Gale’s

Went back for my Mom’s birthday and had a blast. I guess I was a bit harsh in 2012 with my writing. I’d say this is still my favorite local Italian joint. RSVP necessary.
Great place for smaller intimate parties, or dates, anniversary. Zuppe di Pesce (appetizer with variety of seafood in a soup) is delicious! Bruschetta appetizer was also delicious! I can’t say enough about the coconut cake slice they have… its been over 5 years, and that slice is still as delicious as a I remembered it. The cake was so soft, and it light in coconut taste with the frosting. Pizza with goat cheese, lasagna, and mushroom ravioli was hit on our table. The quantity and quality of their seafood seem to have improved since 2012.
My favorites: Bruschetta, Zuppe di Pesce, mushroom ravioli, and coconut cake.
Everything is very rich in diary, cheese and ingredients. Not a great place for dairy allergy or lactose intolerance, but they have options.
The restaurant manager makes his rounds to everyone and makes sure everyone is enjoying their time. Its really nice to learn about Gale’s history, the family and such. Very local feel, and everyone feels connected to the restaurant.
Brooke was our server and she was fantastic. Since its a very intimate restaurant, its not great for really big groups, maybe 6 – 8 is considered extremely large here.
Parking: Small lot in the back shared among all the 3 – 5 antique stores. Or street parking. Located in South Pasadena off Fair Oaks, NOT walking distance of old town pasadena’s festivities.

Stiffed on specific table reservation. Then they followed with sticking us in poor location with poor service and substandard food preparation. Hope the group that stole our table spends lots of money there because they’ve lost our business and our company’s.

Great Italian in an industrial chic atmosphere. Corkage $ 10 but a fairly decent wine selection and reasonably priced. Salmon and pasta great. Spinach lasagna very filling and tasty. Chicken Parmesan was tender. Bread good. Rob was an awesome waiter. Very helpful and friendly.

Solid Italian place. Portions are hearty. We had the goat cheese and pesto pizza and the orecchiette verdure with sausage. The pizza was just okay and the pasta dish was tasty. Adding the sausage really made a difference in the dish. They were pretty busy on a Sunday night. Service was a little lacking maybe because of that. One of the cups on my table had hair in it. And when my pasta dish first came out, the sausage was missing. On both occasions our waiter promptly fixed the problems.

Its been awhile since ive been back to Gale’s and the first experience was a good one and today’s review was specifically with Fletcher our waiter. Fletcher is supposedly a waiter that has been working here for quite sometime now and although it has been awhile since Ive been back the party I was a regulars patrons of this establishments.
I arrived a bit late and my boyfriend and friends had already put in there orders and when i arrived I had said I wanted the mushroom ravioli and then asked after what he would suggest as a popular dish here for vegetarians, I noticed that he didn’t feel like offering suggestions as he quickly just said «whatever you picked is popular here». His arrogant attitude threw me off and I just went with it. That was my first negative feeling coming from this guy.
When all our entrée showed up, my boyfriend asked him what happened to the burrata dish he had ordered and he said «we sold out of those. what do you want now?» I mean, shouldn’t you let us know that it was sold out and shouldn’t you be apologetic for not letting us know?
Anyhow my boyfriend is typically the nicest person, but he use to work in the service industry so he really understand for these servers but Fletcher’s attitude was just ridiculous, even he could’nt deal with it.
anyhow this prob ruined my experience here and wouldn’t want to come back due to this horrific experience.

Cute Italian restaurant with a nice menu selection of classic pastas and entrees. The wine selection was nice in addition to their full bar. Service was traditionally classic and atmosphere was homely. Gets busy so I would recommend reservations around dinner. Parking is available in the private lot in the back of the restaurant.

