Nonni's Bistro — Restaurant in Pleasanton

Cute little bistro. A handful of tables by the sidewalk. Around 20 tables inside. Lunch on a Wednesday at 1, there were several groups but still room. Little Mason jars with flowers on every table, carnations and daisies. I was seated quickly under a skylight which was nice natural light on an overcast day. The server brought me water with a citrus and mint flavor. There were salt and pepper grinders instead of shakers at the table, which I prefer.

I went specifically for the beef carpaccio. It wasn't on the lunch menu, but I asked the server and she asked the chef and I got it. I also ordered an iced tea which was brought out immediately with a lemon slice. My meal was plated and served in just a couple of minutes.

The beef carpaccio had slices of red onion, a generous sprinkling of capers and shaved parmesan, dabs of a sauce reminiscent of Caesar dressing, and a mound of packed arugula with shredded beets on top, placed in the center. The beets were fresh and had a crisp texture, complimented by a lightly sweet vinaigrette flavor. The arugula wasn't dressed, but when eaten with the beets was a delicious balance of sweet, peppery, tangy freshness.

When my iced tea was half empty, a server quickly asked if I would like more and refilled my glass. When I was two bites from the end of the meal I was asked if I wanted anything else. The check was brought immediately and closed out.

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal, the service, and was in and out in half an hour. I was able to park on the street only a few car lengths away. There was a bar and a considerable selection of wines and beer. There were interesting menu items that I will consider in the future, including multiple seafood options. I will definitely order the carpaccio for lunch again as I was fully satisfied with the amount of salad and protein...

Update * Ooops, 1 star off due to service related.. Today December 9th,2021 I was only 8 mins away from the restaurant but it is close to their closing time (9pm), at that time is 8:33pm so I called ahead. First they told me they are closing early and then he goes to ask if 2 people is ok (he went to check twice) then he told me just come. I told him I am 12mins away and my name.

When I got there 8:41pm the staff there all told me is closed. I said "I called ahead and your guys told me to come" but still

Anyway, we end up eating the Indian restaurant next door, actually it didn't turn out bad.

I really appreciate the guys made the effort and asked twice to make sure we can come in and dine, but somehow they do have internal communication problem.

*""

I purposely pick this place for our family dinner after golfing at Poppy Ridge

Since this place offer modern European other than all the traditional italian place that you get tired off.

We ordered French Onion soup + grill Octopus arugula salad Entree... Rack of Lamb, duck breast and mussels

The octopus is cooked just right, not overcooked or else it will taste like rubber. The dressing is good , right amount of salt and acidity, perfect. The soup is pretty good not the best, but the onion. Is nice caramelized.

All the meat dish is nice cooked, nice pink, tender. Except the risotto is kind of Salty. Mussels are perfectly cooked, with nice touch of white wine and spices.

Their dessert is good but not great , we ordered the Chocolate laval cake, but the cake is over baked so the laval is not shown.

I highly recommend...

A little torn about this place. Very good food, but very pricey. It was Valentines Day weekend, so that may have played a part in their pricing. Dinner for 2, 3 course meal, corkage fee and tip came out to ~$230.

The food.... we were first given bread rolls, which were warm and yummy. But the butter that came with it was pretty cool. It was in the shape of a rose. Nice touch.

Then are salads arrived. Can't remember what kind they were, but had mixed greens with goat cheese wrapped in a crepe. Not a fan of goat cheese, but my date is and she said it was really good. I did try the crepe and that was pretty yummy.

Main course.... My date got the duck and she really enjoyed it. I got the swordfish with prawns and risotto. It was really good, except the risotto. They put carrots in it. To me, those 2 don't go together. Maybe if the carrots were cooked more so they were soft it would have been better. But they were kinda crunchy. You have all these soft textures and hard carrots. Didn't work.

For dessert, we got this chocolate mousse thing. So good.

The service was good, can't really complain. But when you are charging this much, the service needs to be stellar.

So why 3 stars. Again it comes down to pricing. When you play in this region, you can't have crunchy carrots with a bunch of soft food. Will i return, not sure. There sure are a lot of other...