Lanza's Restaurant

Lanza's never disappoints! My wife and I have been coming here for our anniversary for the past few years. This has become our go to spot for a nice romantic dinner. The ambiance is great, the food is fantastic (you won't leave hungry), and the service is excellent. Highly reccomend!

5-Star Italian Restaurant. The food was served hot and delicious. The staff are friendly and never ignore what you need. Comfortable padding seating. Highly recommend.

Really enjoyed this place. The “pick your own pasta” option is super cool. We arrived around 4:30PM when the bar opens (Dinner starts at 5PM) to have some drinks and happy hour apps. The cocktails are excellent, the bartender is great, and the baked artichokes w/ mushrooms is a perfect app with some good red wine. They serve hot bread and whipped butter with dinner and the house dressing for salads is delicious. Our waitress was super kind and helpful and answered lots of menu questions. We ended up with the Lanza Special which is a pasta sampler including 2 types of stuffed shells, meat sauce, and penne. The meat sauce and shells are quite tasty. Portions are enormous so you’ll be leaving with some leftovers. For dessert, we tried the affogato and tiramisu. The tiramisu is both plentiful and tasty (definitely need to share). But to take some creative license from The Godfather, “Leave the affogato. Take the tiramisu.”

My hopes were high, then I saw the pizza. It tasted even worse than it looked. The GF crust was fine but the sauce is awful. The broccoli was soggy and had that “I was a recent frozen vegetable” taste. The cheese was that terrible partially melted texture. The chicken did seem to be real chicken though. This pizza was brutally expensive and absolutely not worth it. I should have known better having been raised in the pizza belt, but I’ve had to lower my standards since moving to Appalachia. I have had better pizza in Western PA and that should tell you something. I forced myself to eat it because I didn’t have money to get anything else, and had already made it back to where I was staying. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to eat the rest before I leave as I planned the leftovers as another meal. I’m absolutely kicking myself. I knew as soon as I opened the box it was going to be awful and was not wrong. Maybe this is why they make you eat in the dark if you dine in.

I found this gem on Google under Italian restaurants and it was only 10 miles from Tahoe City where I was staying on a ski vacation. From the minute I walked in the door I was treated with courtesy and kindness by the host and servers. The food was super good (I had the sampler), glass of wine and the minestrone soup was packed with vegetables. The sourdough bread was tasty. It was the perfect meal that hit the spot.

I personally enjoyed their calamari steak. It was unique to me, and the portion was huge with sautéed zucchinis and paste on the side. The beer was good, too, and the server brought it out right away. Simply, I was pleased with the service. But my family did not impressed with the food at all. I see a few others talking about how disappointing the food was too, and my family agree. It is difficult to review this time, but I’d like to say; “they need to clean the restaurant.”Dusty counter and sticky floor stopped us to go to the bathroom.

Not impressive, place is old, dated, could use an upgrade and remodel. Food was unremarkable, service was poor. I’ve been going there when visiting the area, for over 40 years, since I was a teenager. Haven’t been there for about 10 years now. Seems like something has changed. Or maybe my palate has been influenced by the Michelin restaurants I’ve been to over the years. The artichoke appetizer tasted very bland, not recommended. It tasted like artichokes from a jar mixed with mushrooms & roasted red peppers that may have been freshly roasted, some breadcrumbs and heated under a broiler. Very bland, heavy on the artichoke marinade. Chicken Marsala was “sweet”, poorly executed. Tasted like the sauce was made separately without incorporating the chicken flavor, no hints of garlic flavor at all. I’ve cooked this at home so I know what it should taste like, with notes of garlic & herbs. Mostly the Marsala flavor was too strong, perhaps not cooked enough, I could only guess that maybe the sauce was prepared separately from the chicken and mushrooms. The lady serving was very sweet, but she seemed inexperienced. She didn’t explain what was included with my meal so I had to ask after she returned with my drink and update the order. Like she didn’t even know whether I wanted soup or salad. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m not sure if I’ll go back there anymore. It’s not worth it. I did like the little candies included with the check. Best of luck.

