Vero

Best Italian restaurant in this area. I love Vero. Reasonable but great food. I enjoy Vero’s real Italian food!

Recently I attended the 90^th birthday party for my husband’s grandmother here. The staff was very accommodating and opened early to allow our large family party to take place here in the late afternoon/​early evening on a Saturday. They worked with us to not only serve us family style but also created a custom menu for the evening, complete with «Happy Birthday, Grandma!» in Italian at the top. The food was wonderful. The lasagna and risotto are the best I have ever tasted and the service was wonderful. The waiters themselves are quite handsome and took the time to explain everything and talk to us about what made each course special. Our family could not stop talking about how special the dinner party was and how wonderful and personal the staff at Vero made it for all of us. If you are looking for a special evening do not hesitate to make your plans at Vero. This place is wonderful and we will definitely be back!

DH and I tried this out for the first time last night. I had walked by it many times and it always looked busy. A lot of the other reviews commented on the friendly service and it was just that. Prompt, discrete. We got there about 6:30 and there weren’t too many other diners, but it filled up quickly. The specials sounded great, but I went with the lasagna which was probably the best I’ve had. I tend to judge Italian restaurants by the lasagna, thus the five stars. We had the steamed mussels to start and sopped up every last bit of sauce with the excellent fresh bread. DH had the linguine with clams and was as happy as… ok, I’ll skip the pun. Lovely wine list. My glass of the «Naughty Boy» Pinot did not disappoint (they know the owners of the vineyard). Quiet ambiance and subdued lighting. Romantic. And oh, reasonable pricing! We will be back.

First my husband LOVED his Lasagna. So kudos for that.
I was not as happy with my skirt steak and I would have liked. But given how much my husband loved his lasagna and how nice the Manager was when I talked to him about my Skirt Steak I think we may make re-​visit Vero at a later date and give it another try.

Amazing!!! My parents are from Italy and own a restaurant. These dishes are definitely worth trying

Human hair baked into my eggplant appetizer, disgusting!
Sorry for the bad news and the partially eaten food in the photo. I was really unhappy to find a 6 inch long human hair baked right in to my eggplant. After I had eaten most of it. I know it is impossible to keep a kitchen spotless, and mistakes happen. Still, the waiter tried to say it was part of the vegetable, but I know it was hair.
The food was okay, but only 4 ravioli in an entrée is not enough, even if they are truly made in house. First time, and last at this place.

It’s not the American Italian: doused with cheese with little left for food flavor.
We had vegetarian ravioli, veal, lamb chops and mahi-​mahi. Each of this was EXCELLENT!
Delicately flavored, light on carbs and cheese. Enjoyable ambiance and very polite service.

BEST Italian food I’ve ever experienced. Authentic and delicious. The owner is very pleasant and accommodating. Treats you with special attention, even if it’s his first time meeting you. One of the wait staff members (Erik) is especially excellent, going out of his way to converse with you and make your dining experience fantastic and one-​of-​a-​kind. Great establishment!
(And I love that you can sit outside with your dog!)

Truly a satisfying experience: superior service with engagement incl talk about genuine Italian cooking, food that was exemplary sticking to true Italian cooking (hence the name Vero) and fairly priced. The light began carrot soup, the succulent gnocchi with non creamy peso, the gratifying spinach almond ravioli with a slightly creamy sauce and specifically made puttanesca were all actually memorable. Good win selection including some really nice Italian reds and whites by the glass. The deserts were fabulous contrasting the sweeter flourless chocolate cake w vanilla gelato to the semi sweet vanilla bean pannacotta to the moist tiramisu. As the seasoned waiter said a yinyang. A genuine find in busy Palo Alto

