Tomatina — Restaurant in Santa Clara

Ok Friday again and we were looking to some place on Yelp that would address our cravings for some decent Italian fare .

And Tomatina was what we chose. A favorite of our many, many moons ago we were not too sure if they had maintained their standards and the overall stars did not help bolster our courage, but the better half concluded they are a local business and we ought to support them.

So we placed the order online (15% discount for doing so is a wonderful deal), followed up with a phone to add an item and thy cheerily did so.

And when we went in for pickup, they walked right up to our car , with mask and gloves as per COVID protocol, opened the door and very graciously placed it in our car. Their curb-side pickup is the best , we have experienced so far.

Full marks to Tomatina for their professional and very courteous service in these pandemic times.

Now on to the food we ordered :

For appetizers we shared the Seasonal special : SteamedMussels and Clams. The seafood was fresh, wholesome and the best part was the broth left over in which we dunked the garlic bead served with the dish until there was nothing except shells left. This was a 5-star quality dish!

For the main course we order my weakness : Chicken Fettuccine in Alfredo sauce. And it certainly was 5-star quality too! A dente pasta, fresh cream, the chicken cooked perfectly in the Alfredo sauce which was not too heavy, made it heavenly meal!

To appease our guilt of having a great but evidently caloric meal , we had ordered the Roasted Beet Salad : Yellow Beets cooked perfectly . Aragula, fresh and bitter and mixed greens with them with a vinaigrette that was just the perfect complement, closed off our meal perfectly!

But the better half had wanted to close the meal with a dessert and Tiramisu it was! A huge slab with dual layers and covered in cocoa powder, was just the right dessert after such a wonderful meal!!

We will be back for more!!!

But for now, a nap is the need of...

Came to this particular location with my hubby for dinner tonight. We had seen a promotion special for this restaurant on one of our nightly escapades to the drive-ins and decided to try it out, I was left utterly unimpressed. The sequence of events for the night are as follows, When we got to the restaurant there was no line and we were the only individuals waiting to be seated. It took them a minimum of TWENTY minutes for them to greet and seat us nonetheless I stayed to try the food and it was mediocre at best. After what seemed like half an hour we were eventually seated. We ordered drinks and the special for the night that the company was promoting via online “Dinner for Two”. The positives of the night were the Basil Lime Martini and the Parmesan Garlic Knots. The martini I ordered was AMAZING! The Knots were so yummy and warm. We also had the Cesar Salad. It was very fresh, clean, and crisp. The biggest negative of the night they PACKED our entrees TO GO when we had specifically asked to DINE-IN. They brought our entrees to the table while we were still in the MIDDLE of eating our salads! I am not sure if there was a miscommunication between the manager and the front kitchen line but it was UNACCEPTABLE. I believe they ended up taking the TO GO food back to the kitchen and setting it on a dinner plate and bringing it back to the table. To say that this small incident left a bad impression is an understatement. The food is okay but the service was just SUBPAR. Shoutout to the assistant manager who kept her professionalism inline the entire time that her general manager and staff went on with their business. Next time we’ll just hit up Il Fornaio. The food is similar in price and...

Can I just say how absolutely bomb (amazing) my pasta was. I'm one for being simple when it comes to pasta. I simply asked him to make me a tomato cream kinda sauce with fettuccine and he said he'll take care of me and brought out THE BEST TOMATO CREAM BASED PASTA. Gosh I crave it even now and I'm just sulking in Canada with my snow.

Food - the pasta, and appetizers we're just amazing. They were seriously so good and the chefs MUST know what they're doing. They were beautiful and simple and the taste matched it. God I even ordered a salad and it was one of the best Caesar salads I'd ever had and I've had A LOT of salads okay. 4/5 stars because unfortunately we tried the traditional Italian margherita pizza and I actually... Was not that great? Idk if it's just supposed to be like that but everyone's raving about a margherita pizza and I'm not... Despite not likeing meat and complex pizzas. I thought I'd love this one but i didn't. However I do HEAR the other pizzas are good but I can't say.

Staff- absolutely warm, friendly and caring. They're professional, can recommend and the man who served us, was kinda short and middle aged?) Knew exactly what to do. Took very good care of us and checked on us just the right amount haha.

Appearance. - the place is warm and cozy. Even though there was an enitre sports team eating there,we didn't mind. We sat at the bar stools corner in from of the windows and it didn't seem too loud and not too secluded. Even while being in a corner we we're well served. The kitchen has a open wrap around layout where you can see most of the chefs and the big pizza oven. Price was not that high at all and was...