Pizzeria La Gitana - Yelm — Restaurant in Yelm

Unique atmosphere. Pleasently serene and devoid of distraction, it was very comfortable. The seating outside looked wonderful and naturally graceful. The fresh roses throughout were a nice touch. Great food. The Tiramisu was Excellent. Service was superb. Not too involved, not too absent. Regularly checked in but didn't fight to be the star of the show everytime they stepped up. But right as you started to think " I need a refill" they had already been walking up to assist. Food prep Time Was a bit lengthy. But when your table is ordering five pizzas to be expected. However.... It was perfectly done. The food was worth the wait. Prestinely curated and ample Flavor. Portions and amounts were superbly affixed. Not too greasy not too dry. And after my meal I wasn't fighting to feel comfortable cause of how much I ate. It's a thin crust style that I believe is curated after a south Bolognese style of pizza. If you come expected thicker pizza you will be disappointed. But then again one would appropriately argue that you don't know good pizza as well as you think if you are disappointed. I have a greater appreciation for the thin crust style and was pleasently surprised that was their style too. And ever so thankful, too. But I digress...The food was perfect. Accomodations were made via reservation for wounded veteran and two kids wonderfully without complications. The climate was extremely comfortable despite the heat. Menu was appropriately various with something for everyone but perfectly targeted towards pizza and pasta. Wine was superb. Don't leave without trying the tiramisu. Overall everything I tried reminded me of how important it is to be attentive to subtle undertones just as much as the primary target flavor. American restaurants often forget that bold is not always better. But it wasn't bland either. There was definitely plenty of flavor all around. A sophisticated mastery of quality craftsmanship blending bold and subtle quality for any pallet experienced in high quality. Especially if you like Tiramisu. Wine selection was appropriately varied but not too large to create complications trying to figure out what you want. It was wonderfully appreciated to find they had non alcoholic beer. Menu is somewhat pricey but it's to be expected with the level of quality you recieve. You pay for what you get and by George, we got a lot. Worth the money.

This the owners of this restaurant have created a beautiful little restaurant that is as serene and graceful as it is efficient and well designed. In service, atmosphere, menu, options and experience, not to mention great Tiramisu. Was worth the trip from out of town. Yelm has something special here. The service and experience was one of the best I recall receiving in as many years as I've been reviewing. And it was clear half way through the employees had a busy day, but wouldn't allow their exhaustion to influence their work ethic, food quality or their service. Nothing less Than perfect was allowed. And experienced. Every tradecraft has the hallmarks of true industry experience and tenure. When you have two kids both well under the age of five at 6 pm or later, and you make sure their food is out well before the adults... That's experience. Cause it frees up our hands when we need to eat but the kids are full and aren't antsy as we enjoy our meal. That is something very important to note. That and the fact that the hosts/servers weren't trying to be dominant or rush us through the order it's as if they were there but only when the thought came to mind that we needed something. Not overbearing. But invisible when we didn't need anything? oh, and are glasses are always full?! Another Hallmark.

Final note... I love tiramisu. 9ne does not simply leave La Gitana of Yelm without trying their tiramisu.

Top 5 experiences at a restaurant I can ever recall overall in probably 20 years.

7 out of 5 stars for me and mine.

Did I mention they have a...

The food is amazing. The service was by far lacking. I have eaten here twice before with good service. This time we showed up and the place had one person sitting inside and multiple tables outside seated. We sat inside next to the air conditioning. Shortly after we sat down others groups arrived and sat down. We did not get served first though others sat after us got served before we did. Aside from the person providing water but not taking any orders no one came by for 15 minutes. When we finally received service it seemed clear that the person waiting our table was not assigned to our table and just happened to have noticed that no one had yet served us. We asked how long it would take to get a pizza, she checked and returned to tell us 30 minutes. We said that we wanted a salad and two pizzas. We wanted the pizzas to go because we did not have enough time to stay and eat pizza when it would take so long. Given that other tables that sat down after us had already had their orders taken and in the queue to be made, we were not especially happen. We asked for the salad to be brought out because it did not have to queue up for the pizza oven. Well the salad arrived 2 minutes (literally) before the pizzas did, which put us at the time that we needed to leave. So instead of eating the salad we asked for it to be boxed up to go, but the waitress protested, we explained, and then she boxed it up. She did apologize, but then included excuses so it wasn't really an apology.

However, the pizza was great! The salad, so so, because everything was packed separately and would have caused quite mess had it been eaten while driving. We were able to eat the pizza while driving. When we got home an hour later, (literally), I had to leave 5 minutes later for my next adventure which was why we had to get the food to go even though we should have been able to have eaten while at the restaurant.

One table that came after us had already finished their meal and were about to leave when our salad showed up. So if you eat here the food is really good, but I suggest you call it in and pick it up or else plan on staying two hours because their wait staff is understaffed, chaotic, inefficient and their kitchen apparently cannot make more than 4 pizzas at a time. I suggest that they add more pizza ovens and figure out how to know which guests show up and when so that the first come is first served rather than last served.

The whole reason we came to Yelm was because they invited us via email to attend the jazz festival which we enjoyed. Afterwards we came for the pizza because it had been delicious and continued to be delicious. However, whether we visit this pizzeria again in the future, time will tell, but the answer is likely no unless we plan for the visit to this place to be 2 hours. And there are times that taking 2 hours at a restaurant to enjoy the ambiance is worth it, but this time, we did not have the time. 45 minutes should have been enough and was had we been lucky enough to have got served first like we should have been served first since we...

This is going to be a long review, but I think this nice little restaurant is worth the effort. The word "pizzeria" makes me think of dirty "hole-in-wall" places. This is not the case at all. It is small, but very quaint, clean, and on the higher side of casual dining. I felt comfortable in my shorts and flip-flops, but I would have felt equally comfortable in nicer attire. And indeed the clientele ranged from others who looked like they spent the day outdoors (like my party did), to a well-dressed, nice-looking couple on a date. They have indoor and outdoor seating, but not a ton of space for either. And though they crammed as many tables as possible in both places, it didn't feel cramped by any means. The service was great. Our server was prompt, friendly, and checked with us often, but not so often as to be distracting (that can be a fine line to walk). I ordered a custom pizza with pepperoni, ham, sausage, artichokes, jalapeno, and mushroom. Odd combination, but it turned out great. The ingredients seemed to be high quality. Their pizza is the thin, crispy crust variety. They do it well. I believe the sign said they use wood-fired ovens. The pizza was priced for one person, but was a very generous 14" monster. I ultimately needed a to-go box. My lovely wife and I also shared a caprese salad. It was also very tasty, though to be fair one has to try really hard to mess up a caprese salad. The salad included a generous side order of bread. I'm pretty sure the bread was just pizza crust baked a little differently, but that was not a bad thing by any means. It was pleasantly crispy, buttery, and delicious, though perhaps a bit salty for some palates (not mine - I love salty food). The place is a Pizza joint, though there was a decent selection of other Italian fare available as well. I didn't try anything else so I cannot comment on the other menu items. I had one of my ankle-biters with me, so I was very pleased to see kids menus, and an ample supply of crayons. Pricing was median for an Italian-style restaurant - not particularly inexpensive, but by no means exorbitant. The experience was worth the cost. The town of Yelm is not a place where I foresee spending much time in the future, though if I find myself in the area again, I would definitely return to this establishment. Good job, folks. I really enjoyed...