Pastas Trattoria — Restaurant in Pleasanton

January 27, 2018....We were seated near the front door, and whenever the door would open there would be an unwelcome draft that would chill us off in a rather unwelcome fashion. And, of course, that is where everyone came in, so we experienced the winter wind often. We were promptly seated, and the table was appointed nicely. The bus service is very good; they always kept an eye open ready to serve as needed. The waiter, a tall, pudgy gent resembling the Pillsbury Doughboy in his mid-late 20's or early 30's with brown hair and glasses was very business-like, and presented the wine menu and took drink requests, and offered up advice on the menu selections. There were six of us and the pace of service permitted us much time to converse and enjoy ourselves, very European, I thought. We ordered a nice wine with dinner, a Zin called "Twisted Paso". I highly recommend it, low tanins, a great bouquet, and a beautiful finish! The salad presentation was excellent as was the taste. I ordered the Bolognese pasta and it was very good. My friend claimed the Eggplant Parmesan was the best he ever had. There were similar raves from other members of our party. The ambiance of the restaurant, sans the chill at the front, was very nice, and you could get a feel that everyone was enjoying themselves. The cheesecake was excellent, as was the vanilla gelato (I presume). The coffee was also very good. The bill came in a paper folio and we paid cash, noting that there was a mandatory 21% tip included for parties of six or larger. Although the wait service certainly did not warrant a tip that large, we paid it based upon the other servers. As we were leaving, our waiter, the one who presented the bill, picked it up, paid the cashier and returned the residual cash back to our table in the same folio, accosted our party as we were leaving. He had opened the folio and noticed there was no cash for a tip, and at first stopped my granddaughter, then my friend wanting to know if we had paid our bill. It was kind of embarrassing. My friend then showed him our receipt, and then explained to the waiter that "yes, we paid the tip in our bill, see here...$42.00!" The waiter scanned the bill and still questioned it, then reluctantly ended the conversation. So, we ended what should have been a fantastic experience with some degree of humiliation at the hands of this very unprofessional jerk. We should have gone back in and reported him to the manager, but our humiliation put a damper on returning inside.

We all agreed that such treatment didn't warrant a...

My friends and I recently visited Pasta Trattoria in Pleasanton, hoping for a pleasant Italian dining experience. However, pleasant is far from what we experienced.

Upon arrival, the restaurant seemed very calm, and there were mostly older Caucasian individuals. As a group of 4 Asian teenagers, we were looking forward to enjoying our time together, trying foods from different cuisines.

As we were being seated by an individual who seemed to have been the owner or manager, a disappointing incident occurred. While following this individual, we paused briefly to admire something interesting happening outside the window. To our surprise, this staff member seemed annoyed at us, as if we were misbehaving. He said in a nasty tone, “Are you guys here to horse around? Or here to eat?” Verbatim. His words left us feeling uncomfortable and judged, simply for taking a moment to look outside the window. We even felt unjustly prejudiced, maybe for being teenagers or even for being Asian. Who knows?

To add to our dismay, this unpleasantness continued when we placed our order. Since it was our first time at this restaurant, we wanted to sample the menu, so we started with two dishes. The response from the waiter was a disdainful look accompanied by the comment, “Only two dishes?!” Evidently, this comment was meant to belittle us, and it significantly affected our dining experience.

Furthermore, our disappointment was heightened by the food we received. The dishes we ordered lacked the flavors and quality we had hoped for from an Italian restaurant rating 4.5 stars. The taste was unremarkable and left us questioning the restaurant’s reputation. The two dishes we ordered felt very homemade… as in I felt that I could easily make the same dishes at home.

As paying customers, we expected a friendly environment. Unfortunately, Pasta Trattoria fell short of our expectations. We left the restaurant feeling unwelcome, after paying AND still leaving a generous tip. Hopefully, this review will serve as feedback for Pasta Trattoria, encouraging them to treat all customers with respect and hospitality, regardless of age or race. Based on my personal experience, I cannot recommend this...

I would never come back nor recommend.

The complimentary focaccia was served cold and the sauce had way too much vinegar to oil ratio. We did like the garlic addition to the sauce but it was raw so a little harsh to eat the actual garlic pieces.

We ordered the Salmon Allá Vodka, it has so much chunky, overpowering vegetables that you couldn’t even taste the sauce. This is not a pasta dish. More like a vegetable medley with watery tomato sauce and pasta topped with salmon.

I ordered the 3 course meal which is a great deal but unfortunately was disappointed by the entree again.

The beet salad was good (one reason they got 2 stars instead of 1). I got the prime ribeye steak with Mac and cheese and vegetables.

The steak was a bad piece, there was a giant knot of fat smack in the middle of the steak. The steak was barely seasoned and not cooked medium rare, it was a solid medium, medium well around the edges. The vegetables were not good, they were oddly cut and not well cooked or presented. They are better off just steaming broccoli and topping with salt. The Mac and cheese was actually decent (another reason they got 2 stars rather than 1).

The meal also included dessert, we got the spiced apple gelato. This was surprisingly good, smooth texture, and a good 2 scoops! (Last reason for 2 stars rather than 1).

Let’s talk about the service. I’d like to first state that everybody was very sweet. For a restaurant that wasn’t busy… the seating should’ve been a little faster but not a huge deal. Our waitress was really nice but she was too busy chatting with the hostess that the gentleman server had to fill our water and check on us multiple times. She came over and didn’t even refill our water, the guy noticed when he came by to check on his table and refilled our water. We waited a while for our server to notice we wanted our check, I had to stare her down through the glass window for her to notice...