SPASSO Cucina Italiana — Restaurant in Ventura

I went there thinking i would have a nice relaxing dinner . Wrong move . Firsr the door was locked by staff at 8 pm. When i finally got in place was empty and that should have. told me to leave . The server had no training and knew nothing. I had to ask for the menu as I was ignored and then i asked for a whiskey sour and he says we don't have it yet there's a full bar. As i am looking at the menu for a cocktail he points and says these are half price .On it it says pomegranate lemon drop so I ask for one without the pomegranate and he tells me it's double the happy hour price .I explain that i just don't want the pomegranate but he can't get that so I end up having a glass of wine because I realize this server is lame . i ask for a caprese salad and he tells me it chopped up but when I get it it's fine and was good . Then I ask what's your best pasta and he tells me the bolognese so I order the pappadelle Noodles that arrives overcooked and the girls in the kitchen are laughing and no one cares . The sauce was not fresh and pasta was drowned in it. I've been there before and never seen that . It is obvious that the owner does not care about the food or staff . To top it off I ask for desert but i'm suspicious because so far It's not a good experience so the server tells me the lemonchello desert is the best so I ask to see it . The server cones back and says to me I'm not going to show it to you as it's a waste of my time and gives me the bill . I was shocked and paid the bill and left . This is the worst experience i've ever had . I will let others know as I live in the area . They need to sell or close and let a real restaurant with trained staff move in . Disgusting behavior ! Do not waste your money !!! had a good lasagna which was good . The bartender recommended it and she was right as it’s good .I also had the Caprese Salad and it was very nice . I’ve been to Italy many times and am a foodie . I eat my food fresh ! I had a lovely time with Alanna who is the bartender and very professional and together !!!!

I was shocked. stunned and very disappointed when I asked for Expresso and thus us the very first Italian Restaurant that does not serve or have Expresso and no Italian Expresso-machine ???? This is unheard of !!!!! Ridiculous . I wanted a sambuca and expresso . Or a tiramisu but I would definitely not want go eat a tiramisu made with no expresso!! It’s too bad as , I was hoping this could be my frequent weekly dining spot as I’m new to the area but after that experience I will keep need to keep looking ! Stay tuned and I will let you know when i find a good local...

In the spirit of kindness, it’s possible the chefs and waitstaff were having bad days yesterday. We had 8 o’clock reservations last night and were excited to celebrate our son’s 16th birthday with Italian cuisine, at his suggestion. We sat down to a lovely clothed table and reviewed our menus as bread was brought to our table. Our waiter took our drink order halfway through eating our bread and then we waited and waited and waited and…. You get the point. That’s right, bread gone, throats dry, no drinks. Bustling waitstaff setting new tables with cloth and here we sat, thirsty and wondering why those tables were so important. BTW it was not busy and out of the 10-12 tables only half were occupied. I think it’s important to get those empty tables set but not at the cost of your existing customers comfort. So, the drinks finally came, when our waiter realized we were sitting parched and dry, but dear Mr waiter, please bring full size waters to those full size humans who order water as their primary source of liquid, not child size juice cups. Our boys are 16 and 19, big boys that drink big boy drinks! I asked him to bring larger drinks, but to no avail. Thankfully the calamari and bruschetta appetizers were very tasty because dinner was a disappointment to say the least. The Agnolotti Al Pesto was described as yummy and delicate on the menu so our 19 year old ordered it. Yikes, very strange to say the least. I can’t even begin to describe it but I’ll try. Unincorporated flavors, dry, uncooked cheese food comes to mind. Everyone at the table took a taste to see why he was making such a weird face and well, it was late like 9:10 by the time we received our food so that could have been the problem. Tired employees. Spaghetti and clams wasn’t much better. Very small clams and very little liquid to soak up the very small clams. I’m happy to report that the Bolognese the birthday boy ordered was a success so that means at least he has that positive memory. My meal, spaghetti with meat sauce was just okay. Not bad, but definitely nothing to write home about. Sadly, we were never asked “how’s the food?“ so I guess the owner will just have to...

Bottom line: this restaurant is clean, service friendly, food is not good.

My fiancé and I were very excited to try Spasso before our half marathon. As it boasted authentic Italian cuisine and google showed 4.5 stars, expectations were high. We ordered the suppli to start which was ok. We also shared a glass of wine as we were running the next morning.

Our primi, pasta course arrived. My fiancé ordered the pasta alla gricia, me the carbonara. The pasta alla gricia was so strong with onion we could not finish. The carbonara was not great, but edible. It reeked of jarred garlic but garlic wasnt mentioned on the menu, and not a traditional carbonara ingredient. True Italian cuisine is very simple and the liberties this restaurant has taken are did not result in appetizing dishes. There was so much bad garlic on the carbonara you could not taste the richness of the egg yolk and pancetta. I love a lot of garlic but this was terrible.

Our secondi arrived, pork chops with a basalmic glaze, which we shared. Charged an extra dollar for splitting, was ok. However, the pork chops were cooked beyond definition. So dry even the basalmic sludge could not rescue it. The potatoes and vegetables were also poorly cooked and ill seasoned.

Had the primi and secondi courses not been so poor we would have ordered dessert.

We thought to ourselves, are we crazy? Or is the food that bad? The table next to us also complained of the carbonara, one guest tried it and said I would not eat another bite of that. At least we were not alone!

The only saving grace was the service. Servers were attentive, filled waters frequently, asked if we needed anything else...