Café Alfresco

Glanced over Unilocal before our trip out and saw pretty much all the food places in all the Reno hotels are about 2 – 3.5 stars so I wasn’t expecting much.
Was extremely pleased with this place. It wasn’t crowded at all at about 7p on a Saturday and the sandwich I got was supppper tasty (Clubhouse Panini) — loved it.
My girlfriend got the Pasta with grilled salmon — she said the salmon was good but the pasta wasn’t anything special. She said it definitely wasn’t worth the price.
Mine was great though! Maybe it’s just because my expectations were pretty low but I’d gladly come back here again!

I love this little Italian Café. Every time I visit Reno I come here. The food is always perfect, price is good and waitresses do their job. I always get pasta and I love it. My boyfriend gets sandwiches and its awesome too. Their asparagus soup is great definitely try it.

Café Alfresco is located next to the buffet in Atlantis. The appetizers here are definitely way better than the entrees!
We ordered the following to share:
1. Mozzerella sticks — The mozzerella sticks were pretty amazing here! It was super crispy and crunchy on the outside. There was a decent amount of cheese inside. My husband mentioned it was the best he ever had.
2. Bruschetta — I really enjoyed this appetizer. There was a generous amount of tomatoes on top of each toasted baguette. There was a strong garlic taste, too. I’d definitely order this again.
3. Margherita pizza — This pizza was ok. I“ve had way better ones at other pizza joints. I was only able to eat 1 slice.lol. I would not recommend their pizzas.
Overall, service was really good here. I would recommend just the appetizers.

I stayed at the Atlantis casino in the beginning of August, the food was ok. I had a bad experience with my server Nya. I watched her openly talk badly about her co-​workers. Barely checking on me. The manager Rebecca helped me more than Nya did. The little cashier was super nice and helped us get gelato. I was getting an Additional entrée to go, the restaurant closed, and then a taller woman with glasses by the name of Susan came in and asked for the manager. She was patronizing her the whole time and openly being very rude and disrespectful to her. I personally don’t like to witness that kind of treatment toward employees and i will definitely NOT be returning to this casino again if thats how employees are treated. They were obviously overworked and the server could have helped instead of talking and cursing about her co-​workers. I will not be referring anyone I know to this casino. I felt really bad, I was definitely sad and disappointed. Shame on the Atlantis

Located in the atlantis hotel, really good food. We have eaten there about 3 times so far. Good pizza, salad, cheese sticks, eggplant Parmesan, manicotti, yumm! Definitely will eat here again. It however was crowded and noisy, but it is in the middle of the casino! lol

I’ve never given a place two stars before. We went to Atlantis’ pizza restaurant to celebrate a special occasion with our son and we were all disappointed. Slow service. Tasteless pizza. My son’s chocolate milk tasted like it was made from water. The Hefeweizen beer was good. Kinda can’t mess that up. The antipasto salad was the best part of the experience. That was good. Won’t be going back I’m sad to say.

I had been hearing about this place for two years from my husband and son. They raved about the spaghetti and meatballs! It was finally my turn to try it with my husband while at the Atlantis! I went in early while my husband was still at «the tables». I was greeted my Aimee the Restaurant Manager. She let me sit down and wait for my husband while having some cold water and a chance to read the menu! Lots of choices to select from, but I already knew I had to try the spaghetti and meatballs. It is such a large serving I shared with my husband. We also shared a yummy Ceasar salad. Our waitress Tiffany was very attentive and full of smiles. While she went on break, we were not forgotten. There were adequate staff to make sure we were well taken care of in her short absence. This place is all about the people they serve and providing a great experience for them. How refreshing that is for sure! We will be back on our next trip to our condo in North Tahoe. Café Alfresco is a must! Thanks again for the great experience. Keep up the good work!

