La Lanterna in San Mateo

Omg this place is out of this of this world

We had first dishes to share. All were good, in order of preference: gnocchi, crab cakes, bruschetta, risotto, tortellini, polenta, ravioli. Linguine con vongole had a generous amount of clams. Sorbetto was great.

Not only was the service and atmosphere spectacular, the food was out of this world. High quality service, delicious bread and appetizers, and bottomless water. The bruschetta was topped with fresh and crispy tomatoes. The gnocchi was buttery soft and the sauce danced in my mouth like your uncle at a family reunion. The silky, smooth exterior of these gnocchis could be punctured by even the dullest of teeth. The creamy smooth truffle sauce coated my tongue and was so flavorful that I used the fluffy white bread to soak up every last drop of that sweet, sweet sauce. To top it all off I finished with the chocolate and vanilla crème brûlée. These delectable treats were covered in a crispy, crunchy top and as I broke in I was met with a divine concoction that gracefully slid down my throat like a child on a slip n slide. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys good food. Good eats!

Overall, good but service was slow due to busy night. Great salads!

Food was good (4/5). Unfortunately service was slow because it was very under staffed (1 waiter for entire restaurantlike many restaurants post COVID. Staff was very friendly. Atmosphere was nice, bathrooms were clean.

Food was delicious. Came here for a work dinner, awkwardly there was an issue with my order (which was the same as one of my coworkers, so not like anything complicatedthat caused it to come out pretty late... Like, once all of my peers were done eating already 😂 so I ate it, awkwardly... but I got a free drink out of it, so not all bad. Otherwise no complaints.

Went there last night the food was fabulous and our service was stellar but the food prices were nowhere close to what they have on their web site. When you look at the web you expect to pay one price maybe a little more but the price was a lot more

Wow, it was our first time here and we were impressed. The tortellini and gnocchi were both amazing with rich sauces and perfect mushrooms. We will be back!

Really delicious Italian food in a cute bistro. The spinach salad was absolutely perfect! The service was fast and attentive.

Food was REALLY GREAT. Way beyond even what I was expecting. Will be coming back to try more of the menu. The vibes, especially these days with COVID, werent perfect, felt a little austere, but I was very comfortable with my wife in a booth. Would absolutely recommend this place to anyone.

This is one of our favorite restaurants. Both their service and quality of dishes are always exceptional.

Great local Italian restaurant with excellent food and service. Also a very cool enclosed room in the back for larger big parties.

Beautiful restaurant...excellent menu. Penne and sausage dish was outstanding. Good size portions.

Highly recommended. I have dined there dozens of times. It is always a great experience.High grades for both food (try the cannelloniand the very friendly service.The cannelloni and Caesar salad are so good, I have a hard time ordering anything else!

Take out was a nightmare. Food missing order not ready . Quality of food was disappointing. Sorry really enjoyed my previous order, but will not be returning.

We recently got take out from La Lanterna. They said it would be ready at 6. I showed up at 6... and stood at the door until 6:34. No offering of a chair/water, how long it would take, or why... I just stood there like a door man, not sure what to do. They also forgot croutons in the salads. Paying top dollar, we expected more

The food was delicious. I would give it a 5 star if we didnt have to wait long for the food. We arrived at 6:30pm for dinner, was seated within 15 min. We ordered our food, appetizers arrived within 20min, but took another 45 min before the main course arrived. Otherwise, it was good.

Thank you Kathy!Our party of four had dinner here a couple of days ago. We were graciously seated outside - nice spot. The entire evening, our server Kathy, looked after us with much attention. Even though serving "outside seating" must be difficult during this tough virus times, Kathy made it look easy. Her charm and care added a special dimension to our evening. The entire meal - all dishes were tasty and delightful. The jewel in the crown was the bread pudding. Most Excellent. The risotto was perfect! The sauce with the polenta really added a whole new dimension of taste. Well be back and hope that Kathy looks after us again.

