A hidden diamond!

Welcome to Spaggi's Restaurant in Upland, CA. We pulled in at just about opening time and had no wait. Upon being seated we had waters with lemon put on the table before we even had a chance to ask! I mean I actually never even saw the host/server (they were just opening and only had one person working at the time) put waters on the table. The atmosphere was very inviting and warm. It was like being at someones home. After we got our waters, the waiter brought over some bread with a Kalamata olive spread. That was the first time I have ever been somewhere that didn't just offer the usual cold bricks of butter or the olive oil/balsamic vinegar duet. (Even Spago's only offers butter). Nevertheless the spread was very nice and went very well the two types of warm bread that was served. Very quickly again the waiter came back and recited the specials to us that were probably about the length of the Declaration of Independence... off the top of his brain! Very impressive!





On the specials list we decided to start off with the beet and heirloom tomato salad with goat cheese and balsamic vinegar dressing.



Before our salads arrived the Chef/Owner of the restaurant came to greet us at our table. He was very welcoming and he carried on a simple, yet pleasant dialogue with our daughter. He learned of her age and food she liked and especially wanted to know what she liked for dessert. He made sure that we were always welcome here and appreciated us for coming. It was a great start to our dining experience. Now onto the food!!

I (Brian) had my salad with feta cheese because goat cheese tastes like....well I don't care for it very much. The salad presentation was very nice and was like a sandwich of beets and cheese that was surrounded in blankets of lettuce. My only issue with the salad was that the dressing was not sweet enough to help counter the earthiness of the lettuce and beets. Myndi did not particularly like the "sandwich tops" of mozzarella that encompassed the beets and goat cheese. So overall we rated this salad with 3 STARS.

For the main entree Myndi had the Fettuccine Primavera. (Flat noodles with seasonal fresh vegetables, sautéed with garlic and shallots, in a delicate white wine cream sauce). She couldn't be happier, because usually she gets a mound of noodles with three broccoli on it. This was going to be good and it was... 4 stars!





I decided to get the Cioppino (Slipper lobster tail, scallops, shrimp, calamari and a selection of fresh fish
in a light and tangy saffron tomato broth with white wine) I was so excited to get this. Many places don't serve this dish and it is one of my favorites. The flavors were very nice. I would have like to have had more and larger scallops along with some large chunks of bread to soak up the broth. When I as done eating all the "meaty" parts of the dish I was left with nothing but a bowl of saffron soup. So overall I give it 4 stars.

And for our daughter we ordered the macaroni and cheese. They used rigatoni style pasta and the cheese sauce was very "adult" in flavor and ingredients. It was very nice. She also got free ice cream after dinner, which we thought was very thoughtful.

Overall, this restaurant was sooo pleasant and wonderful and will come back many more times!