Trombino's Bistro Italiano

06/30/07

Good service and...well...cute.

by ang4unc at Citysearch

We have heard a lot about this restaurant and finally got a chance to visit it. We had great service, but the food wasn't what I expected, but it was good. We have had better calamari and fettucini alfredo. I expected a better ambience, but otherwise it was cute and the bar area looked nice and the menu and prices were appropriate for the quality and restaurant style. It was kind of cheaply decorated, but cute and slightly romantic. It could definitely be done better for ambience though. Love the location - just off I-25 and San Mateo.

• Pros: Price, Food, Location, Service
• Cons: Cheaply decorated

10/23/06

Impressive Italian Food

by amatrixpueri at Citysearch

I have long been skeptical about Italian food-I didn't really see the big deal about mounds of noodles smothered with flavorless red sauce and dusty faux-Parmesan cheese that comprises most Americans' exposure to the cuisine of the second greatest food culture on Earth. Of course, I knew there was greatness out there, but I had to smell it, see it, taste it first. Trombino's was a revelation-it actually impressed me. First came the coffee. Unlike most restaurant coffee, which you just know came in little packages of brown dust that produce a beverage closer to motor oil that something a human being should actually drink, this coffee was full-bodied, complex and lustrous-and a good cup of coffee puts me and my palate in a state of readied contentedness that no substance could improve upon. Then came the appetizer-calamari. This old Italian warhorse suffers too much at the hands of the incompetent but this calamari was everything you'd expect-crispy, warm, and, forgoing the more cliched marinara sauce, dizzled with a garlic sauce that was completely delicious. One of the finest appetizers in existence. Then came the entrees-mine was lobster ravioli, with shrimp and lobster sauce. I must say, I have never been given pause by shrimp in this water-starved town, but these were real shrimp-they were not the tasteless crustaceans one gets so used to-they were tiny but filled with that delicious and unmistakable sea taste-slightly briny, salty and breezy. The portion for mine was not huge but after so much bread and calamari, I was quite grateful for this. My fellow diners ordered various things, but I must comment on the mashed potatoes-they were fabulous! I have been raised on honest-to-God, homemade mashed potatoes, and these babies, lightly infused with garlic, were maybe even better than homemade-no packaged mashed potatoes here, I can assure you. I'm running out of characters, but I think I've made my point-go to Trombino's! Now! You won't hate me in the morning.

• Pros: Great ambience, food, service
• Cons: perhaps a bit pricey for large groups

06/06/05

Great Food In such a wonderful City

by jujubears at Citysearch

Having such a wonderful time at Trambinos made me appreciate the beauty and kindness of such a wonderful city. New Mexico has such a charm and relaxed atmosphere that many prejudge and assume that New Mexico is just a lost state that so many think is part of Mexico the country that part of the U.S. The weather year round is great the people are kind and courteous and the authentic food and service I recieved is more than I could have imagined. New Mexico needs more credit for what they have to offer and needs the recognition it deserves after all it is the diamond in the rough