3751 Redwood Hwy, San Rafael CA 94903
(415) 492-9100
Parking: in parking lot
Hours: Mon-Sat 11:30am to 10pm, Sun 11am to 9:30pm
http://www.ristorantelatoscana.com/
Last Visited: August 13, 2006
Food: 3 to 4 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Service: 3 stars
Price: $$ to $$$$
Enter Ristorante La Toscana and you’ll find the bar to your immediate left and the dining room to your right. It’s a bit dark inside the foyer, but it reminds me of classic Italian restaurants. The restaurant is known for its classic Tuscan style dinners and has been around since 1985. For many years, I heard that they serve good food, but I hadn’t actually had the chance to try it until now.
The main dining area is separated by a wood wait station. The walls are sponged in light orange and cream and the floors are carpeted with a dark flowered carpet. The ceiling is high and there is a skylight. The chandeliers are rather old in style, but I suppose it adds to the feeling of classic Italian dining – you could say it takes you back about a decade or two ago. The tables are covered with white tablecloths and large white paper sits under each place setting. You can tell that the place is a bit on the older side. There are large plants placed around the edges of the room. The chairs are somewhat old looking with the rose colored plastic seat and wood back. However, it still has a charm about it.
The staff primarily consisted of the owner who hosted this evening, a middle aged male server, and many young women, all appropriately dressed in black with the exception of the young lady hostess.
The menu consists of very classic Italian dishes – pasta, veal, prime rib, rack of lamb. The dishes are fairly priced, and quite a bargain when you see the portions. Looking around, I noticed that during this dinner service, most of the patrons were fairly senior. There were few tables of younger people – whether adults or children.
- Minestrone Soup – The minestrone contained vegetables in a tomato based soup, but the soup had an almost creamy color. There were pieces of zucchini, kidney beans, bacon, and much more. It was a hearty and rich bowl of soup that is sure to fill your stomach. Very good. Cup $4, Bowl $5.50
- Gnocchi della Casa with choice of sauce – These house made gnocchi were delicious. Fluffy pillows indeed. I selected Bolognese sauce - the meat was tender and the tomatoes had cooked down until thick. They use lots of herbs in this sauce, so I did find myself picking some larger pieces of herbs out, but overall, it was delicious. The portion is quite generous, or perhaps it’s just very filling. Other sauces available include tomato and basil, pesto, and panna. Parmesan cheese was served on the side and available for me to add. See additional comments below. $12
- Rack of Lamb – Four bones worth of lamb are served in a creamy brown sauce with Swiss chard on the side and also a side of potato wedges that were baked. The potato wedges, skin still on them, were delicious – crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Very yummy. The Swiss chard was cooked until tender and lightly seasoned. The cream sauce for the lamb was flavored just right, and the lamb was truly cooked to medium – pink in the middle. I was quite impressed. Very good. They also offer this dish for two at double the price. I don’t know why that’s offered, but maybe that would be a good question to ask next time. $22
The only thing about my food that was surprising was the gnocchi leftovers. Although they made for a terrific meal the following day, I was disappointed to find a piece of metal from the scrubber used to clean pans and pots. Fortunately, I had detected it in my mouth since I was on alert detecting those large herb pieces. I called Ristorante La Toscana and told them of my finding, and they assured me they would change out all of the scrubbers. He mentioned that I could tell the maitre d’ the next time I came in and they would treat me to dinner. However, he didn’t take down my name or anything like that.
Overall, I had a good dining experience. I would say the service was a little odd though. With the results of my calling to alert them of the scrubber, as well as the actual service received, I dropped the four star service rating down to three. During my actual visit, the service was good right until we had finished the meal. Then it seemed as though we waited for ten minutes before the bus person came to clear our table. Another ten minutes floated by as we waited for our server to come back with the check. This pretty much put a damper to the service part of the experience, but by watching what was happening at the tables around me, I leave their service at three stars. One table was unhappy about something and was given a free cup of soup. Another table had received their check when one of the guests decided to have coffee, and the server was kind enough to take the check back and redo it. Both of these responses led to holding their service rating to three stars. Unfortunately, the thing that also dropped the rating was the lack of being genuine when it comes to sincerity. l just didn’t feel that our server was being real. The falseness behind her general style of service was so high that you could feel it – and that just isn’t good.
Try out La Toscana for good classic Italian food. Keep an eye on the food itself and look forward to large quantities.
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