Trattoria Sole

Trattoria Sole

5894 Sunset Drive



We went last night to Trattoria Sole on Sunset Drive to celebrate a friend's birthday. The ambience was nice, sitting outside right on the sidewalk, watching people pass by. The menu itself is expansive, and our party found it confusing, as it features a three course meal deal with a separate menu that is not even offered on the weekends. And there was a lot of text to sift through.



So once we figured out which menu page we could choose from we got down to it. Our party of six ordered things like chicken marsala (an Italian-American staple), risotto with asparagus, spaghetti with littleneck clams, and rigatoni with pumpkin and pancetta. Because the menu described the ingredients used to make the pasta, it would be freshly made, but it was definitely not. My rigatoni was cooked just a smidge too al dente. But the flavor of my creamy sauce with large bits of pancetta and diced pumpkin was really tasty. I wished there was more pumpkin and sage to balance the mound of pasta on the plate. The risotto was fairly good, with a nice amount of asparagus, but I thought again, it needed some more ingredients mixed in to balance the starchiness of the rice. The chicken marsala was very tender, but lacked some seasoning. And although I only tried one of the clams, David reported they were silty, so perhaps weren't cleaned properly?



I liked my own entree, but it didn't wow me. And having tried everyone else's dishes, I thought mine tasted the best. The food lacked seasoning, and could benefit from the use of more fresh herbs and vegetables. The descriptions on the menu list a lot of ingredients in each dish, but they came in miniscule amounts and so the pasta wasn't well balanced. Perhaps the meat dishes are better executed.



The highlight of the meal was dessert. I had the sambuca flavored panna cotta, and it was absolutely delicious (but I love panna cotta to begin with). I was disappointed that it didn't come with the cherry compote listed in the menu. If you can't provide ingredients all the time, why list them on the menu?



The service was just fine, the staff was attentive and professional. For the quality of the food and ingredients, the prices were a little steep, entrees were $16-22. Overall I was disappointed because the restaurant boasts numerous awards and reviews, and I thought it fell a bit short.