La Finestra Ristorante

We had dinner recently at La Finestra and were pretty disappointed.
The server did his best to please us and the live music was much appreciated.
Wine by the glass offerings were well selected.
But… the food was not prepared well.
The limp foccacia is no substitute for fresh crusty Italian\French bread.
We ordered Caprese, a mozzarella/​tomato appetizer, and stipulated that if ripe tomatoes were not available we would order something else. Tomatoes were not ripe and appetizer lacked flavor. Meh!
Our entrees, eggplant parmigiana, took very long to arrive and were disappointing as well. The sauce lacked character and the eggplant was not breaded and fried as usually prepared and arrived soggy and un-appetizing.Eggplant acts like a sponge and if not prepared cutlet style will not stand up to any sauce and will present like ratatouille, which it did. Yuk!
We left disappointed.

Ooooooh yeah! This is the place for me! My fiancé and I recently moved to town and needed to find our local Italian spot and we found it tonight! Beet salad was awesome! I had the gnocchi with brown butter sage sauce and it was perfect! My fiancé had the chicken and he couldn’t believe how good it was. We are coming back for more! We also ordered a delicious chocolate tart dessert and then they gave us some desert wine and biscotti to end the evening! Fantastic!
Also the ambiance was very charming and they had a pianist playing some classic tunes which really topped off the evening!

Hmm… i really want to like this place more… but unfortunately, it was a hit and miss kinda of adventure. The restaurant is tucked away at the back of their parking lot among some obviously mature trees, which I’m sure makes perfect shade for an outdoor lunch/brunch…large parties however will most likely be seated indoors… which really makes no difference at least to me. The tables are covered in white tablecloths with an etiquette-​ly layed out set of flatwear and glasswear. Our server was great… very attentive and helpful. Onward to what matters… the food. After taking our choices for our lunch, we served this Fresh Focaccia bread which smelled soo mouthwateringly good as it’s placed on the table accompanied by an Olive Oil dipping concoction… don’t know what’s in it but it was a good combination of. stuff…as our appetizer and entrees arrived we sampled each other’s choices… the Scalone was okay. but the sauce was quite bland… the Caesar salad with grilled chicken was good and not overpowered by the anchovies at all… my Pollo en Vino Rosso arrived looking like a nice thick steak… the first thing i tried was obviously the vino rosso sauce which was once again bland, noticing a pattern here… the chicken itself was cooked fine albeit bordering dry, but still decent. stuffing of cheese and whatnot certainly helped on the flavor front but things were still underseasoned. The Sole special comes on a bed of sautéed spinach with, i think, is basically the same sauce as the Scalone and once again bland… the ravioli with prawns could’ve also been good if not for the lack of… drumroll…seasoning. Excluding the wonderful Ceasar, we added some salt and pepper and everything was finally started to wake up. Finally, dessert! When you check-​in on Unilocal,you get a free Tiramisu, which we obviously went for… you gotta be crazy to turn down free Tiramisu. However, they gave us a nice bonus of Semifreddo, please excuse me if this is the wrong spelling… anyway, the desserts were Baddass!!! The Tiramisu was a perfect blend of coffee, rum, and cream… not too much of either ingredient and the Semi what’s it’s face was also very delicious. Honestly, there’s a lot to like about the place… i just prefer a more modern take on classic dishes

This was wonderful. We had a great time. Service outstanding, food rich but well prepared, alcohol excellent. We were a party of four and I was pleased that I had chosen this restaurant.
Atmosphere was good.

They now have a restroom! Yay! Still amazing food– that mushroom soup, I can’t get enough of it!

Cozy place! Great food! A place nice enough to hold a business lunch meeting, birthday party or a romantic dinner! Worth checking it out…

Dine at this cute little quaint restaurant nestled in the heart of Downtown Lafayette. The ambiance reminded me of being in Italy and the décor was very true to the Italian culture. The Olive Oil Balsamic Vinaigrette for the focaccia bread was amazing. I even requested to purchase a few if they were offering them for retail. The Wild Mushroom Polenta with Sun Dried Tomatoes in a cream sauce as a starter was impeccable. The Petrole Sole served over sauteed Spinach was so moist and flavorful. The Seafood Pasta with Calamari, Shrimp and Salmon had the right amount of tomato sauce and balance. The food was spectacular as well as the great service. We had such a great dining experience here.

Until this day, I compare every single Italian restaurant to this place. By far the best Italian dishes here! And the polenta is to die for! Love it!

I think this restaurant is the best kept secret in town. The food is great– every time, anything on the menu. For those of us who like to hear each other and talk, it’s quiet enough. Tony is the exuberant waiter that is efficient and attentive. (Some of the others are slow). And now that there are nasty parking meters throughout the Fiesta Square area, LaFiniestra has its own FREE parking lot which is a bonus. In nice weather the limited outdoor seating is a treat but indoors is fine too. Enjoy!

