La Lanterna Ristorante

Excellent food. Awkward and annoying though when you have a 7:30 reservation and by 9pm they are practically kicking you out the door because they want to go home.

Really enjoyed the venue the restaurant provided for a birthday celebration. There were 20 of us and have to say the service was on point! There were a lot of requests from us and the wait staff did not disappoint! The food came out quickly and tasted good! Burrata salad was yummy and so was the polenta appetizer! The creamy mushroom sauce tasted great with the crispy polenta. The gnocchi was very good too! You can tell its homemade because the flavors were so delicious, especially the mushroom cream sauce with a hint of truffles! Yum!

It’s been awhile since I ate here. Had a lovely fresh, artful, delicious meal served by an attentive waiter last Wednesday night. Met four girlfriends for a night of reconnecting. We were seated in a perfect table situation for our party. We brought two bottles of wine. The corkage was very reasonable. I ordered the linguine with sea food. It was so good, filled with seafood treats. My friends enjoyed their cannelloni, spaghetti bolognese and linguini with mussels. The desserts were so artful, a celebration on the plates. Ramon and Jennifer have maintained a superb gem in the heart of San Mateo.

We recently had a celebratory dinner there. 14 people. We chose La Lanterna because of it’s close location. I was very pleased with the food, namely the calimari appetizers and the veal piccata that I ordered. Everyone complimented the food they ordered. The service was good, even for our large party.
I recommend this place for a casual dinner.

Nice looking place, decent food, not great service.
We chose this place because my friend was craving chicken parmasean with fettuccine alfredo, and this was the only place nearby we found that offers both (fettuccine alfredo is on the kids’ menu).
We had a reservation for 3 at 7pm on a Saturday, and were seated in a nice booth. For some reason, my water was served in a tall, thin glass (different from the normal water glasses everyone else had), which made it hard for the servers to pour refills. Had to wait an awkward amount of time for the menu, because they were printing more (?!), and then it took forever for our appetizers to come out (there were a lot of people there, but still plenty of open tables). In the mean time, at least, they were generous with the bread.
For appetizers, we shared the polenta, the fried calamari, and the antipasto misto (from the specials menu). Polenta and calamari were good, nothing special. Antipasto misto was ok; the bruschetta was good, but the prosciutto wasn’t. I also tried some of my husband’s burrata salad, which I enjoyed.
For my main course, I had the house-​made veal tortelloni, which was alright. The filling was dry and the sauce was on the salty side, but maybe it just wasn’t my style.
My favorite part of the meal was dessert. I had the house-​made spumoni, which I really enjoyed, and some of the warm chocolate cake (from the dessert trio), which was I also liked.
Overall, nothing special food-​wise, but a nice atmosphere. I liked the copious amounts of candy at the front desk.

These guys deserve a tick above 3 and a half stars. It has an old school East Coast feel and I love it. Maybe I’m just a sucker for history who loves velvet carpets, chandeliers, wall sized mirrors, and the itch that at any moment, some Italian mobster might drive by and shoot the place out with his tommy.
The food was great. Raves, here. The service was good too. The only things is that while some reviewers love the waiter’s personality, it was a bit much for me and my dry (not literally, they’re like 50) Asian parents.

I didn’t feel like cooking and wanted to have something great for dinner. So after some Unilocal search, we ended up here.
For some reason there wasn’t anyone to seat us or greet us, so we made ourselves comfortable and sat in a table. After like 5 – 10 minutes, a waiter arrived. Make no mistake, restaurant was Not busy at all.
Food was good, not great. I felt like it could have been better considering the price.
People who were seated next to our table were very friendly and we ended up having conversation with each other and had a blast though unexpected.
Calamari fritti: they serve fried calamari like most places. It was good.
Vitello picatta: okay it was good, even forgot to take a picture.
Dessert: Three petit: it was good as well. But a bit too rich. Tiramisu was my favorite of the three. Warm chocolate cake was way too rich for my taste. Panna cotta was good too.
All in all, it was a good experience. Waiter was noticeably preferred to serve our neighboring table, I can only assume because they were white. I had to ask for water and had to try so hard to grab their attention. Service was not good, but not necessarily the worst. I do like to be left alone in general, but the waiter simply forgot about us in this case, which isn’t good.
I am giving them solid 4 for the food and environment.
Side note: I thought this restaurant was a gem in the neighborhood they are located in. However, I was quite concerned for my safety in that neighborhood. I would totally not recommend walking around that area, people in the neighboring karate place was creepy and said things as I walked passed by and the neighborhood just felt unsafe. I would highly recommend parking your car as close as you can possibly park near the restaurant.

