Vivian C.
Yelp
We were their first guests for lunch. Neither of us had ever been there before, but when driving through Wellesley, we've both noticed it in the past, and so we took the opportunity of a $20 for $40 voucher deal to make our first visit.
A 2 hour parking lot is available out back for patrons of this block of businesses, which was really nice. The entrance to the lot is available from Cross Street, and it exits conveniently onto Weston Road. From here, the entrance to Alta Strada takes you past their small patio of three tables and into their take-out market in the basement where they have a case of prepared foods or will make a sandwich or pizza for you, amongst other things. They're open down there from 11am-9pm daily, so they're an option for either lunch or dinner, or anything else inbetween. The bathrooms are located on the same floor, a long stairwell from the rather sizeable dining room at street level.
Service here was a pleasure. I love it when specific options are made when we've made it evident that we are are interested in it, and we ended up with a most enjoyable meal. My water glass never went empty, although I'm not sure when or how often it was refilled. She also offered to pace out our dishes for a more leisurely meal, if we were interested, and to make better use of the real estate of our two top table. Throughout our meal, we were probably serviced by at least 3 individuals.
Sour dough in the form of a generous chunk arrived shortly to tame the edge of our hunger along with a nice pour of olive oil.
For starters, from the antipasti table at 3 for $15 we went with her highly touted Summer Corn with Smokey Bacon, and added the Chilled Calamari with Cucumber and Citrus, and the Roasted Beets with Grana Padano. With them arrived a gift from the kitchen of fat sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella along with a pair of beautifully grilled toast. All were yummy, yet we had plenty of leftovers since we knew we still had two courses yet to go.
The Fingerling Potato, Spring Onion and Taleggio pizza $15 was thin crust sliced in four, sans tomato sauce (which was considerately pointed out to us). With it we were served fresh plates and utensils. Not quite cracker thin or crisp, the pizza had a light crisp chew, and was quite good. My only suggestion would be a slightly longer visit in the oven to brown it a tad more.
The Mushroom Filled Lune with More Mushrooms, Truffle Oil and Parmigiano $21 that was our server's top choice from the menu even though she herself is not a mushroom lover (hey, me neither!), was helpfully served in two dishes for us, with fresh ground pepper or Parmesan offered separately (Cheese, please!). Four pockets of fungus apiece enrobed in creamy cheesy sauce and lots of the thinly sliced mushrooms which I extrapolated to be a bit light as an entree on its own. This was good too, but I restrained myself in order to save room for dessert.
Reminding ourselves that there is a second stomach for sweets, we decided to order two whole desserts: Millefoglie; chocolate cream, sweet cherries, crunchy pastry $11 and House Made Gelati and Sorbetti $6. That day's options were Hazelnut, Vanilla, Chocolate and Peach, Watermelon, and we could have two scoops. We went with Hazelnut and Peach, and asked if they could be served in separate dishes so that the flavors wouldn't meld.
Our taste buds were truly delighted! The flavors were so intense and so good, the coolness of the treat melting easily and gloriously on our tongues. Sure, the scoops were on the small side, but the flavors made up for the portions. I don't normally order such a simple dessert in restaurants, but I was so glad that my DC had suggested it.
The Millefoglie was good too, but while we thought it was nice that they had put in the effort to punch out the pit from the cherries, it didn't make quite the same impact on us as the frozen scoops had.
Even after the voucher, it cost us each $33+ out of pocket. Sure, we each took home a doggie bag, but still, it is a bit pricey for lunch since the prices and menu are about the same as for dinner except for the swap of luncheon sandwiches for dinner time entrees, a buck extra for some of the pastas, and a few additional options on both sides.
4 stars for lunch, 4.5 for dinner, rounded up to 5. I'll base my rating on dinner even though we actually came for lunch.
Reminder to self for future reference:
(other recommendations made by our server)
Salads
Grilled Scottish Salmon and Spinach Salad with Pancetta Vinaigrette, Almond Pesto $18
Sicilian Tuna Salad "Italian Riveria Style"...like Nicoise but better $15
Pasta
Fedellini with Tiny Clams, Smashed Cherry Tomatoes and Parsley $22
Dolci
Mascarpone Cheesecake; Lemon Curd and Vanialla Tuille $10
Butterscotch Budino; Brown Sugar Cookie $8