Recommendations for San Jose Italian restaurant?

[AZinFan]

I'd love to hear recommendations for a casual but awesome San Jose Italian restaurant! Probably will be bringing our own wine with us, corkage fee isn't a problem. As long as the quality of the food is good the food prices aren't an issue either! Northern Italian, Southern Italian...it's all good!

Thanks for your time! I really appreciate your help!

[mdg]

The closest places I can vouch for are in downtown Palo Alto. Vero is the closest thing in the area to visiting Italy. It's a pan-regional menu but tilted towards the south. Cafe Renzo also has some great Italian flavors, again tilting towards the south. It's bigger and a bit noisier than Vero. Overall I prefer the cooking at Vero.

There are plenty of San Jose Italian places that I haven't been to because the menus look so boring and Americanized. Vero in particular is the real deal if you can make it up to Palo Alto.

Michael

[Jon914]

If Campbell counts as San Jose, A Bellagio is a bit of an exception to the rule. I've had some dreadful Italian in the surrounding area, so stumbling on Bellagio a few years back was a pleasant quite a surprise.

Very solid pasta there, especially the pastas with egg-based sauces such as the Spaghetti Carbonara, Bucatini Bellagio, Penne Al Salmone and their pasta specials. Their sauces are deep and the flavors penetrate the pasta itself.

Not everything is a home run, but if you order what they do well, you should be satisfied.

Pic 1 - Spaghetti Carbonara
Pic 2 - Bucatini Bellagio (Egg Yolks, Parma Ham, Oregano, touch of Tomato, etc.)

[hhc]

sorry to say SJ isn't known for Italian food. Pizza Bocca Lupo (at the San Pedro Square Market) SJ has good pizza in a casual space, there's a wine bar at the San Pedro Square too.