Classic and authentic Italian cuisine, just like nonna used to make! Homemade pasta and pasta sauces with the perfect blend of freshness and depth, full of rich flavor. Come early because the line ultimately goes out the door, and for good reason!

Lanza's is a solid spot for Italian food in Lake Tahoe. The bread was the best part. It was crispy outside, soft inside, and warm. The chicken parm was decent, but the portion sizes were huge so it felt like a good deal. Service was friendly and attentive. Worth checking out if you're in the area and want a filling meal.

First timer and not sure how we missed this great Italian place in NLT. We went on a Sat nt, and they have Happy Hr til 6pm, good deals on drinks! We were lucky, no wait for table and we got a nice booth. Started off with their Calamari steak app, and it was good but not great. Their fresh bread and whipped butter was very good. I got the Eggplant parmesan and it was excellent. It was a very large portion with the right amount of fillings: Eggplant, Cheese, Tomatoe sauce, & Cheese. My son got the stuffed pasta shells combo: Meat & Cheese, and he proclaimed it was the best Italian meal he's had in his lifetime. He got side of pene pasta too, which was very good. Entrees come with a side salad, and it was good, but had too much dressing. We were so full, no room for any desert. The service was good and friendly too. We will be back to try some new dishes in the Summer.

Yes order the garlic cheese bread! Yes ask for the soup Trey's way which is minestrone soup with cheese on the bottom and a meatball! Trey took excellent care of us. We had a great time! Portions are huge and the food is delicious

One of the best Italian dinners we've had in years. We arrived early thanks to advice here and got a nice window table at 5:30 on a Wednesday. The parking lot was almost full. Swiftly offered water and ordered drinks and looking around saw it was mostly local residents who knew the wait staff. I had the veal parmesan and it came with a salad. My wife had the eggplant parmesan and declared it the best ever. We enjoyed everything about this dinner and our waiter was friendly and quite efficient. Price with drinks was about $100, the best value of our two weeks at Tahoe. We would go back in a heartbeat. My wife's new mission? Find out the 50 year plus old recipe for the eggplant parmesan. Mahalo.

My mom recommended their eggplant parmesan and it did not disappoint!! This was my second time at this restaurant. I've ordered it twice so far and it is a delicious consistent dish. It has a wonderfully nutty flavor and it's cheesy and comes out hot! This place is popular, and the leftovers are even better! It comes with choice of soup or salad and my friend and I opted for salad. It comes topped with Lanzas own dressing. The meal also comes with complimentary bread (tastes like possibly sourdough) and lots of butter. The ice water also tastes so good but I don't know if that's because I was dehydrated or the water actually does taste better. Anyways, would recommend the eggplant dish.

This is a very cute place, but ... the food quality and presentation is very strange. A lot of the dishes kinda just felt like they have a huge pot of marinara sauce and beef that they just plop into all of the dishes. Come here if you're okay with paying around $30 per dish for HUGE portions of pasta with a little bit of sauce. Some saving graces: I like that all of the entrees come with a side (either the soup or salad)! The soup was so good, and the salad was fresh and a great portion size. The service was super friendly and attentive. FOOD [3/5] ---------------- + Lumaconi (3.5/5) I like the idea of this dish, but the pasta shells were hard and not cooked very well. The beef was also a little dry and not as flavorful as I think it could be. + Custom: Ravioli + House Meat Sauce + Meatballs (2.5/5) If you look at the picture... it just didn't look very appetizing. It feels like a bag of frozen pasta was cooked to heat, with a bunch of sauce plopped on top. The raviolis were good but they weren't life-changing.

A great family atmosphere. Hearty portions, food was very tasty. Service was friendly. We enjoyed our meal.

