Alta Cucina

I stopped in for lunch today. The restaurant was clean, warm and inviting. I ordered the spaghetti and meatballs and is was very good. You could tell everything was made fresh. I would love to see them add a lunch menu. My hubby works just down the street so we would likely come in weekly.

I think this is as good as it gets for Italian in Johnson City. This might be a 3.5 stars food-​wise but for the area, and having one of the best pizzas in the region (better than Scratch), gave it a 5* for food but minus 1* for having issues with service that should be corrected. I moved here a couple of years ago and lived nearby the restaurant but have never been until last night. I thought the location was strange and figured the food hooky. A friend told me Alta has been around for a while and back before all the chains and the new housings, this place is where people from the stately homes nearby would go. So, we gave it a try and not disappointed.
The menus is not big, and had all the old-​school, classic dishes. We had the osso bucco, shrimp piccata, pasta with spinach (a mistake by the server, my son ordered pasta Sicilia but she heard wrong. They asked if it’d be alright to serve it anyway and my son said ok but should have taken off bill or other gesture. I also thought it strange they asked as one is meat sauce and the other is spinach, but good thing my son loves spinach). I hear the osso bucco is good, although used only pork shank and not veal as should be, but favors and preparation spot on. Shrimp and spinach pasta are both well prepared with angle hair pasta not over-​cook so important. If they have housemade pasta, like a tagliatelle, I’d probably go every week for the pasta dishes. Piazza has a good crust and one of the best ones we tasted in the tri-​cities region. We started with salad and the soup special, white bean and chicken, soup is especially good.
Our server said she is new and it shows. She didn’t know how most dishes are prepared, she got one dish wrong (as stated above), she charged a wrong price for the wine, she took a long time to get to us with anything. She isn’t terrible and didn’t make our evening bad, we still had an enjoyable dinner and all agreed want to come back, but she just needs better training. New servers should have tasted all the main items on menu and also given list of the ingredients on their dishes and be more knowledge about them as part of their training.
Overall, happy to add Alta Cucina on a very short list of go to restaurants in JC.

Short: Service 3 stars, food (relative to Johnson City) 5 stars.
It ain’t that impressive looking, but don’t worry about that. They have a good wine list (again, relative to JC) and the seating is comfy, casual and nice. The waiters are kids that don’t really seem up to the same level as the kitchen, but I am the type who forgives so so service for good food, and doesn’t do the opposite. Note: service wasnt rude, but they just are a bit green. (Examples: our waitress didnt know that when you order lamb, you also order how you want it cooked… and we had 6 in our party, but she brought out the plates one or two at a time, so we had some with plates served waiting about 5 minutes till she could come back –thrice– with all the plates.) Not the worst thing in the world, but still…
As for the food. I had a shrimp and scallop special. The scallops were well cooked and about as good as you will get in land-​locked JC — I have to say I was impressed with them. The lamb was ordered medium rare, came closer to medium, but was still quite good. The meatballs on the spaghetti were above OK, but not great. Chick parm was tasty with angel hair pasta what was not over cooked (as it often is in places that dont know what they are doing). The calamari was frozen, but I believe breaded in house and (again) relative to JC pretty dang good. Iced tea was meh. In sum, the kitchen knows what it is doing.
This place is focused on the quality of the food, not the the quantity. The portions are fine, but it isnt a stuff yourself and have doggy bags after American-​Italian joint. Just to let you know.
Overall, I’d have to say the best Italian I’ve had in JC… and I lived in Italy for 3 years. Anyone in JC that wanted good Italian, I’d take them here first.
Note: I recommend you order whatever is the special. Those were the best dishes.

The best Italian place in Eat Tennessee, and given my mother’s maiden name is Abbondante, I know my Italian food. Seating was quick, bread and wine came soon after. Dinner was superb. The tomato soup was to die for. Great place for a date, great ambiance, lots of Dino and Sinatra playing. Cannot recommend more highly!

We had to leave due to poor service. We were seated within one minute of another couple. We sat and listened to the server tell them the specials, watched them get drinks and order. We then had two other tables get service while we sat with NO ONE telling us anything. We walked! Went to Carrabba’s. Always excellent there!

Hands down the very finest Italian cuisine in east TN. The owners gracious hospitality can only be trumped by the exceptional chefs specials. I recommend trying the veal ossobicco — simply amazing. And the fettucinni Alfredo is the best I’ve ever eaten. 5 stars all the way!

I like giving local businesses a shot so I stopped by this place for a weekday lunch after a recommendation.
Bread and oil —
the bread was nice and warm and seasoned well with spices and bits of cheese and was pretty decent by itself. the dipping oil was kind of flavorless even though it had rosemary and grated peppercorns in it, It was hard to tell if it was even olive oil.
Calamari —
the breading was light and mildly crunchy but the star was the tomato dip — bright and tart tomato-​ey flavor.
Sicilian Spagetti —
«creamy meat sauce made with mushrooms, green peppers, onions, garlic and seasonings and sprinkled with parmesan cheese» big dish for one person, the sauce was good but aside from the garlic, the accoutrements were chopped so fine I couldn’t really identify them. The flavor was not bad and the creaminess was not too heavy.
Overall, it was a decent experience. It’s advertised as «fine dining» but I would call it more of a «family restaurant». I might go back depending on what other Italian places I find in the area.

Mediocre food. Mediocre service. Quite pricey… I’ll choose somewhere else next time.

Found hair in my bread, its probably unintentional. Food wasnt hot, and mediocre. Service was courteous but they really didnt do much. Id look elsewhere