Autostrada

***OUT OF BUSINESS!!! *** They closed about a week ago for lack of paying rents. Too bad.

r.i.p.

Visited six weeks ago and loved this new addition to the NoSo area. Food was great, service was great. Loved it and would likely have given it 5 stars. Cheap, good food and a great dining option.
******BUT*******
Went back last week. Oh my, maybe they were having an off night. I had a salad — way over dressed. Followed by a steak which was cooked beautifully and presented well but accompanied by potatoes which were doused in butter… and cheap butter at that!
Wait staff are generally good, but twice the young server brought us the wrong food and looked at us askance… no apology… a few grunts…
The jury is out here…

So with all the great reviews I am almost afraid to add my poor review of this place. We went to dinner on a Sunday night and it wasn’t very full but I can’t imagine the wait if it was. It’s a very tiny restaurant and the tables are really close to each other. So much so that we had trouble holding our own conversation because the table next to us was so loud that we heard every part of their conversation. The food took forever to get to our table and when it did. Honestly, it was okay. I think for the price and location I just expected more. Maybe, I need to come back for the happy hour menu. I heard the happy hours are awesome but then again if you are drinking who needs tastebuds?

It wasn’t too long ago that I was here eating a full meal with a few friends.
I forgot what wine we had, but it was spectacular, and so was the cheese and fruit appetizer, salad, grilled fish with a sauce that was phenomenal, roasted artichokes, and interesting dessert that was almost pudding like, but lightly and deliciously vanilla-​ly. (see photos) I’ve heard that brunch is pretty great here too.
We sat on the patio, which was chill, spacious and gorgeous. If you looked around the buildings of the stores and other restaurants, you could see the view of the mountains and night sky. The tables are nicely spaced, so not everyone can hear your conversation. Inside looked pretty cozy, but it was such a nice night, outside was better.
I have no clue how much this all came to, because one of my friends was friends with the manager and I believe we obtained some form of a discount, but I still wasn’t allowed to see the receipt!

Eh…
I had been looking forward to trying Autostrada for a while. We joined some friends here for dinner on Saturday night and all I can say is… well…Eh…
It’s not that anything was bad. It just wasn’t memorable (except for the company, of course!)…The roasted garlic appetizer seemed bland. For a main course, I had Orcchiette, which was tasty and well presented.
The portions were small, which is probably a good thing (Do I REALLY need a huge plate of pasta?) and the pricing was fair. However, I just didn’t leave with a burning desire to come back.
I feel like I’m giving this place a bad rap. I will try to get back for a happy hour or brunch soon. Perhaps then I will see what’s causing all the hype I read about in these other Unilocal reviews…

I love this place.
Went here for dinner
Everything I tried was perfect, delicious, wonderful
And I thought that the prices were suprisingly cheap! Score!!!
Do yourself a favor, get dessert, the crepes and chocolate mousse are to die for.
Love it.

A restaurant this painfully hip seemed slightly out of place in the small town of Scottsdale. But a nice find.
The place is small and long. It makes seating quite interesting as you can hear everyone else’s conversations quite easily. Not the place for a quiet, romantic dinner. Come here to see and be seen, people watch, conversation eavesdrop.
Good Italian wine list. Slowish service with friendly staff, jazzy electronic music. Food was tasty, kind of like an elegant new Italian with fun presentation. The cauliflower soup was amazing… thick and creamy with just the right flavor. My husband’s veal was perfectly cooked on a bed of polenta. Speaking of polenta, I loved how my grilled prawns went with my slightly firmer polenta and the flavors in the dish. We shared the tiella as it was so raved about on Unilocal… it did not disappoint. In fact, my husband was still talking about it the next day.
Onto dessert, my favorite meal. Very tempted by the Nutella crêpe except we can get it at any crêpe place, so instead we opted for the banana brioche with chocolate disks and caramel. YUMMM. Almost like a banana caramel bread pudding. Needed a bit more sauce to make the buttery bread a bit more soft, but overall we devoured it.

Great food. Excellent location. It will now be the spot where I go after riding the Pima Dynamite trails. I had the Prosciutto/​Mozarella sandwich with Ciabatta bread (not on the menu) and it was fantastic. The bread is very good and no cheap ingredients.
Draft Peroni was very good.
Service was fantastic.
Having the patio facing the parking area allowed me to keep an eye on my bike in the car rack while eating.
The only disappointment is that I couldn’t have the Nutella Crêpe (only served after 5 PM) and in a place like this I would have expected an Éclair on the menu.
UPDATE:
I went back to this place for dinner with a group of friends and their children.
What an amazing place. Excellent food. Really love this restaurant. I wish we had one close to our house in Ahwatukee.
I had the Lamb with some very tasty potatoes. Of course the dipping of the great bread in olive oil and balsamic vinegar was excellent.
The Nutella Crape with strawberries is the best I’ve had.

Outstanding in every respect — Food, service, patio, perfect size portions.
I visited Autostrada on a recent Saturday and find it to be a breath of fresh air. The parmesan scrambled eggs with artichokes are to die for and so are the bacon, the bread, the marmalade and the lattes.
Aaron May’s architect did an extraordinary job at rebuilding the interior and patio, formerly housed by Hava Java and Market Street Coffee. The tables are made of wood and the ambiance is reminiscent of a contemporary Italian bar where you can grab a small serving of delicious pasta, panini or a latte.
With the arrival of Autostrada, neighboring Heirloom and the recently opened Banzai Cowboy restaurant, the DC Ranch marketplace is finally experiencing a long awaited and overdue revival.

