Ristorante Amoroma

My husband and I were very pleasantly surprised! The restaurant was pretty empty — there was only one more table other than ours in the restaurant. My husband ordered a pasta dish and I ordered the free-​range half chicken. Oh my! It was delicious!!! For desert, we had the flour-​less chocolate cake with hazelnut ice cream. It WAS a little sweet, but not over the top. Perfect to end the dinner! :) Definitely will be coming back for the chicken! (the sauce, vegetables, mashed potatoes, everything was perfect!!) One thing though — the food DOES take awhile. I’m assuming it’s because they are making it super fresh. So, don’t come to the restaurant super hungry like us! hahaha. We ended up finishing up 2 bowls of bread, before our entrees came in. :)

A Local Favorite…
A pre-​Thanksgiving family get together at Amorama was a perfect choice. The seafood pasta with lobster tail is always a special treat. Salads are fresh and crisp, and daily specials are always delicious. Atmosphere is casual, there is a full bar, and plenty of parking. We love this hometown eatery.

Ristorante Amoroma is a small restaurant next to the theatre. It is popular and loud. Many specials complement the full menu.
We had excellent entrees starting with lentil soup of the day. Soup needs Parmesan cheese so we asked. To our surprise they grated the cheese at our table.
Add to this a scallop over greens appetizer that complemented the soup nicely.
Tonight they had a lamb chop special which was tempting but when the server told us their lamb shank was cooked for 6 hours we just had to have the lamb shank. The entrée was served over mash potatoes with a side of veggies. Excellent.
We were pleasantly surprised that all items were flavorful and delightful. So often the first item tastes great but everything after that is just ok. At Ristorante Amoroma all was good.
Now on to dessert and coffee. The server recommended the excellent bread pudding. The coffee was rich and complimented the bread pudding nicely.
The only downside was the noise. We should have had a bull-​horn to talk across the table and to our server.
All in all, a great experience. We will be back.

Great staff. Specials are always very good. Fresh salads, daily soup choice. All around great neighborhood restaurant.

Lunch with friends on a warm Friday. Started with theur version of Arancini — crisp light flavorful served on a bed of lightly dressed arugula, lovely. The 3 of us each chose a different entrée and shared. The gnocchi with Bolognese sauce was terrific. The cannelloni were so light and the sauce so good I barely restrained my self from licking the plate. The pasta with crab was very good but not at the same level as the gnocchi and cannelloni. We shared a zabaione with peaches and strawberries and I wish we had each ordered one — heavenly. Waiter was good and helped with wine selection (A fine montalcino that went very well with our entrees.) Charming place, expert service and truly wonderful food. We will all be back..

Decided to check this place out on a Monday evening, even with some of the more «mixed» reviews regarding quality of food and service. First and foremost: anyone that has complained in past Unilocal reviews about the bread being «stale» are probably confused: the bread that we were served was indeed crisp, even a little hard. but I noticed immediately that this was done on purpose, because each piece appeared to have been lightly TOASTED, and it was a tad bit warm. I can see why people would think the bread was stale, if they received the bread a few minutes too late and instead of being warm, it was cool. BTW, for a Monday, they weren’t doing too bad — the dining room was about ¹⁄₃ full, and considering the size of Moraga, I’m assuming that’s good.
Overall, my party of 4 had a pleasant evening. Food was excellent, and the service was fine, though I can see why some might complain, because it’s not speedy service like you would get at a chain restaurant. This kind is the kind of dining establishment where you are meant to linger.
Funny enough, some old lady behind our table was complaining about not being able to eat a Hamburger, because it was only available for lunch. She was also complaining about the wine selection not containing enough «chilled wine» or wines from Sonoma. Seriously? Get a clue, lady — you’re at an ITALIAN restaurant, and a very good one, at that. Why the heck are you trying to order a hamburger? Why do you need a gargantuan variety of wine?
Want some decent Italian food in a small town with decent ambiance? This place works just fine.

This place is a little pricey but it’s very good. We split the filet mignon and the gnocchi with meat sauce and they were both outstanding. The filet was cooked a perfect medium rare, the mushrooms and potatoes were tender, and the sauce was a perfect complement. The gnocchi was cooked perfectly, and the sauce tastes just like Nonna’s. Minus one star because it took a little while to get the food, but it was definitely worth the wait!

We have been going to this restaurant since it opened and I can never get past the lamb shanks on the menu because they are *so* good. Tonight I decided I had to update my menu choice and based on my husband’s recent comments on their frutti de mare, I decided to try that, which was a special that night. It was absolutely delicious! I am not such a fan of Italian that I can distinguish between fetucchini, linguini and spaghetti, but it came with lots of pasta and was surrounded by mussels. There was also ample calamari, shrimp and other seafood. I would have liked a few prawns or even shrimp, but the entire thing added up to a huge dinner. I couldn’t finish it and will have it tomorrow for leftovers, but it was in a delicious sauce as well. Linda was our very good waitress and I think it was the owner who greeted us at the door. He even caught on immediately to my rather dry sense of humor. Always a plus.
We always go early because we don’t like the supposedly «trendy» restaurants which are crowded and very noisy. This one has a lovely décor and we enjoy their service. And this time the bread was fresh!

I’m not a fan of italian though my wife loves it. Therefore I’ve been privy to some awesome «bearable» italian. I ordered the half chicken. Terrible Dry, skin of the chicken still had feather stems on it, and it was over cooked. Skin was burnt.
Needless to say I won’t ever come back. Came during a slow Sunday so no excuses for neglected dishes. The only saving grace of that plate was the mash potatoes.

