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“Neat atmosphere”
Review of It's Italia

It's Italia
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2
Tue, 19/03
20:00
Price range: S$27 - S$54
Cuisines: Italian
More restaurant details
Restaurant details
Dining options: Breakfast, After-hours, Lunch, Reservations
Dining style: Casual Elegant
Cross street: Mill Street
Transit: Samtrans bus stop is located one block away from It's Italia, on the corner of Main and Kelly Streets, right in front of our City Hall.
Description: It's Italia opened in 1997 as a San Francisco style trattoria and pizzeria serving gourmet pizzas, house pastas, and creative salads, always with a California Italian flavor, and a wine list of 10-12 varietals. Ten years later, our menu has expanded to include steak and seafood grilled specialties, artful antipasti, and a decadent array of housemade desserts from our pastry chef. Over 120 bottles line up on our wine list from Italy, California, France, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. As always, we have remained faithful to a local coastal California Italian cuisine, with its cosmopolitan nature, bringing produce and cheeses from local farms, meats and poultry from quality and organic growers, and seafood from a variety of waters. Most importantly, we are a little local community restaurant that serves locals. Lots of locals! Our advertising is mostly word of mouth. Our energy is inviting, positive, and friendly, and when you come in, you are invited to be part of our family.
Reviewed 16 October 2014

I was with a group and the food was pretty good. Prices are what you would expect in Northern California. Bartender makes a mean Bloody Mary. Nothing really stood out but also nothing to complain about.

Date of visit: October 2014
Thank August S
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviews (415)
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249 - 253 of 415 reviews

Reviewed 16 October 2014

We went with a group of people who highly recommended it, so we went with high expectations. It was a very cool night, and I was Immediately disappointed when we were seated outside. There were only two working heaters, and our requests to light the other heaters that were just sitting around were met with flippant attitudes and an indignant responses. By the time the dishes were passed and appetizers were put on really cold plates, the food was cold.
The Brussels sprouts were really good and the bread had a nice herb crust, but the squash blossoms weren't cooked enough for me. The salad was a salad and the salmon was forgettable. I had a bite of the pasta with pork, and it wasn't anything to write home about either.
People all have different tastes and different standards do acceptable service, but no one will have wait behind us to get in.

Date of visit: October 2014
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Thank Jeanie J
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 12 October 2014

We walked up on a busy saturday evening and were seated without a reservation. Initial service was very slow because they were so busy, but after that it was fine. We had the bruschetta and buratta to start - both were delicious. They need to be a bit less stingy with the local honey on the buratta - it really makes this dish and you don't get enough of it! For main course, we both had the simple pesto dish. This to me is the acid test of a good Italian: such a simple dish that few restaurants get right because they can't resist embellishing or elaborating on its elegant simplicity. Few restaurants outside Italy even have it on the menu, so bonus points to It's Italia there. But they couldn't resist making it in to a creamy sauce, which isn't what pesto is meant to be. However, the accompanying freshly made pasta was so beautifully cooked that I can easily overlook this. For dessert we had the key lime pie (not especially limey, sadly) and the chocolate mousse (very chocolatey, you can taste that they've used real chocolate, but too heavy for a mousse, more a sort of ganache). Finished up with a couple of excellent cappuccinos. Easily the best Italian food I've had in the US.

Date of visit: October 2014
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Thank blowback
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 9 October 2014

We went for an early dinner, somewhat of a special occasion. The restaurant is nicely decorated, the ambiance is pleasant enough; the server was cheerful and recommended a good wine, having inquired about our tastes first. The bread on the table was tasty - herb flavored with a good crust.

I ordered a grilled pear salad and added grilled salmon to it ( one can add grilled salmon to every salad - a very nice option). The salad was OK, but not special, the pear was a bit mushy and not very flavorful - the dressing did not add anything to the flavors and the grilled salmon could have used some lemon juice. My companion ordered the scampi salad - he also thought that the dressing was just there, but did not do much for the salad. In addition only 4 prawns was not exactly enough for this type of salad.
We ordered a chocolate dessert to split - it was delicious and the presentation was very nice.
The service was somewhat confused; we did not mind it being slow, but there was no follow-up and at times it was difficult to attract the attention of the server or the bus boy to get water or olive oil for dip.
The dining experience was not bad, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Date of visit: September 2014
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1  Thank europeanbabeM
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 3 October 2014

First I have to say - WOW! We stopped in Half Moon Bay after a full day at the beach, for a good dinner and thought we would try It's Italia. I am so glad we did! The place is nice, we were able to walk right in and got seated right away and they were busy. We ordered the Oven Roasted Wild Mushroom appetizer while we decided what to have. Oh man it was really good! We all tried something different, the Spaghetti Bolognese, the Seafood Risotto and the Lasagna. I also had the Grilled Pear with Gorgonzola Dolci salad!! We splurged and had their Chocolate Mousse and Key Lime pie! It was all amazing, even the pizza is good and it is cooked in a fire brick oven. So if you find yourselves in Hal Moon Bay try this place out - you will not regret it!!

Date of visit: September 2014
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Thank Kbrat25
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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