Bottega Italian Deli & Catering — Restaurant in Thousand Oaks

I went here hoping for a decent salad and sandwich. Bottega looked promising enough on the inside, being an Italian deli and having a reasonable selection of grocery items.

The menu board is okay...salads and sandwiches are offered; there is the usual variety of meats and cheeses available if you want to custom order your sandwich. On that note, certain meats and veggies cost a dollar or two extra.

My Caesar salad was definitely made fresh (hand cut the lettuce in front of me) but the dressing was overly thick and simply too much quality wise. Croutons were simply ordinary boxed croutons.

The sandwich was a bit of a disappointment, in that I assumed that if I asked only for certain items/condiments...It would come as I ordered. However, instead of a light amount of their house Italian,I received a large amount of mayonnaise and mustard (couldn't detect the Italian dressing) that oozed from the roll. Speaking of the roll..It didn't taste or appear to be fresh baked; I bring this up as I'm used to seeing fresh rolls and breads at several delis.

The bill came to around $16 and change...while the meal didn't kill me, it didn't represent the price well.

On the plus side, the service was good...

What a waste of money. Take the word ITALIAN out. If this was in Brooklyn, it would be out of business in a week.

The bread was nasty. Good enough for the Californian that doesn't know any better. Jersey Mike's had better bread. Subway had better bread. Soft doesn't make it better, the dough, salt and yeast does.

The arugula and veggies were great, the meat slices not so much.

Now, the cannolis, what a waste of money. Half the shell was empty, see photos, the shell was/is hard as a rock, so their supplier needs to be changed. Again, west coasters don't know any better.

Waste of money and time. Italian deli... that's funny. Let's go to Olive Garden for authentic... or Taco Bell for Mexican. Lol.

At least, the least, use Thumanns, Boars head. This is more like Oscar Mayer or Hormel.

Spend the extra money and go to Brent's Deli.

But if it works for you and your clientele, then good for the owner.

But the cannolis. ...

This is the real deal. The woman Rita runs it like her own little Italian kitchen that you’re just coming to visit and eat. I had a lot of nostalgia when I walked in, her warm smile & excellent cooking. It reminded me of walking into my grandmothers kitchen. I’ve actually been going here since they opened because my kids love the sandwiches but I’ve only had the salads myself. Today I decided to get some real food and boy I’ve been missing out. I got some homemade soup and a plethora of other items to bring home and cook. I got my favorite nougat Italian candies, canned goods, imported items & homemade sauce, gnocchi, and frozen items I can have during the week. I picked up some homemade lentil soup, meatball subs, and Italian grinder type sandwiches like you get only in New York, Jersey, Brooklyn or Boston’s north end! This is good quality food made with love. Every single bite is obviously made with love....