The food portions were large, however keep in mind their pasta options are all "build your own", with protein costing $7. I ordered a spaghetti with clear broth clam sauce with Italian sausage, and that came out to about $33. When my plate came I was in shock because there were two of the skinniest Italian sausages laying in the middle of my pasta. Looked like someone's small rat dog took a bloody bathroom break on my food. I wished they had placed them in a separate plate or on the side of my plate at least. My party and I came in starving from a long day of traveling, and the sight of that plate nearly made me lose my appetite. However, despite the unappealing display, the flavors were not bad, but not something to write home or bring your friends or family to. My friend ordered their fettuccine Alfredo with chicken that came out to about the same. The chicken was much too salty. Pasta was hard to swallow. Despite being a creamier pasta, they exceeded my expectations as being the first restaurant to make fettuccine Alfredo DRY. I did appreciate how they hire employees from a diverse range of ages, but in terms of their attitude and treatment of other non-white passing customers... I almost did not want to tip. There were many people with larger parties waiting to be seated and I noticed there were bigger benches open, but they were not bussed down even after 20 minutes of my group being seated and ordering our food. I'm starting to question the tastebuds of the high praisers of this restaurant, and recommend them to travel more and actually develop a more matured palette, because this is not food and it's a disgrace to Italian food. Your stomach deserves better.

Pros: Feels like an old Italian restaurant. We didn't wait long for an outside table on a Wednesday evening. Our server was great and the food came out quickly. The house salad dressing is really good. The bread was really good, too. The squash the came with our meal was perfectly cooked. Cons: Hubby and I both ordered Veal dishes. The veal for both of us was over cooked and fatty. His Marsala sauce was good and had lots of mushrooms. My Piccata was gray and the sauce was very oily. The spaghetti with meat sauce on the side tasted like jarred sauce. We were very disappointed. Overall, not a horrible meal, but we probably won't be back. Hopefully this was just a bad night for the chefs.

Was looking for a quick bite after 5 hours on the plane.! The hostess at our hotel suggested Lanza. We were very hungry and this place hit the spot. Traditional old style Italian restaurant. Homemade salad and 3 pasta dishes were very good. The pasta sauce had a homemade flavor. We will be back

Fancier Italian spot in Tahoe. Plates weren't cheap but it is a lot of pasta for what you're getting. Having a salad or soup so the the pasta helps make the cost more justifiable. Overall pasta was good. The butter garlic was not well seasoned but I enjoyed the marinara sauce served with the breaded mozzarella and calamari steak strips. My favorite would be the appetizers. I had a large group of 9 and service was a bit on slower side that night but we got all of our food at relatively the same time. A solid option in Tahoe

You know what, this place is rated below 4 stars and I'm not gonna stand for it. Let me tell you, this is the kinda place that Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta, god rest his soul, would've eaten at in the movie Good Fellas had the been in Lake Tahoe. If you love old school Italian you'll love this place. If you like a restaurant you can take the family to, your date, or have a fun drink at then you're gonna love this place. You can be loud, or you can find a quiet corner, it's a gem and I hope you see what I see. The food is old school Sicilian. It's like a classic car, it's been around for a while, and the fact that so many people appreciate it, it makes me respect where it came from. It's not a super fancy restaurant, which is perfect for me. You can take your family here after you've been turning a wrench all day and they'll take care of you. I got the spaghetti with meat sauce and added in meatballs; I don't regret it. The meat sauce is semi sweet yet savory at the same time. My wife got the Lasagna, it's rich and delicious, so don't feel bad about treating yourself. The chicken piccata marries capers and butter appropriately. The dinner salad is delicious, don't put the Gorgonzola on it unless you absolutely love it, it's not necessary. The pizza is pretty standard, nothing to write home about. Unfortunately, the cheese ravioli could use some work so I'd stay away from it. You're gonna get full here, you're gonna have a nice drink and you're gonna leave satisfied. The service is absolutely impeccable and I love how they haven't deviated from the original recipes. This isn't the kind of place that breaks the bank and they'll take great care of you. It is 100% an homage to the past. They have cute booths and tables their for couples but largest tables for the family. It's dark and has old school lighting fixtures, and I love it. Don't let the rating fool you; Lanza's is legit and you'll get it once you go there.