This was our first time at Gale’s. Overall was 5 star. Will definitely go back! Noise level is a little on the loud side because the sound bounces off of the solid walls and floors, but maybe my hearing is getting bad! Overall, the atmosphere is very nice and relaxing. :-)
Service:
Service was excellent. Made reservations and was late (should have called), but the hostess was very nice and seated us within 10 minutes. Our service at the table was also excellent.
Food:
I had the Lasagna Bolonese and it was very good. Lots of meat, noodles were just right. My wife had the Clam Liguini, which had a lot of clams and linguini. She was able to finish. Had dessert, apple crisp and crème brûlée, which were deliciious.
Like i said, we will be back.

Service — servers are definitely very attentive and friendly
Atmosphere — the place is cute, relaxing, and they even dim the lights for dinner
Food — never disappoints.
Hands down they have one of the best capellini pomodoro’s here!
Rigatoni bolognese (I believe that’s what it’s called) was also delicious for a typical meat sauce pasta
Fettuccini carbonara — I changed mine to linguini instead. This was also an excellent dish. I’m not a huge bacon fan but really enjoyed it in this dish.
I love how every pasta dish also comes with a small starter salad.
Additionally, I love how I didn’t have to ask for olive oil and vinegar and how they just automatically brought that for our bread.
Great portion size also! i

Beautiful setting, delicious food, charming service — but Gayle’s is yet another SoCal restaurant that made me feel rushed. Some of our party of six were still eating, taking their time to savour a delicious meal, while others’ plates were being whisked away.
Management, please note — not only does this not make your guests feel relaxed, it is just plain rude.

Beautiful meal! The tomato fennel soup was delicious and balanced. The spaghetti and (arrabiata) sauce fresh and enticing. The dessert (créme brûlée) soft and silky. The service was absolutely amazing!
Love this place!

Wow, Gales is fabulous! Their customer service is amazing. Here’s my story. I love Italian food, and good Italian food is difficult to find. I suggested to my children that i wanted Gales for mother’s day. Reservations were made. We had a large group of 13. They were running behind, the hostess offered us beverages while we waited and was just kind and friendly. Once we were seated she came over to the table and again apologize for running late and sent complimentary hors d’oeuvres to hold us over. The staff were attentive and quick which is all very important. The best part of the meal was the food! Five star delicious nice flavor everything was perfect — not one complaint.
Great job!

Found this place through Unilocal.Live in the South Bay and were going to an event in Pasadena. Looked for moderately priced Italian restaurant and found this.
Made reservations through Open Table, due to traffic we were late, but they still honored the reservation (called and let them know). Tip try to reserve by the windows.
I had a special sausage ravioli with artichoke hearts and provolone. It was good. Had a little heat as I finished up. It was a little lite on the artichoke. My companion had the lasagna, also very good dense and meaty (maybe I am prejudiced to my mom’s lasagna, I would want more ricotta)
No time for desert or coffee.
Dinner for 2, wine tax and tip $ 60

I love this Italian restaurant a big time:) The delicious foods delicious and great ambience. Importantly, the server Raul is excellent; friendly, informative and he definitely what we want. Both my sister and I have the pleasant experience here, we will always come back for dinner. Folk, I highly recommend this place:)

My friend and I had a date at Gale’s on Saturday night during prime dinner time (7pm). The restaurant was packed and busy, so if you’re planning on coming around this time — make reservations in advance! (We made ours the day before and there was plenty of available time slots).
Part 1 — Fresh Bread: They start you off with some warm, fresh bread — soft and fluffy, with a nice crispy crust — paired with some olive oil + balsamic vinegar. Already the hangry beast in me felt quelled by the simple tastiness of it.
Part 2 — Salad (comes with any Pasta dish): We both ordered the shrimp scampi pasta, which came with salad. The salad was iceberg lettuce, red onions, tomatoes — lightly dressed in a Caesar-​esque dressing and cheese.
Part 3 — THE CARBSSSS: The Shrimp Scampi Pasta was good! It wasn’t mindblowing amazing, but the pasta was cooked perfect, the shrimps tasted fresh and were meaty ones (not those cheap, tiny little shrimps you sometimes get at restaurants), there was a lot of broccolini throughout to give it some great texture and color, and lots of sundried tomatoes and olives thrown into the mix for extra flavor. My only comment was that the olives were a little too salty, and by the time I reached the bottom of my pasta mountain, the dish had gotten really REALLY salty.
OVERALL: I definitely still want to come back in the future though to try out their other pasta dishes — perhaps sometimes without their olives though (I normally like olives but these were like SUPER SALTY olives…). Overall the meal turned out to be a little over $ 20 for each of us, and it’s a place where you won’t leave feeling hungry at all. The portions are large, the bread is good, and the service was still good despite how busy it gets
PARKING: We had no trouble finding parking in the lot behind the restaurant.

