Cafe Veloce

We took the family here last night for dinner. Have to say, the meal was just ok. We started with the scallops appetizer at the waitresses recommendation… just ok. My wife ordered a pasta dish with scallops and my daughter ordered a pasta dish with mussels, both pretty daring for a first try dish at a restaurant we hadn’t tried before. Both were ok but the cream sauce is oddly watery, not very appetizing in my opinion. My son and I shared a pizza, toppings were good but crust was forgettable at best. Service was good. For the same price I would sooner go to Gracie’s in Bothell for better atmosphere and food. For a much better price Olive Garden is across the freeway if you like that sort of thing.

Date night with my favorite person, my wife. We enjoyed excellent service, superb appetizers, and an amazing dinner at a very family friendly restaurant. Friendly smiles and serious eats here at this moto trend Italian hang out. Definitely try the bresheta… You won’t be disappointed.

Where is the best pasta with clam sauce? Italy? Please, help me. We had Café Veloce tonight and the clams were taking a vacation. Sauce is tasty, but for $ 17… I could have bought 15 coats for the homeless instead…
My oldest son liked his Quattro Formaggi, Penne pasta, four cheeses, alfredo & marinara sauces. I tasted it and it was better tasting than Pizza Bank’s sauces. Pizza bank’s overcooked spaghetti with clams sauce that has no flavor and is watered down but it does come with a whole lot more clams than the 5 little bits of clams I had on my plate tonight. Hmm… can those two restaurant cooks marry each other and make a decent dish? One should hope.
I ordered a meat lasagna for my youngest and he kept eating bread with the meat sauce. It was tasty. I might go back and order the lamb meat lasagna and the seafood pasta. The waitress was on her dinner break and her plate was piled up with shrimp. Now I know where all the seafood goes… on her plate. LOL.
Spumoni for dessert… kids menu $ 1. On our bill… $ 4 Thanks, waiter for trying to up the bill, but too bad I wasn’t wearing my trial contact lenses today or you would have gotten away with it…
Overall, 3.1 star because the waiter was sweet and professional. I wish they would serve toasted warm bread instead of cold bread. The garlic butter was good… better if the bread was TOASTED.
The interior is cozy… nice fireplace and funny décor, but that’s what they like. Please remodel the bathroom walls… bright orange bricks and sticky floors. OK, that was my review of Café Veloce. Lunch may be a better time to visit.

Good food, good service, good price range. Nice, pleasant atmosphere. Not an amazing standout, but a very solid «neighborhood» Italian place that won’t disappoint.

A pretty standard Italian joint (think, family-​style, versus fine dining) so if you keep that in mind when you come, you’ll probably have a good time. Hearty portions of pasta, good flavors (and good portions of sauce versus meat versus noodles, etc.). Pizza was a little lackluster (though we made the mistake of asking for «crispy» crust — which ended up being pretty over toasted). Portion was fair to split between two people, crust was forgettable.
Caesar salad was decent (but had those super generic croutons), sautéed calamari entrée was good. I think the beef & gorgonzola pasta was the winner of the night — creamy and delicious. The salcito pasta (red sauce with bell peppers and sausage) was a good close second.
Service was 5 stars. I’d give the experience an overall 3.5 stars if I could, but rounding down to 3 (instead of up to 4) out of respect for some of the Seattle Italian eateries I’ve frequented in the past. Ambiance is cute and comfortable, dark wood tables and vintage motorcycles diving the main seating from the bar. Good for groups — large space and some outdoor seating for the summer.

Yeah— this place is awesome! Chicken scampi is delicious and corleo is yummy! the service is great! They get busy around 7pm, so come before that,

AMMMAAZZIINNGGG! The food is awesome!!! Full bellies and that «Your mom’s home cooking» feel! I love this place one of my favorites for sure! Scampi and gorgonzola stuffed balls is where its at!

Pizza as good as a frozen pizza.