On our first trip to Autostrada we had a most delightul European breakfast! I had the delightfully light scrambled eggs with roasted baby artichoke and spices ($ 7); my husband had the tasty mushroom and cheese omlette ($ 7). Also, a great Latte for moi and an Italian Hot chocolate for him. The décor is chic, inspiring — lots of natural stone, with glass and warm orange leather chairs and chrome. Outdoor seating is available. Good natural lighting completes the picture. We would definitely go back for lunch or dinner. Mostly Italian wine list with one CA selecion but priced well. Prices were really reasonable for the quality and the setting plus we did not feel rushed or pressured to order more. A real bonus for North Scottsdale. Will soon be a neighborhood gem. B&B Scottsdale

After much delay, Autostrada is finally open, surprisingly with little fanfare. The couple we were meeting had trouble finding the new Italian osteria in DC Ranch. Apart from a large red «A» vinyl on the doors, there was no other signage. It’s located at the intersection across from The Armitage.
The menu is simple and straightforward at very palatable prices — nothing is over $ 18. Food is encouraged to be shared family style. All of which sounds like a great concept in a recessionary environment.
None of the antipasti piqued our interest so we jumped straight to the pastas. Fettuccine with scallops and mushrooms ($ 17) and orchiette with pork sugo and peas. The marscapone sauce on the fettucine was deliciously creamy although a touch heavy handed. The pork sugo was a bit too sweet and the dish just fell flat for us.
For the main, we shared the roasted sea bass with fennel and tomato ($ 16) and NY strip steak (pre-​sliced for easy sharing) on potato and sunchoke purée. Both were solid dishes. Steak had great flavor but oddly it was not sliced across the grain and had a little gristle.
Our favorites were the contorni (aka sides). The tiella — baked layers of eggplant, zucchini & tomato topped with parmesan was packed with flavor and delicious just as Gabi said. The baby artichokes were fried to a nice crisp on the outside contrasting nicely with the tender interior.
For dessert, we chose vanilla bean panna cotta with sliced strawberries and the marscapone tart with poached pears and spiced walnuts. Again both were solid dishes.
The interior has an industrial cool vibe to it with a long metal bench running along the wall and a stainless steel walled kitchen that runs across, separated by glass so you can get a full view of the action from most of the dining room. There is an equal if not greater number of seating outdoors including tables for up to 8.
Autostrada serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is Chef Aaron May of Sol y Sombra, Over Easy and The Lodge fame’s latest dining destination.

Breakfast at Autostrada today was disappointing. I ordered the mushroom omelette, and it was thin and served solo. Who eats omelettes with NO side dish? The mushrooms were delicate and delicious and the omelette overall did taste good. However, this $ 7 dish was pretty blan with no fruit or toast to have with it. I did order toast for an additional $ 1, and was SHOCKED when the bill came and the substitution for egg whites was $ 3.
This place has NO atmosphere, NO Splenda or Equal for coffee or tea, and little personality. I’m not sure what the concept behind the place is, and with overpriced food served with no sides — I’ll pass.

Yay — a FTR for Gabi K!
Located on Market Street at DC Ranch, Autostrada is the latest concept in Chef Aaron May’s «collection» of unique restaurants in the Valley. Autostrada, which means «an expressway or highway in Italian» serves cuisine from all around Italy. With a capacity of less than 50 inside and another 45 outside, it’s small, but the design which includes glass, steel, wood and concrete, gives this hot new restaurant a sleek, industrial vibe inside which goes with the theme very well.
I had the opportunity to attend a pre-​opening dinner at Autostrada last night… I believe they will be open to the public in the next few days. I cannot be tough on the restaurant, as it was their first night open, and I was extremely impressed nonetheless.
We waited a short while to get seated, but it was a pleasure since the bartender, Erica (aka Red for her red hair) was sweet, attentive, and knowledgeable about the history of the restaurant and the menu. They don’t have their complete wine /​drink menu going just yet, but I learned the majority of the wines will come from Italy, and they will also be offering a wide range of cocktails. We enjoyed a pinot noir and cabernet while we waited.
Once seated, Shanda took care of us… For our antipasti course, I went with the cauliflower soup and J chose the caprese tower. In addition to these starters, we quickly made friends with the couple next to us, and the next thing I know, we’re sharing their cheese plate — hey, nothing wrong with that, right?
Next up, I had a tiella casserole of grilled veggies including eggplant, zucchini, parmesan cheese and a zesty tomato sauce — it was delicious! And J’s fettucini with scallops and mushrooms was pretty amazing as well. We could’ve stopped here, but we kept going.
For the Segundi course, I chose the sea bass and J had the veal… this is where Autostrada has a few kinks to work out, but remember, it’s their first night open… I didn’t love the fish — wasn’t a fan of the cold veggies on the plate or the sauce which came on the fish. The veal however, was fantastic — and I’m not usually a veal fan! It was served on polenta — yum! Our new friends at the table next to us chose the steak and the halibut… and again — steak was a hit while the fish dish — not so much.
We finished with the dessert that Shanda recommended, the crepes with chocolate and strawberries… omg they were scrumptious.
As you can tell, we had a lot of food… and our bill proved it coming in at around $ 100 before tip. But, we had a lot of fun, made some new friends, and found several other menu items to go back for next time we’re in the DC Ranch hood… plus, Autostrada will be open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week.
With the casual environment, friendly attentive staff, and the magical management/​ownership team behind Autostrada, I’m sure they will be a success. Buon appetito!