La Scala Taylor — Restaurant in Taylor

Thursday night birthday dinner for me. Reservations through OpenTable.

This is a small, quaint Italian restaurant located downtown Taylor Texas. The atmosphere is intimate and I quite enjoyed the ambiance. Although not busy at all, my first impression was positive. My wife and I were seated at a table adjacent to the street window.

Since it was my birthday I wanted to splurge for a bottle of wine and ordered a bottle only to be informed they were out of stock. I looked again while the waiter recommended several bottles in the $70-$80 per bottle price range. I switched my order to a bottle of Querceto ($39), a French made red table wine. Absolutely delicious. What a great wine (in my humble opinion).

Next it was time for an appetizer and I wanted to try the Prosciutto wrapped Figs. The waiter then informed me they were out of figs. So, needless to say we are not being impressed with two out of two items so far not in stock. I then settled on the Goat Cheese Filled Ravioli ($16). The presentation was good with four pieces topped with an in house marinara. We each tried the ravioli only to be disappointed in the flavor profile. There was very little goat cheese and the ravioli itself was like day old bread: hard, chewy, and just not very good. I will say the in house marinara almost made up for it by being flavorful and plentiful. But no, I expected a much better prepared ravioli. Not good.

The restaurant is trying to change up the menu and offer different entrée selections on a rotating basis. My wife had the beef tips ($28) in a yogurt based sauce on top of yellow rice with asparagus. The dish was presented cold. The rice was severely overcooked. The yogurt sauce lacked any discernable flavor profile and the asparagus was unremarkable. This being the signature dish of the evening, it was a real disappointment and entirely forgettable.

The highlight of the evening was my dish. I had the Italian sausage ($22) with homemade pasta in an in house marinara. The sausage could have been broken into slightly smaller pieces and there was not much pasta but the marinara was spot on. The dish was presented hot and had an excellent flavor profile. The portion was ideal and I found myself thinking this should be the signature dish.

We spent $131 with tax and tip. Service was good and not intrusive. The server was knowledgeable and thoughtful. Since we started the service with two "out of stock" acknowledgements and the appetizer was quite frankly bad plus the beef tips were much less than expectations, I can only give 2 stars. Having said that, I would try this establishment once more. I fully support small businesses especially in a small town. I want them to succeed but for over $100 I also expect a...

I have debated writing this review. I really hate l leaving bad reviews, but we chose to come to La Scala for a special occasion and I wish I had seen more reviews like this before we chose to celebrate here. Based on our experience and the other reviews written it seems like the experience at La Scala is highly variable. Some nights you'll probably have a really positive experience and some nights it's going to be like what we experienced. We would not choose La Scala again for any date nights or especially not for a celebration. You're taking a chance that it's going to be anything but celebratory. We arrived for a 5:30 reservation, were seated and told that they did not have half the items on their 25 ish item menu. A little disappointing, but no big deal, we were happy to order appetizers and entrees from the items they did have. After placing orders for food and drinks the waitress came back to our table and told us that both wines we ordered were now out and 2 of the 4 menu items we ordered were not available after all. We ordered new drinks and new menu items. The waitress then came back again and told us that one of the new appetizers we ordered was not available either so we ended up splitting the one appetizer they still had available instead of having two. 30 minutes later my husband's entree came out and I was told my entree was going to take awhile longer. 20 minutes later (so 50 minutes after it was ordered and long after my husband was already finished with his meal) my entree finally came out. It was not what I ordered. Apparently my entree had been given to the wrong table. There are only 8-10 tables in the entire restaurant. They could not bring me what I originally ordered because they were now out of that as well. By 6:30 they had no desserts and we heard the waitress telling diners who just arrived that there were only 4 available items on the menu. How disappointing. I will say that the food we ate was made very well, but the obvious shortfalls are hard to look past and make for a poor experience. The quality of the food is why I gave 2 stars instead of 1. I understand that sometimes food restaurant deliveries can be delayed (not sure if that was the issue or not), but everything on the menu could have been made with ingredients from the HEB down the road. There's just no good reason to have so few items from the menu available and made in such small quantities so that diners cannot get what they order. Everyone who came in while we were there had reservations so they knew how many diners to expect. For us, La Scala is unfortunately off of our list of restaurants we will return to and I cannot recommend...

We arrived at 5:30 and there were not many people which we loved. The waiter was so kind and wonderful. Between the hubby and I we opted to choose one dish per category to share: appetizers, first course, second course and dessert.

While waiting, we were given bread with powdered flour. Very delicious, but would’ve loved even more if was served warm. It had been sitting on the counter and the exterior was a little crunchy. The olive oil and balsamic on the side was a wonderful accompaniment to the bread. I loved its small size and giggled when we were accidentally leaving trails of floor everywhere.

The appetizer we chose was the antipasto. The entire board was expertly chosen as all the flavors were distinct enough to stand on its own, but compliment each other when eaten together. I really was blown away by the figs and the hummus, and the cut of prosciutto was off the highest quality. (I was impressed to find a great antipasto in Taylor!) My only complaint was that the bread on the antipasto platter was too hard for my gums; it was just too toasted to be toast or bread. Everything else was easy to chew.

The Caesar salad was good, but if you are not a fan of anchovies, it may not be for you. The fish salty smell will permeate through the salad long after you eat the fish. While I loved it initially taking the bite, I ended up giving it to my hubby since I have a low salt tolerance. 😂

The next star of the show was the pumpkin squash ravioli with pine nuts. It was OUT OF THIS WORLD. It is so rare that such a simple dish makes me fall in looooove all over again. The light but fresh sauce will leave you with a lightness and joy of the simple things in life. Although the dish didn’t look that impressive, the flavors (again) came through in a beautiful symphony. This dish alone made me realize how the most elegant dishes are made with the most simple ingredients.

For the grand finale, we tried the crème brûlée. We loved it! It was not overly sweet with the most perfect caramel crust on top. We loved the fresh fruit on top. Toss is perhaps one of the BEST crème brûlées we’ve ever had.

Overall, this place is a gem! We will definitely be coming back, regardless of how much we might need to drive. Highly, HIGHLY recommend for date nights and anniversaries. The staff, sous chef, everyone was lovely and wonderful. The service, the food, the ambiance with a great price point- 5/5 stars!!! This place alone is WORTH coming to Taylor-...