Cafe ALTO

Came here for happy hour with a couple other people. It is nice because happy hour is served everywhere and wine was $ 5 a glass! :)
The Calamari was also yummy as well (we split it amongst the three of us).
The waiter was extremely polite and connected with us very well. He spoke a little italian to us which was fun and even asked us if we wanted another glass before the happy hour time was officially over.
I would definitely love to go back for dinner to further explore the menu, but from what I have experienced it was wonderful and the ambiance was great.

Not good. Service was bad. Food was ok. Cocktails bad. Overall, I would not go there again.
Specifically – our drinks didn’t arrive until after the food. We weren’t given bread until after the food arrived. The mojito I ordered was a completely different «mojito» (aka awful & makeshift) & the server refused to give us an extra chair to place our belongings on.
In summation, we got the check as fast as we could so we could go down the street to joya where we could get delicious cocktails, good service & yummy food.
Will not go back here.

Dinner was amazing!!! The spinach ravioli was amazing and so was Mario!
We will be back soon!

Another awful University Ave. italian eatery. We continually make the mistake of coming to University Ave. for food. This is not the place for those with a finer palate.
All the food here was forgettable. The ambience was nice, though, and for that it gets two stars.
If you like Olive Garden, check it out. If you fancy places like Seven Hills in San Francisco, run away.

Delicious, authentic Italian food. Bruschetta is unique and messy in the best way. (Olive oil and tomato juice running down your chin messy.) The gnocchi sorrentina MELTS in your mouth. The dish is simple, but filling. Ambience is classy and the staff is attentive and friendly. Great place if you want a affordable, delicious Italian meal.

This has been my «go to» spot forever. I love this place. I have had a little bit of everything but I my favorite is their Penne Arrabiata. I usually get it without sausage and add prawns. Their salads are amazing as well. I love getting their Salmon with mixed greens. It is so flavorful and always cooked perfect. My girlfriend and I had their calamari last time we were there and we both could not believe how good it was. The vegetables in the calamari were seasoned just right. My fiancé has had a few of their pizzas and loves them. Perfect place for a glass of vino and some yummy goods!!!
5 stars for the amazing service and great seating options!!!

Not sure when Renzo became Café ALTO, but I guess with this name change came a drastic decline in service. I really like their happy hour and come here on occasion after work to grab a drink.
Last Friday (⁵⁄₁₅), my boyfriend and I came in about 10 minutes prior to HH being over and sat down in the bar area. The number of servers in the bar area far outnumbered the patrons, yet no one came by to serve us.
I asked 3 separate people to take our drink orders. THREE! The bartender said in a second and served people who walked up after us, two more waiters said sure, but then continued watching the soccer match on TV.
We were pretty peeved at this point so decided to leave. On our way out I told one of the waiters he lost our business because he was too busy watching soccer. He shrugged and said «meh».
What a disappointment!
Fortunately there are many other establishments in downtown Palo Alto that have equally as good food and drinks. Won’t be back here anytime soon.

FABULOUS! Came here during happy hour last Friday. It wasn’t too packed and happy hour is used throughout the restaurant, not just the bar. Made reservations through open table, but they weren’t needed at the time. The service was phenomenal and the foot was Devine. They also give you bread and oil, plus we got a few lessons in Italian from our waiter which was much appreciated!
I ordered 3 happy hour glasses of wine, split a regular order of calamari with the group (3people total), and I had the Gamberi Salad with the dressing on the side. All of which were divine.
At one point the runner brought us the wrong dish and instantaneously (in Italian of course) our waiter corrected him, and ideal situation I believe.
Overall, I will probably come here again either with a big group, or for a date, either way it seems to be a great atmosphere. The food was delicious and the prices weren’t too bad. The service is what really impressed me, our water was never empty, our drinks were always half full, and our food was taken away momentarily after we finished. 5 stars all around.

A semi-​upscale restaurant on University Ave with decently sassy waiters.
Came here for a team dinner with my colleagues one rainy night around 6pm. Would not recommend coming at this time, parking is a mess.
The décor in this restaurant is nice, and the food is good. I would have given this place a higher review if not for the sassiest waiters on earth. Given the atmosphere of the restaurant, our waiter’s attitude was definitely unacceptable.
1) ordering the wine.
little knowledge on wine selection, nonchalant/​dismissive attitude with serving the bottle
2) ordering food.
let me note first that this restaurant was by no means full. there were quite a few tables occupied, but just as many were empty. I came here with my co-​workers for a team happy hour. Ordered drinks, appetizers, and a couple of pizzas for the table, but the waiter still seemed unhappy that we did not instead order individual entrees. He kept pushing us to order more food and actually rolled his eyes when we said we were okay after the pizzas. Highly unprofessional.
On to the food:
(+) caprese.
very very very good! mozzarella was very fresh, cut perfectly to compliment the tomato and basil well.
(+) alla Norma pizza.
fresh tomatoes, basil, eggplant & smoked ricotta cheese.
something about this pizza made me think of a potato, but there definitely are not. I assume the texture is coming from the eggplants. I would recommend. A pretty unique pizza.
(-) Arugula & Prosciutto pizza.
fresh tomatoes, arugula, prosciutto & mozzarella.
Unless you are really craving prosciutto, I would not recommend getting this. From the menu it seems like the other selections would be more distinguished. I was unimpressed, as execution at other restaurants have easily surpassed café renzo for this dish.
(-)bruschetta.
uninteresting flavor palate, not a huge fan. however, ingredients were fresh and the bruschetta was lighter than other variations.