Came here for dinner last Sunday for my grandma’s birthday. Our waiter scored us a free tiramisu in a martini glass to celebrate yay!
I really wanted to give them 4 stars but… just…couldn’t. We started out great with complementary bread, olive oil, and balsamic (terrific balsamic, really). We ordered 2 apps: these amazing mussels in white wine sauce and fried zucchini flowers. I had to stop my mother from asking the waiter to pack up the leftover broth to go.
Most of the entrées were underwhelming, ergo the 3 star rating.
Scampi linguini rapini — my dad’s dish; described as good with lots of garlic — like it was made for the Korean palette haha.
Short rib ravioli with mushroom sauce — pretty basic, nothing special, per my brother.
Gnocchi with pork sausage — oh this is yumm-​urrrk what is this discordant taste messing up my gnocchi?! It was the peas. I usually love peas. But not here. Why, peas, why were you so gross in this dish?
Grilled branzino — beautifully done fish. Delicious! But with some of the blah-​est sides I ever tasted. I can’t even remember. Spinach? Mashed potatoes?
Burrata with prosciutto de parma — taste-​wise, this was the winner. Everything blended, burrata perfectly complimenting the salty, thicker-​than-​average prosciutto.
At the end of entrées, our mood had gone from delighted to slightly wilted. So we got the dessert sampler. Sigh. Maybe we were just too full. The coconut cake is just cake with coconut shreds in the frosting. (SIDE NOTE: I think I figured out why some reviews say the cake is great and others hate on it. I’m sure it’s great when eaten the day they bake it. But they served us from a cake that was obviously made the day before — is that normal? — and it probably got all sad tasting under that cake cover.) Flourless chocolate cake was ok, and I could see that the cake was fresh… but I wish they didn’t make it like a loaf. Since we were first in line when they opened (hi, grandma’s birthday, remember? We ate so damn early =_​_​_​_​=) we were the first ones to get a crack at that cake/​loaf. So we got a dry end piece =/​Yeah. Cremé brulee was ok. A little eggy, super tiny, but still ok. There was cheesecake too but I didn’t taste it. I’m sure it was great. Tiramisu was ok, but I thought the proportion of custard to espresso-​soaked lady fingers was off — too much custard. Super happy to have gotten it on the house, but I wouldn’t order it again.
I’d go again, but maybe stick with the traditional menu and not the specials. And order more mussels!

Parking: They have a sizable parking lot in the back, and they are at the outer rim of Old Town so street parking shouldn’t be too bad either. And the best part? It’s free!
Atmosphere: It was very busy and packed, but I didn’t have to wait in any line and was seated immediately. Maybe it was a fluke, but that was pretty cool. The clientele appear to be the suburban, Dockers/​Polo crowd, which means this place has nice things. Great place for a date, meeting with a friend, taking out your grandma, etc.
Food: This is one of those places where appetizers can cost around the same as an entrée. (What’s up with that, anyway? Call me crazy, but didn’t there used to be a time when appetizers used to be considerably cheaper than entrees?) I ordered from the daily special menu, which I imagine changes daily, so there’s probably no sense in listing what I had. They were all winners and came in just-​right portions, so you won’t leave with carb guilt. It’s definitely a restaurant that focuses on quality, as opposed other places that load a plate with watery pasta drenched in Prego sauce. There’s definitely pride and effort put into their food.
Overall, I had a great time at Gale’s. It’s so unassuming and isolated that I’m sure many of you have driven down Fair Oaks and never knew it was there, especially with all the other Italian competition in Old Town. I just wish I knew about Gale’s earlier!