Amazing family style Italian food. Love the food, the ambience of that classic Italian restaurant and the service. We ordered the mushroom ravioli , eggplant parmigiana and chicken Milanese . Everything was hot and tasty. Overall so good and highly recommend.

Lanza's was the perfect place to escape the winter storm and enjoy a nice cozy dinner! The service was fantastic and very friendly. They brought out the water right away before sitting down, and offered free refills on my coffee! The tiramisu was delicious and probably some of the best I've ever had. The chicken parmesan and salad were also delicious! Definitely recommend and hope to be back

We had the rib eye steak that was delicious! Their pasta was very good also . It does get very crowded during the dinner rush and we had to wait almost 1 hour to get seated; the service was good and the staff was very friendly!

Such a cool place. You expect the Rat Pack or Don Corleone to be dining along with you! For such a big amount of people enjoying this restaurant, the service shines through. Everyone is knowledgeable about menu items, and their recommendations are spot on. I love their spaghetti with meat sauce, others had chicken piccata, lasagna, and various sides, mushrooms, minestrone soup and salads. Simply amazing!

Well, it's the only place in town that's why people go there across from Kings Beach. You sit on something that you don't know if it's even hold you up is that bad?. but don't be worried about their prices their website their their spaghetti stuff is 1995 when you get there it's 2790 50 happy hour oh God don't be crazy. You get a dollar off of your wine or whatever you have and then, if you want a real cocktail, they don't give you no dollar off even., my wife had spaghetti with marinar I told her if you don't like it send it back, baking a glass container well come with it on a big plate, I give that Disha a two I give my wife's dish one , My daughter had to veal no less than $31 worth and she could hardly finish all even half of it. It was looked terrible and was terrible all I gotta say to the bank.

Still thinking of the Lanza Sampler, the food is sooooo good. The service was great. Our waiter was the best. We've gone to Kings Beach many times, and we just found this gem. Will definitely be going back.

The food was delicious, but there was so much we could have split a meal! The service was fast and the staff was very friendly and it was a cozy atmosphere.

Writing this review just to praise our waitress Heather! She went out of her way to make our experience a special one! We heard it's Lanza's 50th anniversary this year (they established in 1974) and she has been with them for 25 years. Congrats Lanza's! Your delicious food and friendly team deserve many stars! Yelp Friends! Try their eggplant parmigiana and Lumaconi dish! Both great and tasty choices!

Lanza's is the quintessential red checkered tablecloth "red sauce" joint. As a 3rd generation east coast Italian American, this place exceeded expectations for solid Italian American cuisine. (It's a specific nostalgic comfort that I haven't been able to find easily on the west coast.) I ordered the eggplant Parmesan and my wife ordered the stuffed shells sampler (half meat and half cheese). Both were flavorful and well cooked, with plenty of pasta! The house dressing on the side salad was also great, as was the sourdough bread they brought to the table. The entrees are large though; there will be leftovers! Next time we will split one so we can try a dessert. (I wanted to try the spumoni.)

This place is so comfy. Coming in out of the cold to the smell of Italian food can't be beat. Love the red sauce, I don't know what it is different about it but it's delicious.