This review is for Happy Hour and snacks. Stopped in on a Tuesday afternoon to meet some colleagues. Had a nice time, not only because I was there with good people, but because Café Renzo staff was cool and the food and drink were equally so.
Drinks:
We enjoyed $ 5 cocktails (vodka martinis, cosmos, Manhattans), as well as a couple glasses of wine. Bartender mixed great drinks, and I could have easily stayed a couple more hours.
Food:
We had a couple orders of calamari, and two small antipasto platters with salumi, olives, bruschetta, caponata, and cheese. Calamari was crisp and not greasy, and served with two sauces (tartar sauce and marinara). I don’t go crazy for calamari most of the time, but Renzo’s was pretty darn good. Antipasto platters were a perfect accompaniment to our drinks.
Service:
Excellent. Really friendly staff, and very accommodating. We asked if they had an antipasto platter to share, and though they did not have one on the Happy Hour menu, the one on the regular menu was $ 16/​person. That sounded like a bit much for us. Our server made us smaller platters and charged us for 2 people (there were 5 of us). I love it when restaurants are flexible like that.
Vibe:
Classy and comfortable. Loved the bar and lounge area. Banquettes looked comfortable, and high ceilings in the place added tons of character.
Family-​friendly:
Probably, but I’m not in a hurry to bring the kids out to Café Renzo. Seems like more of a date-​night place with my missus.
Summary:
Great spot for Happy Hour and snacks. Definitely makes me want to come back and try the dinner menu. Give it a shot if you’re in the area.

I highly recommend this place. Gnocchi was as good as other reviews.
I want to add that the bartender is great! His recommendations were perfect. I enjoyed my glass of wine, which was his recommendation. Next time I come I will be sitting in the bar area again requesting wine suggestions while watching an excellent game.

We were in downtown Palo Alto trying to find a place to get some lunch and walked into Café Renzo. It was 12:30 pm and doors and patio were wide open. When we sat down there was not another patron there. I was not sure if this was a good sign. We ordered the Grilled Salmon Salad, The Seafood Spaghetti, Minestrone Soup, and Margarita Pizza. The food was good except the soup. Broccoli in Minestrone Soup? It was bland and minimal at best. Service was good. Prices are a little steep. When we got our food there where at least a few more patrons.

This review is for happy hour only and management.
Note: Do not make reservations during happy hour and sit in the back, because they will not honor the happy hour prices. Now, that may be there policy, but my colleague had called to ensure prices would be honored — she called at least 2x!
However, when we arrived at 5:30PM they would not honor our request and reservation. My colleague spoke to the waiter and told him specifically that she called twice to confirm the reservation and they would honor happy hour. Anyway, we stressed this and finally the manager came and said we usually don’t do this, but we will for now — just know for next time we won’t. Too bad, there won’t be a next time. My big issue is don’t tell us you will honor happy hour but once we arrived — nope! Also, we were scolded for being too loud! Really!!! The entire restaurant was loud!
The food we ordered was OK — we had the happy hour pizza and calamari. Our waiter was also accommodating and he probably felt bad, but the manager — not so much.
Definitely not coming back especially since there are other spots in the area.

The service is great and I also loved the freshly baked bread that comes first!
The happy hour deals are great.

I have come here so many times but never written a review. It’s not the most high-​end Italian restaurant but good hang-​out place with friends or dates. Plenty of seatings both inside at tables, at the bar area or even outside on the sidewalk. The happy hour menu is good and it’s on 7 days of the week! The foods are tasty and a good variety; the portions are great too. I have never had to make a reservation or waited for a table whenever I met with friends there.
I have had: different types of raviolis, seafood cioppino (great), rabbit meat, salmone piccata (very juicy and tender and big slice), saltimbocca (veal cutlet not in a roll form), calamaris, etc. The rabbit dish for some reason was not that memorable. The other dishes were all good. Service was quick and good too.

Happy hour 4 — 7 pm EVERYDAY = great
$ 4 glass of wine
$ 5 cocktails
$ 5 – 7 small plates
The interior of the restaurant/​bar is clean, classy, and has a nice ambiance. What’s not to love?

