- From the basket of warm bread to the hearty minestrone soup to the ""house made"" Italian dressing on the salad to the grilled eggplant with spaghetti and house made fresh tomato sauce to the wild finish of Mamma's marscapone rum cake, the experience of dinner at Joe's Italian ranks among our favorite meals ever. Not since the long-ago original Vince's in Oakland have my husband and I found another truly great Italian restaurant. We never saw Vince himself during the heyday of the Oakland A's, but the real Joe is very much a presence at Joe's Italian, Pizza, Pasta & Caff?, as is Mamma. Mamma invents and bakes new cakes with texture that is almost unbelievable. (Edgar's Bakery, move over.) Mamma's cakes can only be described in superlatives for moistness, presentation, and flavor.
Joe's was packed on a Wednesday night. A Wednesday!! We had a short wait. Watching all the food pass by us to tables made us anticipate our dinner that much more. Todd, our waiter, could recite all of the ingredients in the regular entrees, the specials for the night, and the wide assortment of desserts, mostly Mamma's imaginative cakes.
Knowing that Joe's house made sauces and ambience are less than an hour away from Montgomery is likely to make us regular Wednesday customers.
Pros: Best Italian EVER
Cons: Food is so good that the wait to get in can be long
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