We visited this place looking for good food before we left the kings beach area... the place is convenient but it was not worth eating at. The food is NOT homemade or from scratch- the red sauce that i had the garlic was burnt... the pasta was cold, laced with starch and the noodles OVER cooked mush . The veal was tough and over cooked. My mom had the fettuccine alfredo which was jarred cream sauce over very well done noodles laced with starch ... so gross.Nothing was tossed , this is not traditional serving of this food at all... it's in the kitchen that's never cooked... My father had the penn baked pasta, the pasta was not baked it was put under a broiler some of the noodles were so hard you could not eat them and the rest was dried out with a lot of burnt cheese on top. The atmosphere was disgusting and old places could be OK however this is just filthy and dirty the wood benches that you sit on our crooked and the cushions well in my seat I felt like I should be reclining let's just put it that way the waitress could take a huge pass on as well, her eye rolling and loud mouth... this place is here to collect your money , the food was awful and honestly I would NEVER SUGGEST TO ANYONE THIS IS A GOOD VALUE OR GOOD FOOD.

I can't say enough about the food and service at Lanzas! 10 stars in my book! My friend and I had a gift certificate to try Lanza's while in town. I grew up in an Italian home where my dad and grandmother cooked Italian food to die for every night. I don't usually have high hopes for Italian food outside of the northeast where I'm from. At Lanza's I felt like I was eating dinner at home for the first time in 25 years since my dad passed away. The service was super fast, the bread and whipped butter came out quick, followed by each course at exactly the right time. Great! The food that followed was epic! We had the calamari steak strips app served with warm marinara. Tender and delicious! The house salad was perfect with a house dressing that I could use everyday. We both got the house special stuffed lumaconi- baked large pasta shells stuffed with seasoned beef topped with cheese. A good sized portion and Omg- so delicious! We finished it off with a cappuccino and shared a giant piece of Tiramisu. The cappuccino was the real deal and the perfect accompaniment to the desert- so delicious my friend and I were laugh/crying. A meal so good restores faith in humanity! I asked to meet the owner in order to shake his hand. I can't wait to return!

Big portions in a cozy setting. Detailed breakdown below: **Service, 2.5/5** Took us 30 minutes to get seated despite having visible open tables. Service once we were seated was fine though. **Price & portion, 4/5** Prices get pretty high at about $25-30+ per dish after tax and tip, but the portions are big and can probably last you two meals. **Presentation of the food, 4/5** Not pretty, but very hearty and homey. **Taste of the food, 5/5** - Build your own angel hair with Alfredo sauce and Italian sausage: the angel hair was perfectly cooked, the Alfredo sauce had great flavor and wasn't too overwhelming, and this was one of the best Italian sausages I've had. The flavor and spice was fantastic and balanced out the creamy sauce really well. - Chicken marsala: incredible flavor in the sauce! - Minestrone soup: packed full of veggies and flavor, super hearty for a cold night. - House bread: honestly so good, still warm and perfectly crispy.

Ordered food to go- Lanza Sampler and Calamari steak dinner, cheesy garlic bread & meatball appetizer Food was just ok. Upsetting part was that THEIR PRICES ARE 1/3 higher than posted here on Yelp! Instead of 21$ for Calamari it was 29.95! Sampler was 27.95 and appetizer was 11.95 Please update your Yelp menu prices so that customers know what to expect to spend.

Pleasant experience for dinner with 8 people for a birthday girl. I have recently been told I should try gluten free and they have an extensive gluten free menu so that was pretty cool, I somehow failed to take a picture of it. I had the minestrone soup to start and I realllly liked it! Very hearty and filling. For dinner I ordered some type of roasted chicken with veggies dish in a wine sauce maybe? I really liked mine. The zucchini and yellow squash were so good. Everyone that ordered pasta dishes were happy and they were good portions. My friend that ordered rib eye was unsatisfied, lots of fat on the cut and not as tasty as she'd hoped. Another friend ordered a pizza and thought it was bland but I tried one little bite and thought it was good so I dunno! I however did NOT like my lemon drop martini. It was too strong. Personal preference. Service was not bad. I would come back here.

A solid traditional red checked table cloth Italian American place. Our party loved the chicken parm. Chicken Marsala and Piccata solid. Generous portions. Cozy and homey atmosphere.

