Alto Italia

Stopped in for a slice of pizza, great pizza nice thin, crispy crust! The two cats behind the counter were AWESOME and great help!

I have to post this review even though I don’t want to…
I’m a business owner so posting a bad review sucks since I know what it does to a business but when it’s happened time and time again it needs to be shared!
I have lived right across the street from alto Italia for over 2 years now at the North tower of Essex skyline, this is the tower about 50 feet from the restaurant. I have eaten at alto probably 25+ times and i will not do so again!
So it was 11:20 this morning when I called over to place a delivery order, an employee told me sorry we don’t deliver?! (the flyer says «we deliver») so he got Dave the manager on the phone. I have eaten their many of times and spoken to Dave on many occasions about his business. He states it’s been tough, well the reason it’s not doing well is because the service sucks! You have 2 towers right across the street! Market it better, provide better service and watch business grow! Now back to my experience; Dave got on the phone and I explained my pregnant girlfriend and I got sick over Christmas so leaving the house is a no go, he stated he could make the delivery happen but not till 1:00 and maybe I should try other food delivery shops if I don’t have luck call him back??? Are you kidding me, an hour and 40 min when I’m 50 steps across the street! I’ve in the past received delivery and taken care of his people very well. I have never understood when companies advertise things and not honor them (menu states delivery) if you consider an hour and forty min ok for delivery across the street then that explains why your business will not succeed.
Dave has lost me as a customer as I’m sure he has lost most of the tower already! I will also post this review on the tower forum.

Went here today as my brother had a
coupon. The overall experience was ok… the food was good, and the owner himself served us. We couldn’t use the discount coupon on their specials, which kind of sucked, but we still got a good deal… four entrees, four drinks, and a whole large pizza for $ 40. The owner was telling us how the place was going under next summer because of slow business. It was kind of sad, but there were some things he could do to make business pick up…
1. Turn down the TV. It was on full blast with a movie on. Turn it off and play some Italian music or something.
2. Pare down the menu. There were tons of items, but the menu was a bit overwhelming, and the print was too hard to read.
3. Smile. The guy was nice, but seemed a little bitter about the business, which came through.
This restaurant isn’t badly priced and the food is good. I’d love to go back and try it again, but it’s sad if it goes out of business before I’ve had a chance.

No waiter. Order at a counter. At 7pm the food on the steam table didn’t look so fresh…

Very «meh». I split a piece of pizza with my girlfriend, as well as a piece of lasagna. A little over $ 13– coincidentally, a little over what I would’ve been comfortable paying. The one piece of sausage and pepperoni pizza was a whopping $ 4.70, and the high price wasn’t paired with a huge slice (or huge flavor). Tony’s Little Italy in Costa Mesa charges $ 5 for 2 slices, and tosses in a drink. Tony’s pizza is good, while this pizza is not; it’s not terrible, but Rubino’s pizza is a block away, and it’s leagues better than Alto’s. (My favorite pizza is Original Pizza in Newport Beach, but I digress).
The lasagna, while touted as «homemade», basically tasted like tomato salt. (And while I’m on the subject, unless it’s made in a home, it’s not homemade). Alto’s lasagna contains what should be a veritable treasure trove of deliciousness – beef, sausage, pepperoni, etc. It wasn’t Finbar’s Italian (across the street from South Coast Plaza), has a lasagna with pepperoni in it, too. I was hoping for better, but Alto didn’t deliver.
This is average food with a high price, end of story.

Portion size was a bit small on the lasagne, (which is served a la carte with no salad), but overall the flavor and service were very good! The sauce in particular tasted fresh and homemade!
Yum!!!

I’d eat here when I used to work in the plaza. The workers here are AWESOME and the food (that I have tried) tasted good to me. It’s just the price that gets to me.
Things I’ve eaten:
Chicken Alfredo Pizza
Self serve salad
Cheese Pizza
Pepperoni Pizza
Penne Pasta
Garlic Bread
I had no problems with all this and they were delicious. I actually think that the sauce may be too wet (I prefer my sauces not too watery) but that’s just preference.

The people working at the place were friendly which made me want to like the place.
It seemed that the people that were eating there were fine with the food. Be that as it may, I had a nearly opposite experience. I ordered the lasagna and looked great from the outside. However, when I started to bite in it, it was way too salty, mainly the tomato sauce of the lasagna, which ruined the whole thing.

I love this place, not only the people working there make you feel like family, but their food is awesome!!! I heard about their paninis being off the chart, so I finally had the Chicken and Prosciutto panini the other night. It was AWESOME, the chicken they use is season to perfection and cooked just right, not dry at all… I totally recommend it. Also try the beef raviolis with meat sauce, you wont regret it!

I guess this place used to be good?
I went here on the old recommendation of a friend and I was rather surprised… in a bad way.
Their food isn’t really well priced and worst of all is their food isn’t really good at all.
The tomato soup was… bland and their «Hearty and Meaty» Lasagna was really thin and very expensive for something that’s barely able to feed anyone.
Worst of all their bread was the best part of my experience there… and it was slightly stale tasting even after adding butter.
If you really want something italian I HIGHLY advise avoiding this place like the plague unless you like over priced and nasty italian food.
On the plus side I didn’t get diarrhea from eating such terrible food!

What’s up with the douchebag attitude of the dudes who work here? One of the cashiers today was like a poor-​mans Guy Fieri. This epidemic of «edgy» restauranteers needs to end ASAP. You sling mediocre food-​court Italian food — you’re about as edgy as a dry cleaner.
I had spaghetti with meat sauce and it was just OK. It had good texture but the sauce tasted like the main ingrediant was salt. The bread was stale and tasted like what you’d find in the bargain bin at Stater Bros. It wasn’t a very good value either — with a drink added on it was near 10 bucks.
To make things worst — expect the worst gas you will ever have in your life about 10 minutes after you’re done. If you are stuck at Hutton Center (God forbid), or you are a douchy new-​money hipster who took up residence at Skyline — this is passable. But barely. Save your money and hit up Cortina’s in Anaheim, or Al’s New York in Costa Mesa.

