December 3, 2009 – Cafe Porta Alba
Visit the Cafe Porta Alba website.
erin says: I never got to visit Cafe Porta Alba when it was downtown. Now that they’re at Hilldale we’ll probably visit them more often. Brian and I ordered a plate of the Prosciutto con Mozzarella to snack on while we waited for our friend to arrive. It was served with a side of syrupy balsamic and sprinkled with basil chiffonade. Brian had the Salsiccia pizza. Our friend had the Capricciosa pizza. I had spaghetti carbonara. I had a bite of Brian’s pizza, and I liked it. Hopefully Brian will chime in with his thoughts. The pasta was pleasantly springy and al dente. It made it a little bit of a challenge to twirl on a fork, but it was very tasty. The portion was generous and about the perfect size. Soda (Pepsi and Diet Pepsi) is sold by the can, so that could add up fast. The service was friendly and cheerful. The atmosphere interior is nice and diners have a choice between watching tv (playing an old movie I couldn’t name) or watching the bustle around the pizza oven. They offer a number of individual pizzas, a kid sized pizza, and a few pastas. There are also some salads and appetizers. I was surprised that they didn’t serve any bread, since they keep an olive oil bottle on each table, but maybe that doesn’t make sense for a place that primarily sells pizza. The dining room is a pretty small space. One party of 10 that was there when we were was taking up a large part of the dining room. They have plenty of smaller tables they can reconfigure at will, but I’d hesitate to take a large group there. I enjoyed reading all of the little facts and tidbits on the menu about the restaurant and the food. They say it takes 90 seconds to fire a pizza, so for a quick dinner with a small group it would be perfect. I think it’s going to be hard to get near the place on an average weekend. I’d give them an 8.5 out of 10.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:53 pm
We went back and I had a pizza and shared part of the prosciutto and mozzarella appetizer. I enjoyed it. Next time I’m getting the tomato and mozzarella salad. It looked delicious and I know from eating similar salads elsewhere that I could eat it every day. Yum.
Interestingly enough, the same movie and almost exactly the same scene was on during our second visit. We asked what it was and were told it was “It Started in Naples” with Sophia Loren and Clark Gable. Between the pants-less dancing on screen and the guy outside the restaurant staring in the window, it was entertaining.