I do not drink so their happy hour specials are useless. Even though the happy hour appetizer deal was enticing, I find it very difficult to order 4 platters of fried bar foods to get the 5^th one free. I have been doing super well on my diet, furthermore establishments will have a hard time trying to sway me from my diet.
Service was slow. It was SLOW.
We were seated roughly before 6:15pm this evening but we did not get to order our drinks or appetizers till at least 10 – 12 minutes afterwards. A good 20 minutes then our bread showed up. Can you tell me why a party of 12 have just 2 small plates of olive oil to dip our bread in?
A little over an hour went by — our entrees weren’t served yet.
I ordered the gamelli all a carcerata — $ 15. This deserves no stars. The portion is super small and the taste reminded me of either Olive Garden or Pasta Pomodoro, only very bland… I do not know if it is because I can make my own pasta (dough and everything) or the fact that my teacher, Chef Brunson taught us how to make all these authentic Italian sauces from scratch; my sister’s former beau is Italian and taught me what he knows in the kitchen as well but believe me, I can replicate this dish for a whole lot more and for half the cost. I wasn’t about to consume my entrée since it is now 9:15pm but by looking at the dish in the box, I almost wanted to smash the box.
I wasted $ 15.
My daughter ordered a kid’s macaroni and cheese. When we got home, it was macaroni but w/​butter… loads of butter and not a lick of cheese. They took forever to service us, BOH took forever to get our food bagged (thanks for giving us 1 utensil set for 2), thanks for the extremely overpriced offerings (for just $ 20 or a little more, I could have gone to a steakhouse, thanks FOH for ignoring my daughter because she wanted to ask for a kid’s menu; apparently our server failed to grab one, and thanks for screwing up our order.
This is the first on my Palo Alto list that I strongly dislike.

I went here for lunch on a quiet week day. I sat alone street side; definitely a great setting for a lunch, business or casual. I had the Gnocchi which was pretty good; nothing stellar but it was good. I ate it all.
I was a bit perturbed that the waiter didn’t come by after I ordered because, 1) I wanted another beer and 2) I wanted to use the Unilocal check-​in special that I found, but nonetheless.
If somebody brings up Renzo i wouldn’t dissuade them from it but I probably wouldn’t bring it up either. The menu wasn’t exactly exciting but would suffice for a family dinner (the likes of which most of us loathe)…

My fiancé & I had a very nice dinner here tonight. I have yet to find great Italian food in the bay area, but this was probably the best I’ve had, at least in the South Bay. We arrived about 10 minutes later for our 7:30 reservation but were seated immediately. The servers all speak to you in thick Italian accents. I couldn’t tell if they were real or fake, but either way they were clearly exaggerated, which I found a little over the top.
They brought us bread & olive oil right away. The bread was pretty good and came out warm. We were starving and devoured it right away, and then had to wait quite awhile for a replacement. My fiancé had the gnocchi bolognese ($ 16), which he was really happy with. I originally considered getting something more traditional, but I felt like fish, so I had the halibut dore ($ 23). It was two pan sauteed pieces of halibut in a light beurre blanc sauce with mashed potatoes and green beans. My meal was excellent, one of the best fish dishes I’ve had in quite awhile. Too often restaurants think «beurre blanc sauce» means «heavy cream sauce» or «lemon sauce.» This was a perfect, classic beurre blanc (I feel sort of snobby just writing that, but a lot of restaurants really misuse the term).
For dessert, I had a chocolate soufflé ($ 7). This was in fact a molten lava cake rather than a true soufflé. I knew this from Unilocal photos, which was why I ordered it (I’m actually not a huge chocolate soufflé person in general, they often don’t seem chocolate-​y enough to me). But I could see how someone would be very disappointed if they were actually expecting a soufflé here. The cake itself was pretty good, but far from the best I’ve had. It was pretty burned on the bottom. It came with some nice vanilla gelato.
Portions are pretty nice size — not enormous but not teensy either. Especially with the bread, nobody will leave here hungry. The service was pretty slow and was one of the weakest parts of the meal (although my fiancé pointed out that makes the restaurant even more authentically Italian). Prices (pastas $ 15 and up, entrees $ 20 and up, mostly) are pretty typical for nicer University Ave restaurants. For the quality of food & the atmosphere, I thought it was a good value. As I said, there aren’t many good Italian options around here, and there was a lot that sounded appealing to us on the menu, so I’m sure we’ll be back.

My boyfriend and I went up to Palo Alto today to escape the Monterey gloomy weather. We were headed to Santana Row but decided to head up a little further to check out downtown Palo Alto. By the time we got to Palo Alto, we were famished.
After strolling down University Ave, we decided on Café Renzo because the décor and the menu looked inviting.
Pros:
~ Cute outdoor bistro tables under a big blue awning
~ Big French windows that open up the inside to the outside, great flow
~ Vaulted ceilings with elegant lighting fixtures
~ Comfortable, spacious seating arrangements
~ Very clean restaurant, including the bathrooms
~ Excellent service with a friendly staff
~ Spinach and ricotta ravioli’s ($ 16) were very good
~ Screwdriver ($ 9) was nice and refreshing
~ Happy hour with wine and drinks from 4 –7 M-​F
Cons:
~ Panini’s ($ 10) were awful, one of the worst I’ve had. No flavor and why did they use green tomatoes?
~ Baccala (cod crabcake with artichoke and potato, $ 9) was okay, except the artichokes were like needles going down your throat… so hard to get it down
Cute café with great ambiance but the panini was so bad that I don’t think I can give this café a second chance. We were starving by the time we sat down (only a cup of coffee consumed all day) …and the panini was still not good. Hmmmm! Not bad, but not great, so we’ll venture to a new place for next time.