Being raised by a first generation Italian family nothing comes closer than Lanza's! Best pasta ever!

This is an old school Italian restaurant from back in the day. The food was decent but not much flavor. The servers were friendly and our food came fairly quickly but not sure this is a place I would come back to.

The restaurant has a great environment. Old Tahoe to a Tee. The service started out slow but got better as the evening wore on. The food was good but not great. I love the dinner salad and the house dressing is great. I had the calamari steak and it was good but a little bland. Still worth the visit.

I've driven past Lanza's for years but I'm not in Kings Beach often so I've never stopped. But when friends suggested we go there for a girls night dinner, I was excited to try. We got there at 4:45 and sat at the bar since they don't start dinner service til 5. I got the Lanza's lemonade and it was a delicious blended drink that was impossible to drink slowly. We then ordered garlic cheese bread and garlic chips, which we got once we were seated promptly at 5. Fair warning: the garlic chips is basically garlic cheesiness on pizza crust, and it's the size of a pizza so it's huge...very good but a lot of food! The garlic cheese bread was also very good and even better with hot marinara. Since we had so many appetizers, we couldn't really enjoy the hot bread and butter which was unfortunate because it was very yummy. Next we all got dinner salads and added Gorgonzola and omg, so delicious! I could probably have that salad every day. For dinner most of us got the Lanza's sampler which was incredible. We decided to share a tiramisu and cheesecake between the 5 of us (despite being so full) and both were insanely delicious! Basically, I can't believe I haven't been here before and will definitely be my go to when up in the North Shore!

Made our way up to Tahoe for our annual summer dinner, did not disappoint as usual! Went a little early and had a cocktail in the bar area and put our names in for dinner as they get busy as soon as they open. I don't need to look at the menu as I dream about the meatballs all year long! They come as a side dish, two large meatballs in a rich sauce. Be sure to smother in the Parmesan on the table! And no, Mama Lanza didn't share the recipe although I wish she would! :) My friends shared a bit of their pasta and raviolis with me and in addition to the hot bread, crispy salad with extra Gorgonzola on top I had a full meal! Their house red wine went perfectly as usual and unfortunately no room for dessert! Lanzas has been here in Kings beach since 1974 and is family operated making authentic food and keeping everyone happy!

We came to Lanza's twice for happy hour during our visit to Tahoe. Great atmosphere and friendly staff. We had the garlic cheesy bread roma style and the baked artichoke. We also had the house salad and soup. Everything was delicious!

If you're looking to be overlooked at a restaurant, this is the spot for you. Visiting Tahoe for the first time, I was eager to try the recommended pizza here. 2 stars is what I feel is right. Location was cute, the restaurant it self felt like an old time pizza restaurant. I think the best part was that when we were walking out of the restaurant it was snowing. The food, a simple medium pep pizza and baked penne, was decent enough. However, the service left much to be desired. Our waitress barely checked on us after taking our order, and when she did, it felt rushed (note: she only checked in on us once) I did notice she was walking to our table and took a quick turn- so yes I did see that. Waiting to ask for refills and inquire about a wine selection, she seemed more focused on other tables. Getting her attention for a to-go box and the check took about an additional 20 minutes. The lackluster service left me with no desire to return for dine-in, and I'd hesitate to even consider takeout in the future. Overall, a disappointing experience.

