CENTRO Storico Spaghetteria

Taco Bell of Italian food. The best part about our visit was the server (Sunny??) We started out with wine and bread. The wine tasted dated but not in a good way. Bread was ok. I was excited about the caeser salad because I love me a good salad with anchovies but the sauce was bland and they used the worst romaine lettuce leaves you could find. I thought they had given me kale instead. I do have to say that I like the more tender leaves. Vodka sauce had little seasoning, chunky onions (I am not a fan of but other may be) and the chicken was grilled and smelled smoky/burnt and was slightly tough. I wouldn't have minded the chicken cooked this way on a sandwich or with ribs but I came to an Italian restaurant not a BBQ restaurant. I will say the pasta itself was delightful.

On another note, do not take people here if they are slightly hard of hearing. There aren't walls or booths so everything is very loud.

Lastly, their tables are very close to each other and I was being poked by a plant and the woman's purse behind me. I wanted to love this place but it just didn't hit the mark.

There were no wait when we arrive to have our late lunch. We were seated immediately by the host. I shared my lunch carbornara spaghetti full portion with my firstborn. My husband ordered the ragu di Carne fettuccine and just a penne burro for my youngest one. Overall the taste is good for lunch.

We like this Old Town Tustin gem. Great “small town” vibe for us with solid choices of homemade pasta. We always get the meat plate for our secondi. So glad this restaurant is in our town.

Birthday Dinner

Took my sister there for her birthday, everything was great.

Pasta was freshly made and served a perfect al dente. Portions were perfect - the women had half size portions, while I had a full size one.

The wine was very good, though I found it a bit acidic, though that was probably just my selection. I tried the red wine from the owners vineyard.

I now have another restaurant to take my sister to when we visit.

Service was great & good food portions. The meatballs were delicious, mild in flavor but a satisfying Italian taste. The saffron risotto had way too much saffron. Made it taste very odd, (a slight clorine taste). And the mushroom risotto had too many mushrooms (or possibly a mushroom powder?) which overpowered the flavor but it was better than the other risotto.