Fiora Pizzeria — Restaurant in Redlands

This place is okay. Aside from an amazing crust, I thought the pizza we had was alright to good, but far from amazing. While I can't see myself personally coming back in the future, this is still an okay place for a casual meal with a small group of friends or lunch date.

Food: We got the Elle pizza. Can't say it was knock-your-socks-off good, but it did the job as far as filling us up. The most remarkable thing about it was how delicious the crust was! Super crispy but still chewy and a bit of harmless char to give it that oven-baked taste. As for the rest of the pizza, it was packed with veggies and some fresh lettuce on top (drizzled with some sort of light balsamic vinegar). Overall, crust = fantastic; rest of pizza = meh. I thought the lettuce on top was kind of annoying since it made bites awkward. I resorted to just taking the lettuce off and eating it separately like some weird, awkward rabbit.

Service: Our server was pretty friendly and helpful. He didn't really check on us much except to tell us that they ran out of chicken (at 2 PM in the afternoon? Kind of weird.). Not the best service, not the worst.

Vibes: Inside, La Volata has quite a nice feel to it. It's pretty rustic and the tables are super cool with a bunch of corks/old bottle lids as decoration. Ceilings and walls are adorned with fun decorations as well. I can definitely see this place as a nice spot for a date.

Overall, I wasn't too impressed but I thought it was an okay last-resort kind of...

After living in Italy for 10 years and being married to an authentic imported Italian, I sort of feel like I have a handle on true pizza and Italian cuisine 😋

If you're looking for authentic Italian you may want to steer clear. Service was ok if not annoying by hovering, but alas our server was nice and helpful.

Pizza flavor was not bad.. it did evoke a bit of nostalgia despite my serious reservations over such a pricey simple margherita pizza. The biggest dissapontment however is the dough...It is far too tough and not at all worthy of $21 - $24 (margherita $21 wtf 🤯)

Our appetizer of sweet green olives sloshed in something that appeared to be pesto rosso was nearly sacraligious to any self respecting Italian or Italophile. I'm not sure why anyone would dress sweet green olives with anything? I thought my spouse was going to lose it when they were placed on the table. LOL

Overall, it's overpriced for the quality of food you're receiving in a cafe type atmosphere. I probably will never eat there again based solely on being overpriced for the quality despite their proximity to the potential for making a great pizza. Just because a pizza is cooked in a fancy and pricey mosaic wood fired oven certainly doesn't make it a good pizza by default. If it were only that easy.....

I have no problem spending for great food, however it needs to be great and La Volata unfortunately was not great for me.

Disappointed as I really wanted to love this...

TLDR: Great food, mouse visitor on the patio

We've now been to La Volata twice, and love that we can bring our small dog on their outdoor patio. Had I written my review after the first visit, it would have been four or five stars.

While dining on their patio I saw something scurry in my peripheral vision, but when I looked nothing was there. A few seconds later, it happened again... but this time I saw a small mouse darting toward our table. I threw a napkin at it, and it scurried back into the bushes. A few minutes later it came back, and we did the napkin dance a second time.

I let the staff know, and our waitress was apologetic and handled it very well. She told me she'd bring the owner over, but the owner seemed bothered by the conversation. She said that mice do come on the patio (as they are near a hill), and that some people like to feed them. No apology, just "some people find them cute." I wasn't expecting a comped meal or anything, but she brushed it off and seemed annoyed to be talking to me. That part bothered me.

Scores: Pesto Rigatoni Pasta: 5/5 Winter Pasta: 3/5 Margherita Pizza: 4/5 Mixed Drinks: 3/5 Waitress: 6/5 (she was GREAT with our kids) Conversation with owner: 1/5 Patio rodent problem: 1/5

Pro-tip: reserving a table with them online is very easy! I just recommend...