Drove up from Reno with a friend and was not a long drive. We arrived just about happy hour starting so the bar area was just a little crowded but we got seated right away. I started off with a Strawberry-Jalapeno margarita from the bar area and it was made just perfect without being to spicy. After being seated and given menus our waiter brought us some warm bread and butter to start off. The menu had a lot of choices for a vegetarian as well as meat eaters. We decided on the toasted raviolis for the appetizer and the plate was huge. Definitely big enough for 2 and was delicious. Next my salad arrived and it was a very generous size as well. My friend ordered the lasagna and I ordered the eggplant parmesan. It was interesting how they bring the dishes piping hot to the table and transfer them to the plate when they set the food down. Once again, I was not disappointed with the portions. The food was perfect, just like homemade should be like. I had not had a eggplant this delicious in years. My friend could not believe how great his lasagna was too, He was able to eat almost the whole entire meal it was so good. For dessert we decided to share a piece of cheesecake and once again it was a generous size and we both were so stuffed after we ate. On a rating a 5 star for the food 5 star for our waiter 5 star for the drinks at the bar I will definitely go here again we enjoyed it so much. If you like Italian food, then you must give this cute little place a try.

Don't be shocked by the price as it's a bit high, but the portions are large so the price could almost be divided by two. Also factoring mountain prices it's pretty normal. We ordered spaghetti with meat sauce, fettuccini with Alfredo add chicken, spaghetti with garlic butter sauce add chicken and Angela hair with clear clam sauce. All we're pretty good, but nothing spectacular. Only complaint is there could be more sauce on some of the pasta. Only the spaghetti with meat sauce had a good ratio of noodles to sauce.

Since the cabin we rented was nearby and we saw lines for this place, we decided to give them a shot despite a bad experience 20 years ago. Maybe they changed and the food got better. Sad to say, it had not and is the same mediocre Americanized Italian food as before. Big portions to be sure, but bland sauces, starchy pastas and poor presentation. We put our name on the list as they don't take reservations. Two preteens at the front desk said it was a 40 minute wait at 7:15 on a Friday night, but come back in 30 as they may call early. So we did and they said 10-15 minutes more, wait in the bar. The bar was quaint with big screen TV's and friendly service. Two tables were missing chairs so part of our party had to stand. We got a bottle of Joel Gott Sauv Blanc for $40 for the meal and were called within 5 minutes. My brother in law liked their old fashioned. Some people were eating in the bar or on picnic tables outside near the Safeway. They sat us inside at a half booth with two chairs and the decor is out of the 50's with red checked tablecloths. The waitress was nice and fairly prompt. We started with the cheesy pepperchini bread which was pretty tasty (they also give you free bread). Then came green salad with their homemade Italian dressing smothering it, which was too vinegary. I ordered the half fettuccini with Alfredo and half ravioli with meat sauce. It came out with a spoonful of sauce on each side, not even mixed in. No seasoning or salt, just pasta and a blob of sauce. The raviolis did not taste homemaid and were not cooked enough. Others had chicken parm and veal parm, both said they were not that good. I give Lanza's a 4 for atmosphere and a 2 for food. Not sure what the hype is for this place as it's not cheap either. Guess family tradition wins out but we will not be back.

Was expecting so much more. Great atmosphere but typical blah Italian food. Nothing spectacular. Pizza, meatballs, pasta, chicken picatta, salad and bread were all just "ok". Great service!! And it was absolutely packed!! Just wish the food had dazzled, and it didn't. Oh well we still had a really good time

I come up to north Lake Tahoe a few times a year. Lanzas makes the best minestrone soup I've ever had. I love it here. The neighborhood charm. The old school style classic Italian American food. I got Easy kind service, from a family owned small business.

Visited from out of state and heard good things about Lanza's! I do agree that the food was very good. Ate the ravioli's, chicken parmesan and spaghetti/meat sauce, everything was delicious. Only disappointment was level of service we had at restaurant. Not sure if it was location of where we were sat or wait staff serving area, but had a hard time keeping drinks filled and just being attentive. We did notice one table got lions share of service while the other tables in the same space got neglected. One table even got up and just left after waiting for an hour at their table. Hopefully this is not common, but service is an area we have noticed that has changed and gotten worse at restaurants lately. Would recommend the food 100% every time and hope that the service was just off that night.