I am very skeptical of my Italian restaurants, and many of them are pretty much the same. Café Veloce is something special, and it has become one of my favorite spots for lunch.
When I first came here, I was impressed with their cheese garlic bread and their calzones. When I came here a second time, I had the glorious magesty that was their Quatrro Formaggi pasta.
Side note– Go here NOW and get the Quattro Formaggi. It’s a creamy, cheese pasta with a twist of tomato at the bottom in the cream sauce. It’s flavored to perfection and one of the ABSOLUTE BEST pasta dishes I have ever had at a restaurant. I licked the bowl, and I am not ashamed.
Their Pesto Olive Cheese Bread was also phenominal, and the portion size was so big, it could have easliy been a meal for my friend and me. Again, the flavors– WOW!
In addition to the great food, their wine selection is amazing, and the service is fantastic. Even though the place was hoppin’, we got served like we were the only people in the restaurant.
They even have some gluten free options, which makes me feel less guilty about making my husband go here.
This would be a great place for lunch or dinner, and it’s well worth the calories and the dollars to experience Café Veloce.

I love this place for it’s full italian menu, pizza, good drinks, and besides the food… I love the décor… Italian Scooters and imagery. a must visit place for out of towners… and for them, conveniently located near a major freeway. I might add, I see people saying they had, «…the worst experience ever…» I’ve never had anything close to a bad experience there. I wonder what kind of «experience» those seemingly difficult people laid on the staff? Café Veloce is a great place to take a family. I cna’t think of anything to complain about at all.

The food is awesome, the service is great, and the décor is very well done! We went during a lunch rush and even though our food took a little while to come out, our server was very accommodating and attentive. The complimentary bread comes with (what tastes like) whipped garlic butter. Their lunch prices are great, and the daily special was delicious. Will definitely come back for more of the fettuccine alfredo! Love love love!

Had the eggplant. By eggplant I mean layers of breading. Worst of all, I asked to have it without ricotta and they said it was impossible because it is prepared in advance. Won’t make this mistake again.

Two boys under 10, they love this place. They always get the Moped pizza. The folks are so friendly and attentive to us.
I personally am a picky eater but they easily accommodate me. I usually order off the a la carte menu, reasonable prices.
It gets busy and when you have kids that can suck, but we never seem to have to wait.
It’s great!

The absolute worst experience ever.
My wife, kids and myself (4 total), decided to go to Café Veloce for a special dinner tonight. We were seated at about 6:05pm. The waiter greeted us, took our drink order, and got us our drinks with 5 minutes. Ok, that was fine. He then took our order. We ordered two adult pasta dishes, a pizza entrée and a kids spaghetti. Easy order. This was at about 6:15pm.
6:50pm, still no food. The waiter assures us that out food is almost ready. Fine.
7:40pm, still no food. Really hungry and very irritated. Waiter came by to tell us again that the food is almost ready. We said no way, we are leaving. Who waits an hour and a half for pasta???
The place was half empty when we got up. Zero excuse for not getting our food in a timely manner. We headed to the exit, the hostess says «thanks for coming in!» Yeah right, we didn’t even eat.
Worst part of this is that NO manager came to see us or talk to us. Worst run restaurant I have ever been. Here we wanted a special dinner and we got nothing except wasted time and a place that doesn’t even care.
Update as of ¹⁰⁄₇:
Received this message from someone at the restaurant:
«Mycole D: I apologize for your poor dining experience Thurs ¹⁰⁄₁. Unfortunately, everyone’s food took an unacceptably long time to get out that night. The staff and manager were caught off guard and unprepared for the delays in the kitchen. Our kitchen crew that night has worked for us for over 10 years and our lead sauté just had a „melt down“. I have no explanation. Our plan going forward is to support him and make sure that we are staffed appropriately for each shift or gauge our seating to the staff on hand.»
You gave an apology on a message. So if something like this happens, with 2 hours sitting there waiting, you can’t even have a manager come by a table and apologize? You blame everything on others in the restaurant. You have zero excuses for this poor experience. What a joke.

