Spaggi's — Restaurant in Upland

I had no idea this place existed living in a nearby city. I have always had to drive out to Orange Country or Los Angeles to find a restaurant like this. Now I can be able to drive only 15 min! If you are looking for a fine dining experience, don’t hesitate to try this place out! We had a late Mother’s Day dinner here and we had a wonderful experience. Their menu is online, and they have such a wide variety of food, you can pretty much have something new each time you visit, When seated our waitress was able to tell us the specials that they had, I think the only problem was just choosing what to eat.

Food We ordered the following: Beef Short Rib - This dish was delicious, with the sauce complementing both the meat and the mashed potato’s. I love how the vegetables still had texture to it, well seasoned and not mushy. Chilean Sea Bass - This was a very different type of Sea bass then I am used to. Usually I have this with Miso, but this approach with the fish on top of the vinaigrette garnish on the bottom excellent! Fruit i Di Mare- My daughter loved this dish, tomato pasta, packed with seafood ! They also have included this Asiago and Olive bread that was so good! It comes with a dipping sauce. Will have to ask what that is next time.

I have to really mention again what great service they had. We were asked if our daughter needed a booster chair, we never ran out of water, just enough service, not overwhelming at all. The inside decor was classy, and the bathroom was so clean. I’m aiming to try the ribeye next time and possibly one of their deserts. Great find, looking forward to visit again...

It's not technically a "secret menu item," but you need to let them know ahead of time (by at least a few days) if you want to order the Beef Wellington.

You might assume that this means it is of a quality that is uniquely exquisite, and I can assure you that this assumption is 100% correct.

This dish is literally made in part by a pastry-chef, and the moment you take a bite of the absurdly-delicate shell of I-don't-even-know-what, you'll understand why you have to arrange for this sort of treatment: it's like an opera in your mouth.

Underneath that mantle of what I assume is an elevated form of dough reserved for the better seats in heaven, there is a mushroom duxelle that I'm quite certain would qualify for the dictionary entry if you were to look up the word "unctious."

Then, the filet. Is there an adequate word in the English language for a perfect medium-rare steak? The best part is that you actually have to be reminded that you're eating an exquisite piece of beef underneath all of these charms, and it's only responsible to forewarn you that dipping it in the au jus with which it's served might just awaken you to a level of luxury you will struggle to equal in other establishments.

I won't even mention how good the wagyu-truffle ravioli was, or how their wedge-salad is served with fully a 3 oz triangle of delicately veined roquefort (bleu cheese) and bacon-bits made of actual, perfectly cured smoky bits of bacon.

Point being: if you eat meat, this is something you should put on your bucket list. You're not going to find a better meal anytime soon, after all.

10/10,...

This restaurant is, by far, the worst Italian restaurant I've experienced in LA. During my two-month stay in Upland with my family, we visited a few Italian restaurants around Claremont. All three Italian restaurants we tried were fairly good. However, Spaggi's was seriously disappointing for several reasons:

I made a reservation through OpenTable and arrived on time, but our table wasn't ready. They seated a walk-in guest before us. We waited approximately 10-15 minutes, leaving me wondering about the point of making a reservation.

For starters, they delivered the wrong dishes to our table, which I believe was a salad. I had a bite of the bacon before calling the waitress. They took away the wrong dish and then delivered it to the table next to us. This is unacceptable. If a dish is delivered to the wrong table, it should not be served to another customer without being remade.

The soup of the day was excessively salty. I uploaded a picture of the soup; I've never seen a chef chop green onions like this. It makes me question if the chef did this as a deliberate presentation choice.

My partner ordered lobster and beef steak. The lobster was edible, albeit overcooked. The beef steak, however, was overly salted - it felt as though the restaurant must have a direct supply from a salt company to avoid bankruptcy.

I am astonished to see other reviews stating that this restaurant is worth an hour's drive. In my experience, this restaurant is the WORST Italian establishment...