We stopped in here on a recent Tahoe vacation. The place is a cozy little Italian restaurant with good service. The table was kind of cramped for the four of us (maybe a little TOO cozy!), but the service was quick and accurate. We waited (not too long) in the bar for our table. The cocktails were eminently forgettable, though the service was good. Once seated, we ordered the Lumaconi, the spaghetti with clam sauce and the calamari steak. The pasta dishes were exceptional! Well prepared, and well presented and delicious as well. The calamari was a little disappointing. It was on the tough side, and, frankly, lacked any distinctive flavor. We'll give that one a pass next time. In general, we were happy with the place, and the serving sizes were generous. The price was fair and we left happy enough. We'd make this a qualified recommendation. Do stop in, but don't expect to be truly wowed.

Very good food! Very friendly staff! Cozy place. We love their salad with the special dressing, it is really the best and I crave for it! We also got angel hair pasta with clam sauce... yummy! I love that they put a lot of clams. My son loved their chicken fettuccine and hubby enjoyed their chicken Parmesan. Will come back again!

We eat here every summer while on vacation. It's our favorite. The food is delicious every time.

Seated us quickly (That's the one star). Brought us water then nothing for a while. Finally, someone came over to get drinks and appetizer order but we already knew what we wanted for entrees since we had so much time. The food took forever to arrive. I ordered the Chicken Piccata. The sauce was actually alright. The veggies ok. The chicken, was overcooked and they were the tiniest pieces. 3 little sad pieces. Oh, and the spaghetti that comes with the entree was no good either. NO FRESH PARM!!!??? One of the orders was their version of mac and cheese and it was crunchy. Mac and cheese is not supposed to be crunchy. They took very long to get the check. We were charged for our complimentary appetizer. There were 6 of us but 2 were children that we shared our food with because they told us they didn't want to eat when we were placing orders. So really only 4 orders and they still added gratuity to the check. Just the worst. They have the autographs on the wall that are pretty cool. Those celebrity guests probably got the special treatment. The best part of the experience was talking to one of the locals and the kind hostess up front. I have been to great Italian food restaurants...sadly, this is not one of them. The Olive Garden has it over on this one. Never again for us Lanza's. But I do wish you luck because the history on the wall deserves it.

Lanzas is an awesome family business with excellent fair. They are quick to serve and very friendly. My go to in North Shore.

Crap! Embarrassing food Service was fine and friendly, but the food is TERRIBLE! The Linguini was like a huge pile of cheap dried box pasta from Costco, the clam white sauce was junk, no elevation it was like someone went to Safeway and bought a bunch of bottles of canned/bottled claims. Almost zero fresh garlic, not a hit of white wine, just an oversized pile of crummy, non-al dente dry pasta. Pizza is a disaster - very "American" like a Topino Party Pizza from the frozen section except far to think. Nothing like a Neapolitan pizza which is the gold standard in Italy. The "Margherita" was a joke. This is not the Queen Margherita version it is the 7-11 version. Never EVER go here. If you want Pizza go to Jiffy. Oh or make a Red Barron Pizza ( #1 in frozen pizza ) it will far surpass this junk. Seriously I make way better Italian than this place. With my little Atlas 150 and other home made things using Sierra Gold seafood it makes this place look sorry. Maybe they should watch Lidia Bastianich and take some notes. For this price-point it is a total FAIL! Tutti a tavola a mangiare - NEVER EVER! Non mangiare mai qui!

Great Italian comfort food and very hospitable team! Stopped in to grab dinner after a long day of snowboarding. We had Angel hair pasta with sausage and meatballs. Tasted so good and fresh! Literally like something you would have at your Italian mates home. Veal park was also very good and tasty. I would definitely recommend that you come hungry as the portion sizes are quite big. Pro tip: Parking was very busy, grab the first spot you see when you pull into the parking lot.

Amazing gluten free pasta. I was impressed with their willingness to provide a GF menu with multiple options, excellent service! Our party of 6 felt welcomed and had an amazing time. Highly recommend.