This is absolutely the WORST Italian food I have ever had. The Fettuccine Alfredo was absolutely horrid, the sauce was thin and didn’t resemble a proper Alfredo at all. I remember the last time I came here, which was back in 2006 and their Alfredo was amazing back then. I don’t know what has happened with this place since then, but we will never be able to be tempted to come back. The sauce had so much pepper in it that my mouth was on fire after only a few bites. Now I know how to make a proper Alfredo, after 6+ years as a sous chef at two separate four-​star restaurants I learned from the best, and one of them at an actual Italian restaurant!
My husband ordered the stuffed pork loin with gnocchi and the pork was seriously dry and bland, despite being wrapped in prosciutto. The sauce was interesting, and I didn’t actually mind it, though I have no idea what it was supposed to be as it wasn’t as it was described on the menu. The gnocchi was nearly raw in the middle, which gave the whole thing a mushy consistency that made me feel like I was eating baby food.
The only saving grace for this place was the service, our waiter (Zach) was amazing and very attentive.
Neither of us could even choke down half our meals and didn’t even want to risk getting a dessert, for fear of the potential results. I instead ate a bunch of bread (again, seemed dry and stale) and smothered it in their garlic butter and downed our wine so we could hurry up and leave to find something else with which to cleanse our tortured palates with. I’ve seriously tasted way better Alfredo out of a jar, heck I think even Hamburger Helper can make a better sauce at this point. It was more like watered down peppered milk, no hint of garlic or Parmesan to be had.
Needless to say, I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy. Save yourself the cheddar and go buy something from the frozen section at your grocer, you’ll be better off.

Food was great, but service is why I’m writing this review. Corynn was our waitress. She was great! Our cheese garlic bread came out with less cheese than anticipated. Before we even mentioned it, she told us they were remaking our bread in the back because it was sub-​standard.
Thanks Corynn! And thanks chef for remaking the bread, it was delicious the second time around!
In other news, the Quattro formaggio is killer and their wine list is mouth-​watering.

Had the seared scallop pasta. It was really good. Loved the scallops. Very good portion too. Aye the whole thing feeling full. Had some appetizers, forgot what they ordered but it was chess and various ingredients on bread. I like that too. Really good service too. They have a good lunch menu too, they have half portion for $ 9. But I wanted the full meal to try out.

More Tramp, than Lady… but decent.
This place is Italian to the core, but it’s a populist Italian. Decorated with Italian motorcycles, it seems to fall somewhere between romantic and classy kitsch.
I have two major problems with Café Veloce, but let me start with what I like; the service is spot on, and the place is clean as a whistle every time I go. There is a lot to be said for those positive qualities.
The food… is ok. Not great, but authentic for the most part. I ding them here on food, though, because every time I’ve gone, they’ve been out of something I want to order. Be that gnocchi or tiramisu or whatever; my first choice never seems to be available.
My second problem with Café Veloce is the décor. I have /​no/​problem with the kitsch theme of the restaurant, but I take major exception to the incredibly, supremely uncomfortable chairs. These things are torture devices masquerading as seating. The booths are always taken by canoodling couples, leaving the painful (very painful) chairs. So bring a cushion with you, or beg for a booth. No matter how romantic you think it is to sit near the fireplace, you’ll probably regret the choice unless you come personally well-​padded.
Overall, I pass on Café Veloce and find something else to eat in the area. But if you’re craving Italian, give it a shot. Just make sure you get a padded booth.

The meal was delicious. I was pleasantly surprised!
But I had the worst service. Casey was our server and instead of checking on us, providing water as needed he was on his cell phone in the back. This wasn’t evident until we left and discovered this fact. I would go back for the food but definitely not the service.

Looks and sounds cool but a disappointment in the end.
Generic Italian food about what i can get from my local grocery ready made section.
Bread is not fresh, the pasta is dried, and they do some weird things to classic dishes.
The bruschetta app was the worst example of this. Cardboard like bread (not toasted just kinda stale), weird mix of veggies that lacked the classic basil and put in green peppers (not correct) and then sloppily (really messy) drizzled with balsamic.
Will not be back and almost feel like two stars is more generous than it should be.