Italian is the original fancy food dinner date. European, but still agreeable to the finicky American palate. Tablecloth, water goblets, and candlelight—and yet somewhat affordable. And pasta: who can resist? I can’t!
Palo Alto was on our way up to the city so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at Cafe Pro Bono. We could have the same neighborhood atmosphere as downtown, but without the parking problems and rowdy crowds. We had an OpenTable reservation for four, easily found a space for the car, and walked around the corner.
Sizing up the place as we walked in the door, we could tell it was busy. Pro Bono occupies two unconnected spaces and both were quite full. After entering the restaurant, I couldn’t tell where the hostess stand was. There was a party that was waiting in the cramped entry way but I walked to the front, expecting to be greeted. Stood there for several minutes before the host-man asked my name and quickly pointed to the booth that was waiting for us. Sitting with our menus, it was another 10 minutes before our waters came and our waitress came to meet us.
I was so excited to eat pasta, but noticed also that they have a good selection of other entrees too (chicken, steak, etc.). In addition to the regular menu, there was also a paper with the night’s specials—including a dungeness crab salad that was already out by the time we arrived (7:15). Our table had the wild boar sausage as an appetizer, which came on a bed of beans and peppers. It was nice, and boar is not as gamey as you would expect. For entrees we had: Susan’s Downfall, a cheese and herb ravioli with gorgonzola sauce, tagliatelle, in light alfredo sauce with mushrooms, and two of the specials: salmon linguine and risotto. Susan’s Downfall is something like Pro Bono’s signature dish, and I think it would be better as an appetizer with the bread (due to the sharpness of blue cheese). The tagliatelle dish tasted very fresh and and pleasant. Salmon linguine was unremarkable, the flecks of salmon lost in the taste of alfredo sauce. My risotto came out topped with truffle shavings, and I suppressed squeals of delight when the waitress set it down in front of me. I’ve never had real truffles before! The risotto was nicely cooked and with an abundance of mushrooms, but did not shine until a few shakes of salt were added.
Service improved after we received our food. Waters were refilled without asking, waitress checked in, dessert menus were handed out, and the check came promptly. We did experience a little sticker shock since the portions leaned towards the unsatisfied side of the spectrum, and we couldn’t help but imagine what our bill would have been if we had ordered a full three courses which we speculated was the norm there. We had to save dessert for the city.
Yeah, I would go back. It would be a splurge, but at least I would know that the food is high quality and the service is good. But in the meantime I will settle for Pasta Pomodoro to get my Italian carb fix. Oh, and someone recommended the El Toro Negro Oatmeal Stout here on foursquare. 75% of our table hated it.
It wasn’t until a couple days later that I realized this was the exact same restaurant I dined at for my senior prom. Can you say full circle?!
Cafe Pro Bono: 2437 Birch Street, Palo Alto, CA 94306