and braised for hours and were so tender they didn't require a knife. I laughed when our server brought us steak knives and I demonstrated how tender the rib was as he watched it fall apart with just the fork. The portion was more than adequate and was served with garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies prepared perfectly with just the right amount of crunch to them. Desert was Tiramisu and a Panna Cotta that we shared and were both exceptional. Full bar and a nice wine list. The place was hopping and deservedly so. The staff are seasoned professionals and it shows in everything they do. They're present when you need them and check in periodically to make sure things are good. Never intrusive, very sociable and upbeat. Not stuffy or overly formal in any manner. You can tell when someone likes what they do for a living. This is a very well run restaurant from the top down and deserves a visit if you haven't tried it. You won't be disappointed. 4.5 on food as the star selection doesn't...