My absolute favorite low-​key mom & pop type style Italian restaurant. This place has not disappointed me yet. If friends are inviting me to dinner around the area and or if I want to have dinner in the Pasadena area and I want some good food; this is my place to go. This place tends to get super busy so I always make reservations ahead of time to avoid the peak hour crowds and I’m glad I always do! I’ve arrived at times where the line is out the door with people waiting to be seated and I sail right past them. which is always nice when you’re famished!
Parking: Inside the small parking lot or street parking. I always go for dinner mostly, and there are always plenty of street parking! No parking meters which is always nice!
When you walk in, the hostess table is right up front and there’s even a cute little bench for you to sit on. Check in with them and then wait a couple minutes. There are 3 main dining areas: Main entrance right, Main entrance left & the back room past the kitchen and restrooms (which is so cutely decorated! — see photos!)
ME Right — up the stairs and into an intimate dining area with limited tables which makes is nice and cozy. ME Left — standard restaurant dining area which is more tight and tables are close together. Back room is the place you want to be seated at. Is it roomier there and the tables more spaced apart. And the décor of the restaurant is like an Italian gallery — the paintings in each room are absolutely beautiful and memorizing to look at.
The food — oh sooo good! I’ve had different types of pasta here to salads to their soup of the day to weekly specials to their starter bread. nothing has disappointed me yet! I even caught the couple next to me ordering 3 dishes because they wanted to try a little bit of everything and I heard them say that they go there each week to try different dishes because it’s that good!
Oh Gale’s — I will be back!

The food and wine was fabulous. My family and I had such a lovely dinner. The waiter was very attentive and made excellent recommendations for my family.
The only thing that needs improvement are the desserts. They were fabulous but they weren’t decadent. I didn’t taste the espresso in my Tiramisu and my sister’s blackberry crème brûlée was eggy. I don’t think desserts should taste too much like eggs otherwise they are too gamey.
I’ll definitely return and try other items on the menu.

Delicious Italian dining.
THE AMBIANCE:
We came for lunch on NYE. Gale’s has really nice décor and two (2) dining areas. On the left side is where you get the sun shining through the glass walls and on the right side is more shaded and quiet. I get cold easily and I liked the pretty decorations on the left side so that is where we chose to sit. This area is right next to the open kitchen, which is also pretty cool to be next to as you watch the chefs bustling about and the aromas fill the air. There are three (3) restrooms right next to the kitchen — one for women, one for men, and one unisex.
THE FOOD:
The bread that you start off with is delicious. Very authentic, a crunchy outer rim, and a soft middle. You get a plate of oil and balsamic vinegar prepared for you. For an entrée I highly recommend the Lasagna Bolognese. It is very delicious! The Rotini Bolognese was ordered and it was not as good as the Lasagna Bolognese. Also, the Portobello Ravioli in a white cream sauce was good.
THE TIPS:
Parking is available on the side of the restaurant, in the rear, and there are some spots on the street. Order the Lasagna Bolognese!

Mmmmm carbs !!! This is a really cozy yet kind of romantic italian restaurant. I don’t know if this is offensive or not but it felt like I was at a fancier Olive Garden. I really like the bread and pastas come with a salad.
Corkage fee is $ 10 so I would recommend bringing a bottle if u have a large party. They also do not charge a cake cutting fee anymore!
Clam Linguine: The white wine based sauce is sooooooo good! I devoured my whole plate! I asked for shrimp to be in there and the portions were very generous.
The pizzas and ravioli dishes looked really good as well! The meat pizza had generous portions of meat. This place does not hold back when it comes to quality and portions.
I highly recommend this place !!!