Was pleasantly surprised to find this little gem of an Italian restaurant so close home. The calamari steak is highly recommended and was simply delicious. Ample portions served with seasonal vegetables and seasoned mashed potatoes. For starters, I had their basic dinner salad with an Italian dressing so good I wished I made it myself. Service can use some improvement as it tended to be slow and our waiter had to be reminded on several occasions to refill our glasses or our request for extra bread for our dinner party. Our waiter could be more informed on wine recommendations and selections as well. Overall, the food was excellent, the ambiance nice, and I will definitely return for another visit.

Wanted to try an Italian place nearby and after looking around, I thought La Lanterna Ristorante would be a good choice.
Reservation process was easy, and the hostess was accommodating a seat change that wasn’t right in front of the door. Really appreciated that, as dinner can be distracting when blasts of cold wind blow by every few minutes.
I definitely agree with some of the recent reviews that the bread is really disappointing. Like, I think the baguette in Safeway is way ahead of their bread, which I would compare more to 2 day old Little Caesar’s breadsticks. It’s very processed, «artificial», but I guess at least it tastes okay. We had to wait about 10min and ask multiple times for balsamic vinegar, so that was also disappointing.
(Also, this is not entirely related, but there are multiple typos on the menu that just takes away from the professionalism of the restaurant. Look for different sizes of fonts, uneven spacing, typos like «served ith», and my menu had random 0’s in it.)
One plus was the polenta appetizer — it’s really delicious and we thought a good recovery for the meal after the whole bread thing, so if you find yourself at La Lanterna because someone brought you there, at least you should definitely try this!
As for entrees, we ordered the Coniglio con Pancetta and the Pollo Florentina. For the coniglio, the polenta cake was the best part. The rabbit wrapped in pancetta was very gummy, and the pancetta itself was soggy. The sautéed vegetables were okay, and the bone-​in meat was also okay — nothing tender or flavorful about it.
As for the Pollo Florentina, I think our party agreed it was, «just okay.» The butternut squash purée was my favorite part, but I honestly feel like it might be out of a can (kind of like how the bread was definitely not fresh). I only had one piece, but even just the day after, I can’t really remember anything interesting to write about.
The restaurant was really busy around 7pm when I went, so maybe there are gems lying around that I seemed to have missed (though there’s no way people come for the bread). It was completely deserted at 8pm though, with maybe one or two tables with people. The best part of the service was getting a different table, getting a recommendation for the polenta, and they were almost instantaneous with getting the bill (this one’s sarcastic). Worst part was, the waiter made us feel unwelcomed (he didn’t introduce himself and was hesitant to give his name) and having to wait about 10 min for balsamic vinegar, which I guess could be worse.
Definitely will try another place instead.

My wife and I have stopped in twice recently for dinner.
Both times leaving more than satisfied. The wine list is solid and offers some very good selections in every price point. They also offer a full bar and can make a strong gin gimlet that will add a few more hairs on your chest.
The pasta dishes are on point as well as the other offerings. Both times there were creative and exciting specials which makes it that much more difficult deciding on what to order.
Service is attentive and were checked in on often.
La Lanterna is now a solid rotation restaurant and looking forward to many more visits.

Hands down, one of the best Italian venues in town! From the moment you are greeted & seated, you feel like you are in great hands. The waiters are extremely attentive, the course and wine selections are fabulous and the food is scrumptious!!! We always dine here and can’t wait to come back for more!
The owners of LaLanterna are the nicest people and we will
continue to tell all our family, friends and colleagues about this wonderful treasure of a restaurant in San Mateo.

This place is outstanding sometime and mediocre sometimes. I think if you notice from the reviews you can see this. I have eaten here many times, and more often than not it is a good meal. Sometimes it has been disappointing. Service has always been good, and the wine selection/​cost is outstanding for this small shop. You will have a better experience sticking to pasta dishes and some of the fish ones, the other meat based mains tend to disappoint.

Sadly, my favorite part of my meal was the olive oil that came with the bread.
Ate here when I wasn’t that hungry, got a Caesar Salad and split the Salmon entrée with my friend.
The bread was sort of tasty, but in a store-​bought, artificial way– not anywhere close to homemade.
The salad was decent. The lettuce was crisp. The dressing and anchovies tasted good.
The salmon entrée was a disappointment. Not great fish, and any good salmon flavor was covered up by weird, salty, tomatoey sauce. Asparagus was good but didn’t necessarily pair with the fish. Same for the fennel floating around in the sauce.
If I lived here full time, I would maybe give it another try when I was hungry enough for pasta and a dessert. But since I am just here for the summer, I don’t think I will return.

The food is good, but the portions are small for the price. They have a fairly good wine list.
For an Italian restaurant you would expect good bread… their bread was the worst… I’ve been to worse places with better bread.
I would have given them a better rating except for the bread.

I just had lunch there and, as I was leaving, discovered that they spilled sautéed spinach on my suit jacket. I pointed it out, and they seemed more concerned about the mess on their seat/​carpet than the mess on my jacket or whether I’d ever return (no!).