I brought my family and my fiancées family to Vero for our Rehearsal Dinner. There were 15 of us on a Friday night (including two kids, a 5 and 12 year old). They ROCKED!
To be fully honest, I have always loved Vero and took my fiancée there for his birthday dinner when we first met. I wasn’t sure they would be able to accommodate 15 for our pre-​wedding dinner, so I called in advance and worked with Massimo, the owner. He is amazing!
Vero, as a restaurant, is simply elegant with great big windows and open space. I love the fabric gracefully draping from the ceiling. It’s beautiful. The food (have you tried the gnocchi, if not, OH MY GOSH DO IT! It’s like eating clouds) is amazing, and the servers are professional and kind. Massimo, the owner, treated my family like his friends. Everyone, even my foody sister from the east coast, loved the menu selections, their dinner, and the appetizers I had pre selected (they the eggplant parm and the calamari. SO GOOD!
Vero, thank you for creating a space that brought my family and by fiancées family together so perfectly, for letting my mom put little gifts and name cards out on the table, for the awesome wine selections, for taking special care of my five year old niece (I did notice you bring out pasta specially for her but forgot to thank you in person, she LOVED feeling so special). This was a perfect pre-​wedding day dinner, and I am excited to come back as a newly married couple!

I like to come here for lunch. It is generally quiet and the food is very good. Today I had lentil soup which was excellent and then a lobster ravioli that was so good. They get the food up fast and it is consistently good.

Best Italian restaurant in Palo Alto– Vongole is excellent as the taglitelle and mare mist

Authentic Italian restaurant! I thoroughly enjoyed my first experience. The menu is great. It has a wide range of Italian dishes and appetizers. It was hard to choose but I end up making the best decision. I cant remember the name of the exact dish I got. But it was a Linguine and Clam dish. So delicious! I’m thinking about having my birthday dinner here. Love love love it!

HORRIBLE… décor is so sad… plain, with used stuffed furniture outside the door to make it look cool… which it doesn’t. Food was not good at all… I had the skirt steak which was already cut into bite size pieces. didn’t like that… and lousy roasted potatoes… my arugula salad had no dressing on it… forget it!!! My friend had the sole which was in three chunks over some sad looking spinach. The waiter was overly contrite and in our face… the woman at the front that took names should have been better dressed.
Don’t know how this place got good reviews… I will never be back.

I had the best eggplant parmesan ever tonight at Vero! The eggplant was thin — not soft and squishy like some places, and the red sauce was divine! It wasn’t overly saucy — just perfect, with the right amount of cheese and other stuff. I also had the arugula salad which was also excellent! My husband had the skirt steak and the misto salad — everything was delicious! We will return!

The food was average and the server was pretty cool. Came here for a business meeting. Seems like a regular place to have business meetings. It was quiet enough at lunch time so I’ll bump it up to a 4 star.

Service to slow. Half way thru my dinner when I finally got my wine. CAB steak was only average. Could have got same steak at Denny’s for a fraction of the cost. Flavor of food was good. Overall, not impressed and I won’t go back. To many other great restaurants out there!

Dinner for two on a Friday night.
Duck breast was surprisingly flavorful. It lacked all detectible extra fat and there was absolutely no taste of gaminess that is typical with duck. Very favorable and each bite was a delight.
Explored the Italian whites (wine) menu, found that the descriptions were accurate, and had a really good experience there, too.
Desserts, delicious. Had both the apple and chocolate based ones. Mmmm!

Our favorite Italian in Palo Alto and surrounding cities. We try to visit a couple times a month.
Haven’t tried entrees other than pasta: the Tagliatelle al Sugo and lasagna have perfectly-​cooked pasta and a richness often lacking other places. Gnocchi are pillowy soft. Tried risotto once and it seemed like it has been rushed: not quite soft enough and a little too watery rather than the drier, creamier, more-​intesnse style I prefer.
Marinated trio (eggplant, zucchini, and sardines) a perfect starter and burrata always delicious. Bread served warm.
Great selection of Italian wines and the owner (?) is very knowledgable about them and happy to help you choose.
Good value too, compared to places with similar pasta in SF.

Restaurant is not very busy during the weekday lunch hour. We were seated outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and environment. Tried their Ravioli all’Aragosta (lobster filled ravioli, zucchini, sundried tomato, broccoli rabe) and an arnold palmer. The ravioli was overly creamy and looked a bit unappetizing when presented. The dish looked almost soupy and was covered in a thick yellow cream. Lobster filling was also not very flavorful and I’m not entirely sure it made with real lobster?
Service however, was attentive, quick and friendly. Our server came to check on us periodically and was careful to refill waters /​ask about refills on our drinks.