One of the many restaurants located inside the Atlantis casino. Staff was on it through the first visit to this restaurant. Staff was friendly and coordinated mostly when the server went on break. Server checked on our table at good intervals.
Our order was the Tri color manicotti pasta, salad, soup, and chicken pasta. Food didn’t take long to arrive.
Salad was a balance of dressing to the greens. Cream of asparagus soup was okay. Tri-​color sauced Manicotti pasta was ok. A bit off tasting with one sauces but not bad. The Cajun chicken dish with sun dried tomato, garlic Alfredo sauce, and pasta. It was also okay. More than filling.
Manager was helping us and may have forgotten with the check. Bill settlement was quick once acknowledged.
Good: mostly efficient service, okay food.
Bad: that’s about it.
I would come back looking for other dishes.

Disappointed in pizza. Thick crust not completely baked. If I want thin crust u have to ask. Generally not bad food. Gelato is great. I’d come back.

Just ate there a few days ago and the Beef Lasagne was like well Chef boy r dee. Horrible like mushy meat. Ordered a combo pizza as well which for being baked in a brick oven was doughy and not enough toppings. I don’t think the dough was fresh? And for the closing the gelato is tasteless. Try the Peppermill’s its delicious!

Ordered the mushroom ravioli and garlic bread. All had nice flavor, the garlic bread actually had real garlic on it, not just garlic salt. I think their pizza is still the best option. Too much food, not enough room for any yummy gelato tonight though

Wow this was tasty. Also my host and waitress were so very personable! It’s in the Atlantis Casino, and the reason we came is because we had free gelato coupons from the Aces game. We had bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, soups, gigantic mozzarella sticks, and gelato. Everything was perfect. The mozzarella sticks were 2 fingers thick, so gooey, and so crunchy! Oh man this gets a 5! I started this review with a 4 but while I was typing my mouth began to water about the mozzarella sticks, and it was all over. I hesitate to give a 5 because I can’t speak to the rest of the menu. Order what I got with free gelato from the Aces game and it’ll be a five! :)

We came to Café Alfresco for lunch while I was at a conference in the Atlantis. My colleague and I decided to share a Bangkok Special Brick oven pizza. This included marinated chicken with a spicy peanut sauce, mozzarella and jack cheeses, shredded cabbage, red peppers and julienne carrots! What a mx! It was marvelous! The combined flavors were mouth watering with each and every bite! This was a pretty decent size for two people to eat and boy did we hover it!
The ambiance of the restaurant is decent, very typical of a café type in a casino. This is one of those times that I would like to be able to give different star ratings for different aspects of the service. Honestly, it took quite awhile to order, quite awhile to get our food, and even longer to get our bill. I would say that the waiter was friendly, but I just could not figure out what the wait was all about, as it certainly was not packed. Maybe short servers? There was really not even any acknowledgment about how long we had to wait each time, which may be an indication that this is a standard procedure. Of course, if you have the time, the food is really great! I am all about second chances and if I am around again would certainly give it another shot!
As far as the food I would say a 5, the waiting was a little excessive so I would give about a 2. This is probably why I chose to give an overall rating with the three stars.

Delicious service, the shrimp is amazing for an appetizer, beware Nevada/​Reno liquor laws and the portions of a drink you get with alcohol. Lasagne to die for, everything is cooked or heated in a brick oven, which gives everything that rustic flavor and taste. Enjoy this place, as I did, I will recommend you to everyone I know who will decide to stay at Atlantis.

Very good Linguini and clams! I recently came by on a Sunday where it didn’t look busy but everyone was working hard. The busboy sat me, brought my drinks and even took my order to make it easy for me!

Long wait & mediocre food. If you’re in Atlantis, opt for the buffet. This Café is just not worth it. I got an italian club sandwich, which was nothing special, and my friend got the «special» — lemon chicken. According to my friend, it was the worst lemon chicken, with «sour tasting» vegetables. I didn’t even want to try. If you’re going to make us wait 45 min for food, at least make it worth it.
The services was terrible too. I felt like our waitress was ignoring us. It not only took forever for our food, but it took forever for us to get our card back after we paid. Yikes.

Ate here our last visit. My pastrami was all burned. Girls salad just OK.
I am good without coming back!