Was out in the Bay Area on a recent business trip and an excellent dining experience here. The staff and service were also top notch, but the food absolutely amazing. We had the whole nine yards from salads to desert. I describe the tortellini which can best be described as «knee buckling» good and one of the best Italian dishes I’ve ever had. My boss had the lasagna which he said was amazing as well and our client devoured his steak. The polenta appetizer also hit the spot but the crème brûlée to die for.
I highly recommend this spot for an authentic homemade Italian meal if your in the area. The restaurant is roughly 10 mins from SFO and also has easy parking.
PS-​Sangiovese Wine was also a nice compliment to our experience as well

Great restuarant with good food, peaceful ambience, friendly service… Highly recommended !!

Best piccata I’ve ever had! I’ve been doing a national tour of piccata in DC, VA, MD, NY, PA, CA — probably 15 restaurants in the last 3 months, and this one absolutely blew me away! Granted most upscale restaurants don’t sell piccata, but I’m so glad this one would make it for me.
The marinara sauce was also very flavorful.
We actually came over to the neighborhood to go to The Noodle Shop (a few doors down), but they had a long line. I’m so glad they did!!!

This is considered the worst lunch by three people who LOVE Italian food.
The restaurant was completely empty when we arrived so we had our pick of tables. There was a nice little dish of green olives on the table. This is a pretty place and we were very hungry so everything started out nicely. Remember. completely empty…
We chose a table in the back and from the entry, our server called «do you have reservations» Well, we were already seated in a completely empty place. This is the tone of things to come.
Every time she had something on her mind, she came right out with it. It didn’t matter to her that we were in the middle of our conversation. Very awkward to stop talking and respond.
We all ordered Panini. They are actually grilled cheese sandwiches piled with mayonnaise. In an Italian place??? One lunch companion specified no cheese. The menu describes the steak panini as steak, caramelized onions and fontina cheese. No mention of mayonnaise. If someone specifies no cheese, wouldn’t you imagine the topic of mayonnaise would be mentioned? Everything was covered in the white goop.
Our companion who had the sausage sandwich said it was the worse sausage in the world! These were not paninis.
I removed my steak (ordered medium rare) but served almost burnt. None of us are comfortable sending food back, especially with a grumpy server but this was ridiculous. With almost all of the food (complete sandwich less the meat on my plate) left on our plates, no one asked if there was a problem.
We choked down what we could and just wanted to get out of there.
Serious problem with food quality and preparation. There was nothing about our lunches that even remotely tasted like Italian food. You have to disclose the mayonnaise and if you ask how someone wants a steak cooked, you might as well have it prepared that way. Two well done steak sandwiches and one inedible sausage sandwich. Everything drenched in mayonnaise. Very disappointed.

Went there for Girls Night Dinner last night — AND happened to celebrate my bday there as well…
Service was very good — our waiter kept checking in on us and unfortunately my little group of friends were a bit too timid to tell the truth up front… unfortunately their special sole dish was too salty for three of my girlfriends. it was salty all around and they waited till the very end of the evening when everything was packed up to say anything :(so yes — it was salty but we should’ve told the kitchen from the beginning…
I had the lamb shank special with green beans and polenta and LOVED every morsel! The lamb shank was tender — paired PERFECTLY with the polenta — I loved that the Polenta was creamy with not too much flavor so when you ate it with the flavorful lamb the textures and flavors sang together! Even the green beans were perfectly seasoned and just the right crunch — not too over cooked or under cooked… perfect! So I was happy.
My other girlfriend had the Cornish Hen (also a special) that came with an arugula salad and tomatoes. She loved it… I had a bite of the hen and it was tender with LOTS of flavor. It wasn’t like a full hen roasted and presented — but rather pieces that were seasoned and cooked. Very yummy.
We did start our meal with two salads! We had the arugula salad that include beets, apples, nuts and cheese… PERFECT. I LOVE arugula — as it has a bit of spiciness to it and paired with the sweet apples and beets — then the crunchy of nuts and very light vinaigrette dressing! YUM!
Our 2^nd salad was the spinach salad — that was very yummy too — not extraordinary but still very delicious.
And for dessert — we had the meyer lemon tart with sorbet — and the apple strudel. First of all — both were good but the lemon tart — well the filling was flavorful but the filling didn’t seem cooked or set? it had the texture of pudding… and the apple strudel was VERY yummy but it was like a mini apple burrito with a filo type dough. Not what I thought a «strudel» would be — but can’t complain — made it easy to share! :)
I’m torn — the food was «pretty good» and service was «good» but can’t say anything was outstanding… a bit pricey but I personally was very happy with my dish. I think next time if something is too salty we have to say something quickly and then see what they do… will definitely try this place again with the family…