Stella

There is a tendency at nice restaurants in the US right now to put sugar on everything, and that was my experience here. I ordered the pan seared salmon. It was cooked *perfectly*, but all I could taste was the sweetness of the miso vinaigrette. Total overkill.

This was a favorite place of mine the past few years and it's only gotten better with the new chef and changes they've made. They now have full service waiters and more seating options. The menu choices became fewer but there is nothing on it that disappoints. The cauliflower is a staple and a must. The Tartine bread starter (not shown) was divine and great for sharing. The halibut had so much flavor! They have unique combinations of ingredients that complement each other really well.

I went here for breakfast and holy moly, the latte I ordered was the most delicious and perfectly made latte I have ever had. The gal working that day definitely knew how to perfectly steam the milk. She was very friendly and attentive as well. The food was great, a little bland but still tasty. No complaints here and I will definitely check them out for other dishes the next time I’m back that way.

Excellent food and a great wine list with good recommendations from the server. Pasta was made in house and was delicious.

Amazing restaurant, the Chef, Danelo is fabulous. We tried every dish and every appetizer and it was all amazing. We had a party of 12 had to make reservations. It is a very small restaurant with big taste. This place will not disappoint. Great friendly service. A+ in my book.

My experience at Stella was overall pleasant. I came here after a long day snowboarding at Palisades Tahoe. Overall, I was let down by my Short Rib dish, but the table trio and little gem salad were delicious. I found the short rib too lacking the flavor described in the dish. It also was dry. But the roasted mistake mushrooms and other items were very good. I know my friends enjoyed the burgers a lot. I guess I just ordered incorrectly! I would return to Stella to try the food again.

I stayed at Gravity Haus for a couple days this week, and ate at Stella twice for breakfast and once for dinner. I’d definitely eat here again, especially if I stay in Truckee again. The breakfast on the first day was really nice! The coffee was pretty good even though it was self-serve. I got the traditional breakfast and loooooved the potatoes and bacon. The potatoes were particularly crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The scrambled eggs were bland and overcooked though. That night I had dinner there, got the seared scallops which were probably the best cooked scallops I’ve had in a long time. We also had the truffle gnocchi, rack of lamb, rice pudding, and cheesecake. Overall, the food was excellent but each thing had a small miss short of being absolutely perfect. For example, some of the greens in the scallop entree was overly salty or that the cheesecake’s brown butter crumble had some bigger granules of sugar that made the experience gritty and felt like pieces of sand. Still highly recommend this place though. Then the following morning we stopped by to have breakfast. I got the traditional breakfast and was a bit surprised. The waitress (a different person from yesterday) noticed my reaction and asked if I had any questions. I told her that the scrambled eggs looked better compared to yesterday’s. She explained that it’s a different chef (and yes it was). I enjoyed the eggs more and the bread. The bacon was still good, maybe a bit crispier if some people like that more. The potatoes were less crispy and fluffy though. Still good and would come again! I was only disappointed that their coffee machine wasn’t working when we had breakfast the second day. My husband and I each ordered the berry smoothie though and found it to be good and not too sweet! Both days the service was very attentive and nice. Chef Watkins came to talk to patrons at dinner service as well.

We’ve dined at restaurants around the world and we were delighted with the creativity of the chef and the talent in the kitchen. The service was excellent too. We started with the oysters which were yummy. We followed up with the miso eggplant appetizer which was amazing. We’ve never tasted anything like it. We highly recommend giving it a try. It packs a punch flavor-wise so we recommend splitting it. We opted for the bone marrow entree with chimchurri sauce which was not as we expected. We’ve had it simply served with salt so the acidic flavor of the sauce and salad was unexpected. We also had the octopus which was truly delicious. This we also recommend. It was a lovely combination of flavors and textures. We ended with the deconstructed cheesecake which they served with a candle in honor of my birthday. Tasty stuff. We’d talked to a few folks in Truckee who had mixed reviews of the restaurant which made us nervous about our choice but we were very happy with the choice. Don’t let the casual atmosphere mislead you. The menu is creative and well worth checking out.