After driving 8 hours and lunching another 60 minutes on the way from Las Vegas to the Atlantis Casino Report Spa in Reno for the American Political Items Collectors Western Regional Convention and Hot August Nights festival, the limited time of day remaining was such that casual dining at the hotel seemed in order. Plus, we already had scheduled dinner reservations at the hotel’s two heavyweight restaurants the next two nights: Bistro Napa and Atlantis Steakhouse. So, we opted for Café Alfresco where we could mainly order lighter fare than we would sample over the coming weekend – enough to get us by for the night.
Walking to the restaurant, we saw and heard a good but bowlegged Elvis impersonator belting out «An American Trilogy» on the high lounge stage, backed by a small band. We had no dinner reservations this evening because we did not know at what hour we would arrive at the hotel and have our bags in our room. But, although the restaurant was packed, we were shown to a seat within 5 minutes. Here the décor is casual and bright, featuring orange and dark brown accents and muted patterns on the fabric of booths and chairs that bring to mind blown bubbles floating in the air.
We started with Crispy Calamari that is automatically accompanied by Marinara Sauce and Lemon Aioli. The Calamari was heavily breaded, to the degree that some of the rings (all were rings) were welded together without any «0» in the middle. The Marinara Sauce was a bit thin but the Lemon Aioli was good and creamy. The presentation of the Calamari in a large martini glass was playful and appealing, and they were heat hot, well seasoned, and tasted good.
However, a Garden Salad with Bleu Cheese Dressing was undistinguished and disappointing. It was composed of mostly field greens of Iceberg and Romaine Lettuce, with a little Radicchio for contrasting color, one small cherry tomato, and a single cucumber. The Bleu Cheese Dressing was smooth and creamy but it was too warm and lacked the more desirable texture of Roquefort Cheese.
Fortunately, my entrée of Spicy Cajun Jambalaya Pasta was very good. It included lengths of grilled chicken breast and small but plump and juicy shrimps, mixed with red onions, non-​spicy green and red peppers, strands of melted Parmesan Cheese, and penne lathered with a combination of Arrabbiata Sauce and Alfredo Sauce. For a Cajun dish, this was a rather mild one. Diane enjoyed her Pasta Romano made with giant shrimps and grilled chicken sauteed with pine nuts and penne in a garlic cream sauce. Why the shrimps in my pasta dish were small and those in her very comparable entrée were very large remains a mystery to me. I was in fact a little envious at the time!
We ended with two shared scoops of gelato from the large selection of decadent offerings displayed under glass, opting for Stracciatella Romeo & Juliet that was quite fittingly a very sweet combination of chocolate and vanilla reminiscent of Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, and plain old Vanilla Gelato. These were the two largest hand-​scoops I have ever seen. They fully filled a 16-​ounce container and, like a sun rising, the dome of the top scoop loomed another 1−½ inches over the edge of the large paper carton. I enjoyed the taste of both varieties of gelato, but Diane said she did not like the flavors. I kept eating my dessert until it became ridiculous to continue any longer, but left little gelato behind.
Service was friendly and mostly efficient, although our poor harried server had to wait on half the diners in the large dining room. A nice surprise was the bill, which came in under $ 50 for all food and tax, including dessert – a great bargain for all we consumed. Overall, this was a pleasant 3−½-star dining experience.

