la.foodblogging

For a couple of years now, I keep hearing about Villa Sorriso. It’s supposed to be a good Italian restaurant in Old Pasadena, but there are so many good restaurants there that I never quite made it to Villa Sorriso. I finally decided to make my way there for lunch, and I’m glad I did.

Upon entering the patio, it is plain to see why there are so many who rave about dining here. The courtyard is a very nice, mellow place to relax and enjoy a meal. Since it was pretty warm out, we opted to dine inside, which turned out to work really well, too. The interior was very spacious and airy. All the windows really brought the light in. At this point, I’m thinking “So far, so good.” Next up is the real test - the food.

First up was the appetizer - crab cakes, served with lobster cream sauce topped with mango Pico de Gallo ($8). This is not very Italian, of course, but we decided to overlook this little detail. The texture of the crab cakes was excellent - crispy on the outside, moist on the inside. Taste, however, was a little less impressive. The crab cake by itself was nothing special. It was even a bit on the salty side. It definitely needed the mango salsa, which contrasted the salty with sweet. If not for the salsa, this dish would not have worked.

In addition, I had wondered where all the lobster cream sauce for the crab cakes went. Then I realized the sauce went to the grilled king salmon entree ($14). So here’s what went right with this dish: the salmon was tender, the sauce was plentiful, and the spinach was perfectly sauteed. Here’s where I nitpick… Underneath the salmon was a piece of potato crab cake. It was good, but seeing how we had ordered crab cakes as an appetizer, this was a little too much of the same, especially with the repeat appearance of the mango salsa. The texture was different, as this one tasted more like a croquette with crab meat than a “cake.” Nevertheless, I felt the waitress should have mentioned this to us. We would have ordered a different appetizer had we known.

My actual entree was more conventional Italian. I ordered the Linguine Vongole ($14), which is your basic linguine tossed with basil, garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes, under some clams. I usually don’t order linguine with clams at restaurants because one of my seafood pet peeves is when I get a lot of sand in my clams. I gave this dish a chance because the waitress said she liked it, and I’m so glad I listened to her. Out of 12 clams, only one had any sand in it. Still, each clam was tender - not chewy. The restaurant also gave the right amount of pasta - not too much, but just enough to enjoy the clams and the sauce that remained at the bottom of the bowl. Depending on how you want to look at the situation, this was either a really good thing or a really bad thing because after this entree, I still had room for dessert.

I was drawn to the Italian bread pudding right away. Long story short, but I was rushed out of a restaurant that serves my favorite bread pudding a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been craving bread pudding ever since. I finally got my fix. Villa Sorriso’s bread pudding is quite delicious - not good enough to take the number one spot of bread pudding, but enjoyable nevertheless. Also raisin lovers should definitely order this dessert, as this bread pudding was filled with a whole lot of it.

A few non-food tips:

1) Valet parking is available behind the restaurant on Pasadena Avenue, but be forewarned, it is a one-way street.
2) For those who don’t want to valet, there is metered parking on Pasadena Ave, or go to the parking lot on Delancey, which is free for the first 90 minutes.
3) Anyone who uses OpenTable.com should definitely look into this place. I got 1,000 points for booking lunch here!

All in all, Villa Sorriso is worth a visit. It’s not very authentic Italian, but it is good food. Who can complain about that?

Villa Sorriso
168 W. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 793-2233

Lunch: Sunday - Saturday: 11:30am - 4:00pm
Dinner: Sunday - Wednesday: 4:00pm - 11:00pm, Thursday: 4:00pm - 12:00am, Friday - Saturday: 4:00pm - 1:00am
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday: 11:30am - 3:00pm

By Pauline (see more of her posts).