Wow I can’t believe all the positive vibes for this place. Today I went in for a quick lunch. My husband went to Togo’s instead and I wish I had joined him. I ordered a chicken Caesar salad (asked for it to be tossed) and a side of garlic bread. And then I waited. And waited. No one else being served, just me. And I kept waiting.
About 10 minutes after ordering, a rude, tall man comes out from the back and wipes out a steel bowl with a dirty rag from the counter. Another guy comes up and throws some lettuce and croutons in the bowl. Then man #1 (the tall, rude one) came up to me and said abrasively, «since you want your salad tossed, I need to know how much dressing you want» and he asked me to put the dressing on the salad myself. I’m like, um, however much dressing is supposed to go on it? You’re the cook person. I don’t know. Whatever. So I plopped some dressing on it. He went back to toss and I see him drinking a giant frappuccino over the salad toss bowl and wiping his mouth while while he finishes my salad. GROSS. And then I waited. And waited some more.
Meanwhile the guys making pizza are dropping f-​bombs all over the place and I’m no prude but seriously? This is California, not the Jersey Shore. A profanity-​laced conversation about chicks, GTL, smooshing, etc., while you bare-​handedly knead a pizza makes me wonder why I didn’t just ask for my money back and go get Togo’s.
Then Rudey McRudester finally comes back (about 20 minutes since I ordered, with my husband outside finishing his lunch) and he says, «they already gave you your garlic bread, right?» Um, no, I’ve just been sitting here listening to your skanky d-​bag pizza handlers swap war stories, both of whom have forgotten about my garlic bread.
Rudeman gets the garlic bread out of the oven and the thing is a damn piece of charcoal. He slices the garlic bread as if it were edible and takes off the ends as if that would disguise the black crust. He unapologetically handed me the bread.
Bottom line is I was in such a hurry I was just happy to be done with the whole thing. I sat down with my husband and ate about ¹⁄₃ of a warm, soppy, truly sub-​par chicken Caesar. Boo. I want my ELEVEN dollars back. And the garlic bread… it’s currently sitting in a dumpster at the Hutton Center, right where it belongs.

My first time here at this Italian restaurant and I am glad I came here for lunch. I ordered a slice of the veggie pizza and it was excellent. The pizza was thin crust. I love crispy thin crust pizza. The veggies were grilled to perfection!

more like 3.5÷5 stars.
came here because i had a coupon from
. buy anything over 35 bucks, and they will pay 25 bucks for it. but they will add 17% gratitude on the original price.
the staff was very friendly, but i think this was because we had to tip him 17%… he was very attentive and brought food over to our table.
we order the A LOT of food to make it up to the 35 $ range for only 2 people. the cashier looked at us two asians with shock. he thought we were just secretive fat asses and were going to finish all the food ourselves.
we got pizza, lasagna, sandwich and a salad.
the pizza and the lasagna were both bland. it just wasn’t that amazing. the alto lasagna was mediocre at best. nothing here really wowed me.
they so serve beer and wine. Also they have free wifi…

Pasta very mediocre. Pizza was slightly better. Price was right for the special and most of the other items (they do serve beer and wine). Good Décor I would say it’s very much like Pasta Bravo if you have ever visited that chain, but with more emphasis on the Pizza than Pasta.
You could do worse with your money!

This one is a shocker for sure! I cant see why people would give it 4 stars it?! I don’t wanna give them even one! The worst kind of Italian food ever. I have no clue why they call themselves Italian. the food they serve is the most americanized version, soggy pizzas, cold soups weird salads, AVOID please!!!

Would have given this place a 5 star rating if their pizzas didn’t sit under heat lamps.
For the ingredients being so fresh and plentiful, I think it’s an insult to your pizza to have it sit under the same appliance that McDonald’s uses.
In other news, the tomato bisque is very good! A lot of places serve «creamy tomato soup» but it’s just not the same flavor or quality that tomato bisque has.
Give it a try! :)

Ever since I first discovered the combination, I have been convinced that pizza and beer are the ultimate grown-​up comfort food. I decided that pizza and beer were what I wanted for my first official stop in my No Chains All Local adventure.
This place has a happy hour that goes from 2pm-​6pm. I stopped in right before 6 and so I got happy hour pricing. That meant that I got a huge slice of veggie combo pizza and a Kirin for $ 5 and change. Despite the fact that I hadn’t eaten much all day today, I ate the slice slowly to savor it and it filled me up very well. The thin crust is loaded with just the right amount of cheese and the veggies were remarkably juicy. The service was very friendly and helpful. Did I mention the prices are nuts for the quality?

This place is a perfect lunch stop, you get your food fast, it is decent quality, and the prices are great. I wrestled over 3 or 4 stars, but I realize that they hit the mark on what they were trying to provide. I wouldn’t recommend this place as an elegant itialian restaurant.
They have a lunch special every day that is just $ 5, and the portion is large. The pizzas looked really nice, though I didn’t try them.
The person behind the counter was extremely freindly.

After having a couple of nice lunches the last couple days I wanted something simple for dinner. Unilocal to the rescue again!
I was able to walk across the street from my hotel to Alto Italia and even though it was almost closing time the food was fresh, hot and tasty. Alto is kind of a fast food Italian restaurant with the pasta dishes pre-​made and kept hot by a steam table.
I ordered the Beef Lasagna and a side Caesar salad and took them back to my hotel. Both were very good and for under $ 10 it was a good value.