April 3, 2011 Sunday — Dessert 3:15 PM
2 people (1 kid and me)
Atmosphere — 4 stars
Food — 5 stars
Service — 3 stars
Background — We ended up here because the promotion they have with the Reno Bighorns basketball team. If the team scores 100 or more points and win, which they did on April 1^st your ticket stub allows you to get a free gelato. What an excellent promotion as most of the games I have been to the Bighorns have won with a score of more than 100, but this is the first time I took them up on the promotion.
Atmosphere — Being well inside the casino and the casino smoke was not the best way to visit a restaurant. Even though the restaurant did not have walls between casino and them, I did not notice a smoke smell. There is a water falls near the gelato display case which made talking a difficult.
Food
Sample — We each had a sample; it seemed to be a little a daunting as if the task was a complicated.
Dessert — I had to get the Tiramisu. The cup was labeled 8 oz on the side of it and it was packed full of the gelato. I was really surprised how large it was for a free promotion. The menu on the website indicates there are more than 20 flavors daily. Today most not have been the day; clearly the case is designed for that many but almost every flavor had two trays. A few were labeled «daily special» without any other reference to them.
My daughter was unable to finish her strawberry gelato, which had some nice chucks of strawberries in it.
Service — The young lady seemed as if she wanted to be elsewhere. I know it is a free promotion but good service still can earn you a tip.

«Voted Reno’s Best Café» … pffft. Liar liar, pants on fire.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t icky– but it sure as heck wasn’t anything special. (I was going to say sh*t instead of heck, but then, I changed my mind because I didn’t want to sound like a potty-​mouth. I apologize for saying sh*t…twice.)
Anyhow, my bestie and I decided to meet up for lunch and this is where we decided to get our eat on. For those not «in the know» this Café is located in the Atlantis Casino, in between the Toucan Buffet and the restrooms.
We were seated immediately and even though it was lunchtime (12pm) the place was scarsely populated. Hmm… are we lucky? Or is this an indication of a bigger problem? Note to self: be vigilant. We asked for a booth as far, far away from the cigarette smoke that we could get. She offerred us a booth in the very back (next to the kitchen). All I gotta say is, Holy Wall-​o-​Mirrors! There was a huge mirrorred wall directly behind me, and to our right (Patrick Bateman would have been proud).
The waitress brings our menus, and for some reason (impending dementia?) my friend cannot stop commenting on how soft the menu pages feel. Seriously. (She really is normal folks, I promise) But yea– random fact– apparently the pages of the menu feel good. So while she’s rounding second base with her menu, the waitress brings our water and takes our order.
My friend orders the «Tuscan Chicken Panini» ($ 8.99) and I order the «NEW! Clubhouse Panini» ($ 7.99) minus the avacado, of course. Oddly, none of the sandwiches come with fries or a soup or side. You have to pay $ 2 extra for fries, which I opted to do. While we waited for our food the waitress brought us some breadsticks. I use the term ‘breadstick’ loosely… how do I explain their not tasty-​ness? Hmm. Well they tasted like puffy sticks of plain, boring dough with parmesan just dumped on top. (5 points for creativity! Not.)
We get our food, and everything looks decent. Our bread on our sandwiches had that same dough-​y middle to it. Also, you could tell that the grill marks on the panini were made before the sandwiches were constructed. I think they need a refresher course in Cheese Melting 101. I will say that even though the sandwich contents were cold, the sliced turkey was good, and they had a good turkey/​lettuce/​bacon ratio. Ooh, and the french fries were de-​lish. Nom nom nom.
Whoever prepared my plate decided that it needed a side of ranch (idk why) and yay for me– it was spilled over half of my panini. Wtf, much? Seriously though, I’m not a big fan of ranch dressing. (and way to ruin my lunch jackass!) Strangely enough, several peppers (ew) were strategically placed on top of, and under our food. Why? I don’t know.
Hey, hey you– Mr Panini Maker Guy– quit tossin’ the peppers around willy nilly and putting them on everything just because you feel like it! We had to flag our waitress down for straws. And ketchup. And more water (see a pattern here?). I didn’t get it– I have to beg for ketchup and water– yet they freely give me ranch and peppers?
I won’t not go back, but I don’t see myself purposely going there again. The menu, while soft to the touch, just didn’t sound good. I mean, gag me with a spork– they serve Cream of Asparagus soup! *makes face* Ooh, a nice warm bowl of runny green soup. Booger soup anyone? Blech.
p. s. It’s very akward to eat when you’re surrounded by mirrors. It makes you aware of every bite you bring towards your mouth — which is good if you wanna lose weight, but bad if you’re hungry.