I normally dine on the westside at Piccolo in Venice, CA for great Italian food...Or..I dine at Angelini Osteria for fabulous food also..NOWHERE else, maybe Vicente in Brentwood when I feel like splurging...But tonight I was taking my sister out and needed to find a great place to eat which I was worried about because I had to find a place in Saugus, because with all of the restaurant robberies in the Valley, I did not want to take a chance so I figured its either Los Angeles or Saugus...Well from my experiences Saugus is chain restaurant city, so I was worrying, so I basically looked and looked for about 45 minutes hoping to find some kind of good place to dine for Italian...Well, I then came across this place and saw there were no reviews...scary I thought, especially as picky as I am, thats a big gamble...So, I decided to call the restaurant to get a feel for who was answering the phone and judge by the treatment on the phone if this place was worth the drive( which meant questions about what type of Italian food was being served)..The chef answered, he is a pure "Italiano" and very charming...Hmmm. I thought to myself, might be worth a drive..So, I drove...
All I can say from the moment I walked in, great service, very clean place, good wine list, $13.00 corkage, chef came out to great us, His name is Antonio but you can call him Tony, and the other guy that took care of us, who might be part owner , his name is Antonio, also, and you can call him Antonio....The food was wonderful, very authentic food, my sister had the pork and I had the past vongolese( I think thats how you spell it) which was not on the menu, but was made for me anyway...ah ..yes...Dessert was fabulous...Cannoli with pistacio filling...need I say more!!!!
This is my place for authentic Italian food when I am in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys and might even be worth a drive from Santa Monica... This place is sure to stay on my list of favorites...Ciao..!!
Pros: Authentic, Intimate service, chef greets
Cons: far from me, shopping center is not that cute, needs Italian music
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