I came for dinner tonight with my father and we had a wonderful time. The service and food were both equally excellent and the prices are very reasonable. I can’t recommend it enough.

This place is great, but I’ll wait for a cooler day to go back. Whew…
We were seated fairly quickly & within 5 minutes we had our water, bread & a nice olive tapenade.
Dad ordered the Gnocchi with a soda & I had the Fettuccine alla Puttanesca with a glass of Markham wine. Dad is hard to please and he said it was «good», which is a big compliment. My meal was flavorful, not stingy with the seafood and quite delicious.
DeeDee was our server and she was funny & FAST!
After dinner they served us an amazing marsala wine & a nice, freshly baked biscotti.
The bill came to $ 49 which I feel is reasonable, especially considering the portions were so generous that we both brought home the leftovers for tomorrow.
I was in jeans, and most people in there were dressed up, so I would say the «attire» is flexible.
We were talking to the party next to us. They were raving about the dinner specials, which happened to be a swordfish & a sole, both dishes looked amazing.
Our ONLY complaint was that it was quite warm inside the restaurant, and the poor servers looked so overheated, even though they were all pleasant & attentive.
Today was 102, so this might not be a problem on «normal» days, & apparently they don’t turn on the a/​c until 6pm, but we left at 6:45 and it still hadn’t cooled down to a comfortable temperature. We would have stayed for dessert if it wasn’t so hot… I would recommend sitting outdoors on a warm day so you can at least get a breeze, or going later than 7 so it has time to cool down during the summer.

This place is terrible. The food was awful. Dry meet. Sauces that were too creamy. And mostly, the service is terrible. The waiters are rude and arrogant. This place caters to mostly elderly people who are will to sacrifice food and service for a lower price per dish.

The food was delicious and what made it taste even better was the amazing service in which it was delivered. We came here for the first time on a very busy Saturday night, and we were taken to a quiter area in the back which was perfect. My family is vegetarian and while restaurants still mix up our orders from time to time and bring us a meat dish (which can be offensive and frustrating), our server took our meal preference to heart and took care to highlight «no meat» to the kitchen team. It was much appreciated. He was kind, upbeat and attentive. Would recommend others dine here. Over all Great Experience.

Great food, but waiter was inappropriate when serving food. Nice and chatty but when delivering food chose to get too close. Sadly we cannot return or give them our business.

What a wonderful gem tucked away in an office complex.
recently had a business lunch here and it was good. Great focaccia bread, main course veal, osso buco and the fish special.
The service is engaging and prompt.
It’s time again to check them out! Yummy!

Another really good meal for four at this place. Good food, good service, reasonable prices, nice atmosphere, easy parking. Comfortable and reasonably quiet, too. We are becoming regulars!

Ongoing visits about every 4 months. As good as ever.

I came here with my family and friends one Monday, thinking that this was a very fancy place.
The ambience was very quiet and calm, seems good for a couple’s romantic dinner. The waiters were kind, though one of them had a hard time understanding English.
The food was nothing special though. I ordered a seafood lasagna dish (don’t remember the name). It satisfied my hunger yet I wasn’t amazed by its taste.
Overall, it was an okay meal. Nothing too special but is a friendly restaurant in a small town.

If I could give this place NO stars, I would.
My review is from February. It has taken me that long to get over this place and finally write about it.
Tony is annoying. Annoying. He tries to be the focus of your dinner. I did not go ti enjoy Tony making stupid comments about my wife or dominating the scene.
The food was not good.
The stuffed bell pepper appetizer we ordered made each of us sick. The rice and meat stuffing was clearly made with leftovers. At the time we ate there, there was a run of cases of food poisoning from Norovirus; cruise ships to local restaurants, etc
As soon as I got home, I threw up and suffered ALL of the consequences of gastrointestinal illness.
A day later, my wife incurred the same thing.
It all really pissed me off.
We are a couple with two young children and had to plan for this romantic evening out for two.

My grandma and I come here regularly. We both love it. Tony always finds a moment to greet us, no matter how busy he is.
La Finestra means «window» in Italian. See how many «finestras» you can find throughout the restaurant. It’s a fun game I just made up 3 seconds ago.
The décor is unique and cozy, and has a true local feel. Not local as is «Heeeey, I think we just stepped into Italy in some local restaurant», but as in «Heeeey, we’re in Lafayette and this Italian restaurant is, like, sooooo Lafayette!»
You can tell that the Chef really takes pride in every dish he prepares. It’s in part what keeps us coming back. I hope that La Finestra sticks around for many years to come.