Need recommendation - Italian in the South Bay

[Scott M]

Any recommendations for a good Italian restaurant in the San Jose, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara area?

It would be great if they did housemade pastas and woodfired pizza.

I am not familiar with the South Bay and nothing obvious in my searches of previous discussions.

[emi50]

Paesanos, on W. Julian in San Jose. Excellent pastas, very experienced Sicilian owner-chef.

[Melanie Wong]

Any other specific dishes you recommend at Paesano?

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Paesano
350 W Julian St, San Jose, CA 95110

[rosiella1]

Tried Paesano for lunch the other day and wasn't that impressed with it. I tried the carpaccio and the antipasti platter. The carpaccio was quite small in portion and was lacking in flavor. The antipasti platter was pretty good with a nice Copa and Proscuitto with 1 slice of mozarella, some seafood salad and grilled veggies. My boyfriend had the bolognese which was also just "ok".

Overall, I would rather go to La Pastaia at the De Anza Hotel for better tasting food, variety and value. Deserts are more innovative. Pasta dishes are more developed and unique.

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La Pastaia
233 West Santa Clara St., San Jose, CA 95113

Paesano
350 W Julian St, San Jose, CA 95110

[Melanie Wong]

Now there's a name I've not heard for awhile on the board. I ate there once nearly 10 years ago and liked it very much. Glad to hear La Pastaia is holding up.

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La Pastaia
233 West Santa Clara St., San Jose, CA 95113

[mdg]

The only good Italian restaurants I've been to are a bit farther north in downtown Palo Alto - Vero and Cafe Renzo. Both places have good food, taste Italian, and have some housemade Italian pastas. Most other South Bay "Italian" places that I've tried are very Americanized. Renzo also has pizza, but I don't know about the oven.

The best wood-fired pizza in the area is probably at Napoletana in Mountain View. I've found that pizzas around here tend to be better at specialists like Napoletana, Howie's, and Slice of New York than at the Italian places. I haven't tried Renzo's pizza though, because the rest of the menu is always so appealing!

Italian food is not the strong point of South Bay dining, but if you can come a little bit north you can still eat quite well.

Michael

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Vero
530 Bryant Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Howie's Artisan Pizza
855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Cafe Renzo
473 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Napoletana Pizzeria
1910 W El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040

A Slice of New York
1253 W El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA 94087