Cafe Torre

We came here one evening for a work related dinner. We ordered several appetizers to share - I got to sample the calamari - fried with a crisp light coating on it - served with a spicy Aioli sauce - very good!

We shared a bottle of a California Malbec - a very nice wine!

For dinner - I had the Duck served two ways. Both ways were tasty - but the duck confit was outstanding! It was served with a medley of delicious sautéed vegetables!

Service was very good!

#CafeTorre

We used to come here all the time and, somehow, we had forgotten about it until recently. On a cold, rainy night the restaurant was packed and we were glad we had made reservations. So funny to have the very same waiter we had in the past - he's worked there for 28 years through two owners!

We loved our food. The pasta classico was as good as ever. Tasty and light - not over sauced or heavy - and a pasta dish with sausage is not easy to make taste light. The beet salad was delicious - I was very sorry that I had shared it with my husband (just being honest here)- as I could easily have eaten the whole thing. Their bread is always fresh and delicious.

We ordered a bottle of malbec but they were out of it. The waiter convinced us to trust him and he brought us a bottle of merlot that was excellent.

Desserts were excellent, too - gelato (yum) and the chocolate flourless cake.

We will be back soon!

Cafe Torre is very cozy and quiet.
The price is reasonable.
I can enjoy the conversation and can be relaxed.
Staff is very approachable and kind to children.

Ordered delivery. Lasagna with meat sauce. What I got was 2 lasagna noodles with about half a can of Chef Boyardee mini meatballs dumped on top of them. FOR $22!!!!! Does this look at all appetizing to you?? As Gordon Ramsay would say "I wouldn't feed this to my dog. Disgusting. I called the restaurant and all they said was "sorry you didn't like it." That's it. Terribl

I came here with my mom on a weeknight and there were maybe three other tables. It's nice to find a more "American" place down the street instead of trekking to Palo Alto and what not. There was one server and he was awesome. I forget his name. There was also someone at the cashier (manager maybe) who was taking wine orders and delivering food.

The arugula salad ($9) was severely overdressed. I almost sent it back since the dressing was so tangy and strong. They split it with no fee. There is a $3 split fee for certain entrees but not salads. The housemade lasagna ($19) was awesome. It was a perfect portion and was delicious. The seafood paella ($29) was not good. The taste was bland and kind of sour for some reason. The seafood was cooked fine but the taste of the rice and the sauce didn't have a kick, needed more salt and was SOUR! I'd probably stick to the lasagna next time or order something else. Ask for light dressing on the salad.

DO NOT ORDER THE SEAFOOD PAELLA. You have been warned!

Came here last night for a large family dinner. It's a bit hard to find but just look for the Lee's Sandwiches strip mall and it'll be on the far right.
There's plenty of parking. It was fairly crowded for a Thursday evening.

This is what I had:

Table bread - served warm and toasty with a side of butter. Feel free to ask for olive oil / balsamic vinegar as they have that in the back.

Fried Calamari - light and crisp and served with a orange "tartar sauce". They were the small calamari rings...although I prefer a mixture of tentacles and rings.

Cesar Salad - The salad was fresh and the dressing wasn't overpowering...served with a few anchovies.

Seafood Pasta - Very generous portions of shrimp, mussels, clams, and calamari. More seafood than pasta! (see my uploaded pic) The shrimp was a little tough and overcooked a tad and a few of the clams had sand in them but I guess that's somewhat expected.

Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience and I would be back. I added an extra star because of how attentive they were. When the food arrived I was entertaining my son outside. They saw that I was not at the table and took my plate back into the back to keep it warm.

Cupertino has a dearth of good Italian food, but this little cafe is a gem. The service is very attentive and the pastas are all excellent. They seem to have a good wine list as well.

We made a reservation but that didn't seem to help the extremely lackadscycle service. The bartender did not know the wines (though he pretended to!)

He was snarky and borderline rude at times. I asked for assistance in picking a glass of chardonnay as I didn't recognize any of the wines on the list. I preferred something oaky, rich and buttery. He rudely replied "it's between California or France, what do you think?" He told me to go with a Santa Cruz chard and it was EXACTLY the opposite of what I requested. Most know that Santa Cruz chards are often tart and not at all like their Napa counterparts (typically within the oak/butter tasting range). Tart, overly sweet and well, not to my taste. Due to being in a group I wasn't able to return it, lest I interrupt the flow.

Turns out I wasn't the only one upset with his wine recommendations - two other women in my group said the bottle of red pinot he recommended was also positively off and not EVEN close to what they had asked for. This dude's ignorance and ego was really killing the enjoyment of the place.

So, the wine wasn't successful which was unfortunate but perhaps if you know the wines or get a different bartender, I hope the experience could be better.

The food wasn't bad. The antipasti plate was decent. I did take exception to the dry, plain risotto for the following reasons:

Please, please don't use white grain rice (think Uncle Ben's) as a substitute for arborio
on the risotto. It was dry, flaky and is NOT risotto.

AND, please do not insult my intelligence by calling the bacon in the risotto, prosciutto - its not. Not cool. :-(

I liked the atmosphere, but found the food was just ok, and the service disappointing, although it was a busy evening, preceding Celebrity Series. We had the Special (risotto with 3 shrimp for $28 -seemed high for a simple dish.) We had to ask what the price was, which I think is always annoying. The waiter was rather rude, rushing us, wanting us to order as soon as we sat down and received the menus. We never saw a wine list to buy a bottle, so ended up ordering four glasses of wine individually which was more expensive. Hope that wasn't on purpose.

Does look like there are lots of people who go there regularly so I might go back, but if you like Italian food, and don't mind the strip mall locations, Sorelle in Campbell is outstanding!

Ivan is wonderful. Meatballs are fluffy and flavorful with plenty of sauce alongside them. Spaghetti carbonara is the best in the Bay Area. Hands down.