Today I had the good fortune to eat at Amorona… my my! Who knew? Four years now in the Bay Area, and finally find a restaurant that has New York written all over it. Great service, wonderful wines and an amazingly well prepared Halibut steak on a bed of Swiss chard cooked to perfection, al dente with garlic and diced tomatoes and hidden subtle spices. Nicely served with a basket of fresh bread and oil/​vinegar. And the atmosphere is soothing cozy and spotless! Nothing finer in my opinion! Five stars.

Absolutely delicious! Beautifully presented; great service; delicious wine by the glass; reasonably priced and open later than most East Bay restaurants. Wow :)
Came here after taking in a movie. Arrived at 10pm, they were gracious And welcoming. We stuffed ourselves and popcorn so we only ordered one salad and one pasta to split, They brought out the Ultra tasty spinach salad with corn, dry Ricotta & perfectly roasted peppers with a warm vinaigrette Split up onto two plates for us.
It was divine. The vodka crab, homemade fettuccine pasta with cream and tomatoes was to die for! It, too, was separated on to two plates for us.
I asked owners to recommend a wine to go with it, And he hit the mark w/​Buena Vista Sauvignon Blanc. I liked it so much, I bought a bottle to take home, ’cause they have a wine store on site!
We’ll be back! You should go!

If I could give this place ZERO STARS I would. An absolute disaster.
Went recently with some friends before a movie. It was Saturday night 6pm and we had an hour before our show. The place was packed, and the waiter warned us the kitchen was backed up, so we ordered simply. It took 50 MINUTES before we saw our first dish, and another 10 before our table of four was completely served. WORSE — the ravioli tasted like canned tomato soup, the roast had clearly been microwaved (no meat gets that hot when roasted), and when I offered my seafood pasta to my wife, she gagged — absolutely inedible. When we complained to the manager, he shrugged and offered to take a drink off our bill. Really? A whole drink? Our meal was inedible and we missed our movie, but not a single apology. The manager seemed to be surprised they were so busy — on a Saturday night at dinner time. Well, I am, too. But I guess they’ve got enough blue haired patrons who don’t want to drive beyond their cozy confines of Moraga who will continue to patronize this abysmal sham of a restaurant. The four of us will never return. Horrible.

First time here and I will definitely be back. Our waiter Jorge was in top of everything. Started off with the polenta appetizer, then a Caesar salad, a wonderful bottle of Choloe Chardonnay, with the salmon and capers dinner ending with cream brûlée. Awesome dinner. It was a little noisy but I had a very good experience!

I fell in love on my first visit.
Friendly waitress and waiters
I had the homemade fetucchini with crab and marinara sauce. So good
The bring crusty bread and oil to the table.
The chianti glass of wine is so-​so. I’d try a calif wine next time.
Worth visiting if you are in the area !

A lot of reviews have talked about how open table does not really work out at this restaurant. We used Open Table and when we got there they did not have our reservation ! LOL. My wife’s lobster was not that good but when the owner found out we all got free desserts. That’s the kind of service a good restaurant provides. We did not ask for anything (we just wanted them to know) and they did the free dessert thing on their own. All the rest of meals were wonderful. I had the gnocchi and it was wonderful. Over all 4 stars and I would be happy to eat there again.

Great food, awesome Italian café feel, ordered the streak and seafood, basic surf & turf, it was great, good Friends, nice bottle of wine what more could I ask for! I highly recommend you give this place a try!

Great place good food. Needs a little work on Service Please. Also when I am being charged a decent $$ I don’t want to sit in the back store. But That was not bad, comparing to have to repeatedly ask for bread, and salad, and delays.
Outside of that, we would go there again and again.

Terrible kids pizza (doughy), bland seafood pasta dish and terrible eggplant dish, hard, obviously pre baked and reheated. All dishes that should be staple for an Italian restaurant. Moraga needs better!

I’ve been here a few times with my Wife for a date night. The atmosphere is nice and they have this cozy table in the corner I enjoy sitting in. It has a low ceiling and looks like it may have been a closet long ago. It’s a little romantic corner table now. The service is good with an Italian accent. They have a wine shop so you can walk over and buy a nice bottle of wine for dinner. The food is good (not great) but enjoyable. I like the veal and the fresh fish is usually good. I think my favorite part is just sitting drinking some wine and relaxing. I will keep coming back.

Went for a family birthday and was thoroughly disappointed. The bread on the table when we arrived was at least day old, as if they were trying to use up ingredients. The bottle of wine we ordered was good, but the table had to wait ten minutes for my drink to arrive from the bar in order to make a toast to the birthday girl. I would understand if the place was busy, but there were only two other occupied tables.
When explaining the specials, the waitress neglected to tell us about the beet salad and couldn’t tell us if the soup was a vegetable base or meat (three of our five guests are vegetarians) and she did not offer to find out for us. We decided to gamble on the butternut squash soup, which was good and did not have a cream base like many of its type.
After receiving our appetizers, we waited almost an hour for our entrees. Upon arriving, my friend and my ravioli were overcooked and had dissolved into the sauce, which was little more than tomato soup. Another member of our party had the lamb chop special and only received three small pieces of meat which were each «bite size» as he described them. Yet another pasta dish had a chicken bone in it, which my friend bit into. The mixed vegetable pasta got a passing review but was the only entrée that really did.
By the time the inattentive waitress came back to ask about dessert, we decided to ask for the check and leave, which took less time than any other part of our meal. We wrapped up our meal with a satisfied cheer that the KC Royals struck out Mike Trout and clinched one of the ALDS spots. It was the highlight of what we had hoped to be a nice night celebrating a loved one, and turned out to be a headache of slow service, mediocre food, and a feeling of general uncertainty as to how to meet the needs of the customer.