| Small family-run Italian restaurant with upscale dishes at smalltime prices |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 6/24/2006
Rating: 8.5
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Another major milestone for jatbar as we celebrate our 700th restaurant at Trattoria La Sicilian. Located on College ave in Berkeley, this restaurant had a strong recommendation from my friend Brian. To simply paraphrase his desription, Trattoria La Sicilian would not let you down. Bold words but he's delivered before.
I figured since I was in town for the Radiohead concert, we'd make an early dinner at 5:30. Terry and family was to meet up at the restaurant and we'd continue from there. Trattoria La Sicilian has 2 levels of dining with a small kitchen. Dining atmosphere is charming with tile-top tables, mini suits of armor, and an interesting knight hung by a noose. Large accommodations might be a problem as this place probably holds less than 50 people. We visited on Saturday and the line outside grew to a 40 minute wait (picture #2)! I take it this restaurant is quite popular with locals.
Our waiter stopped by to drop off the menus and let us know what the specials were. All dishes sounded interesting but we deviated from his suggestions and picked up bruschetta, a round of Menabrea birra, Pesto and Shrimp, and skewers of breaded shrimp. I'm still a little confused about ordering here as they recommend groups of 4 or more people to order family style which is a double order of a plate. I wanted to order 4 different plates but he recommended only 2 types of food since the kitchen is small. oooooohhhh-kaaaaay.
Bread was dropped off with flavored olive oil (picture #6). It was a great mix of olive oil, garlic, pepper, basil, and other wonderful spices. Bread wasn't heated but the dipping oil made it worth while.
The restaurant was entirely packed and the line was growing outside. People had menus in hand while others were able to drink alcohol on a bench in the kitchen while waiting for a spot to open up. We had no problems getting our waters filled nor ordering beers, our bus girl did an excellent job.
The first dish to arrive was the bruschetta. The menu said $7.50 for 2 pieces and if you order family style 4 pieces for $15. I've eaten at a lot of restaurants before and never have I seen prices like that? I don't think I'm cheap but $15 for toasted bread with tomatoes and mozzarella? Way overpriced but that's not saying I didn't enjoy it. Generous amounts of tomatoes and mozzarella but I think a more reasonable price is $7.50 for 4 pieces.
A couple of minutes later, our Spiedo di Gamberoni, skewered breaded shrimps were plated in front of our hungry eyes. Shrimps were larger than Tiger shrimp and served with Russel potatoes, lemon wedges, sliced tomatoes, steamed spinach, and deep fried breaded potato. Shrimps were cooked perfectly and tasted like lobster. The breading was light and seasonings adequate. Although the entire plate was smothered in oil I would highly recommend ordering this palatable dish.
Next on the list was the Linguini al Pesto con Gamberi, pesto and shrimp. For a family style order, the plate was very small. I could eat this by myself, then a day later, I die of a heart attack. This was easily the richest dish I've had in the last 2 weeks. The pesto was melting in my mouth and the numerous shrimps were screaming with cholesterol. Sprinkled Parmesan and linguine cooked al dente. Nice texture for the pasta and incredible green color that would make the Hulk proud. It's exactly how I liked my food, frickin' good. This was the standout for the night. (picture #9 and #10
I still had room in my stomach and shared the tiramisu. Heavenly sweet and served at the right temperature. (picture #12)
Overall the experience was very positive. We barely saw our waiter and took forever to grab a dessert menu. Trattoria La Sicilian serves a rated 9 quality type of food but other factors like smaller portion sizes, long wait times, and higher prices keep my score lower than a 9 rating. I'd definitely want to eat here again, their food is awesome. I'm sure for people that have smaller appetites, euro-sized plating, you WILL enjoy it thoroughly. Be sure to bring a lot of cash as they don't accept credit cards. Thanks to Trattoria La Sicilian for making jatbar's 700th restaurant memorable.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 6/24/2006
Rating: 8
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We were throwing a number of restaurants around for #700, until we finally settled on making another Berkeley run for Trattoria La Siciliana. Berkeley runs are always an iffy thing when my family is involved (as it was on this outing) due to previous embarrassing experiences with lack-of-parking, and well I just won't get into it here)... Today was a nice warm, sunny afternoon in Berkeley. We arrived early, before Jason, to take in the sights and sounds of Berkeley downtown. We strolled through a few shops, did some people watching (and lots of dog watching), and finally met Jason at the rather small looking restaurant. We managed to get a table just before the crowds started to pile up at the front door.
I felt very claustrophobic in this restaurant. Our table was right next to the stairs to the top level so we had waiters and patrons passing behind us the entire meal. There seemed to be quite a few families with toddlers and small babies. For such a small restaurant it was a bit surprising. The menu came out to the table and we ordered drinks.
I tried the Italian draft beer they had available. It was just OK. Nothing terribly exciting, as I'm not usually a lager drinker I guess. The larger wine menu bespoke to what their specialty was.
The bread arrived and it was tasty enough, best when dipped in the olive oil and garlic. There was some peppers mixed in the oil as well to give it more flavor. Without this oil, the bread would be kind of a letdown.
We ordered an appetizer of bruschetta. I am never a fan of this, but Jason is for some reason, but I just went with it. As could be expected, it was just OK. The highlight was the amazing amount of garlic. Garlic lovers rejoice.
We originally planned on ordering a dish for each of us, but the waiter actually talked us out of ordering that much food. How odd! He recommended we just get 2 dishes to split between the four of us. This sounded inadequate for us, but we went with it.
The first dish to arrive was the shrimp (picture 8). It was rather small in size for 4 people (1 skewer a piece). At this point I was thinking that this place was a bit too fancy for me. Not enough food, waiters who discourage you from ordering too much, somewhat high prices... then I tasted these shrimp. Wow, these things tasted like lobster. The flavorful peppers and marinade really gave it a flavor more amped up than any shrimp I have had before. I highly recommend this dish (just make sure you order enough!)
We waited a bit for the second dish to arrive - the pesto. I have had quite a few pestos, both homemade and in restaurants. This was among the higher level of pestos I have had at a restaurant, but in the end, it was just only half-there for me. The portion was not enough for me to be full, when split among the 4 of us, and the flavoring (while good) was not mind-blowing.
So at this point it was time for dessert, and I was darn well going to order a dessert! I decided to go for the Cannoli. I was not expecting a powerhouse along the lines of my favorite (Ferrara's in NYC) but I was hoping for something that would set a benchmark for the Bay Area. Again, I was satisfied, but nothing more. It was tasty, with a rich creamy filling and crunchy shell.
Overall, I found the food here to be good, service was ok, but I was still perplexed at the long lines. As we were leaving I noticed the wait was already 40+ minutes. Maybe there is no better Italian in Berkeley?
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