The service is impeccable. The food tastes great to me. Very authentic Italian as I was told by friends. But I wouldnt know. The desert selection is pretty great. We work next door and pretty much eat here a few days a week. Still not tired of it.

Very elegant Italian restaurant. Delicious food, desserts and coffee.

Spaghetti Bolognese. The sauce was tasty, but the pasta was overcooked.Service was good and attentive, restaurant was busy.

Had a 6:30 reservation. 2 of us showed up around 6:15. They offered us drinks and we declined to wait for the rest of our party. They arrived at 6:30. Then we proceeded to be ignored until 7, at which point we left. Terrible service

This place is absolutely incredible! I definitely recommend going here if you want a good, Italian dinner. The flavors were excellent and the food was just....so amazing!!

What an incredible find! A wonderful place with excellent appetizers, salads and entrees. A cant miss on all selections from the menu.We loved this place and well be back.

Delicious Italian sausage penne and ravioli pasta, with free bread and olives and olive oil. The pasta was very well balanced.

Lovely ambience, great music, delicious food and superb dessert. Their steak risotto and frutti di mare (clams and prawns linguineare DELICIOUS in a complex way! The lemon tart far exceeded expectations, the creme brulee is the richest Ive had. Always leave this place happy!!Edit: no more steak risotto but the Sole and squid ink pasta are decent dinner eats. The sole was buttery and I like the lightly crisp outside, but could use more salt. The squid ink pasta is fragrant and tasty.

Delicious food, reasonable prices, good service. Friend got tortellini, which she loved, and my cannelloni was perhaps some of the very best Ive ever tried. Street parking was no problem, restaurant was clean, great Italian food for the neighborhood, especially.The only problem was that the spumoni came highly recommended (by the server, no less), but when I received it, it was only one flavor (chocolate), which was disappointing. The server should have told me that they were out of ice cream, rather than swapping it for basic chocolate with pistachios sprinkled on it... I felt overcharged and misled. Id give them another chance, but be upfront about whats available and whats not!

Since I was here for a work function and did not have to pay a bill, I can only attest to how delicious my ensalada and pollo marsala was. This is a small eatery with a full bar menu, but no bar. I would definitely go again.

Great homemade Italian food with lots of flavor. Great service as well. The Caesar salad was a little too heavy with the anchovies, but everything else was fantastic.

This is our favorite local Italian restaurant mainly because of the caprese and because the waiters are super friendly. They have a big cocktail selection. The Ganster martini was good but was a bit too sweet after sipping it for a while. The Italian sunset was better but it had so much ice it was gone in a couple sips. I got the seafood linguini was which pretty standard. My wife got the risotto which was really unique. I wish they didnt take so long to break the check at the end of the meal. Its also kind of expensive.

Food was excellent - traditional Italian. The wait staff seemed overworked - there appeared to be only two waiters for the whole place - and, as a result, it was a little tough to get attention.

I ordered the Gnocchi with Tomato Truffle Sauce. It was incredibly good. The Gnocchi was pillowy tender and very well flavored. The Sauce was heaven! I could not waste a drop of the sauce, so I used the delicious bread to soak up all the sauce. I had the Creme Brulee 2 ways for desert! I highly recommend it. The chocolate half was flavorful and satisfying. The vanilla half was smoothe and tasty. The service was very good. We had a party of 43, and the servers, and cooks were definitely up to the challenge. A little pricey, but worth it. The restaurant is cozy and the atmosphere is perfect. I will be back with my family!

I ordered Tortolloni, it tasted so sweet which I didn’t like at all. I felt eating honey!!!The food taste is well below average, it is not pricey though as google map shows.The customer service was great, very polite and kind employees. There was a guy, his name was Ali, made me feel home,. If I go back there it is just for customer service, my three stars are for service too not for products.

First visit to La Lantenna: Excellent food, friendly staff. really enjoyed it! Second visit: Still mostly fine, but my companions entree (veal piccatawas nearly inedible. Bottom line: There are many good aspects to this restaurant, but it tends toward the ordinary.

Just had the best meal here. Highly recommend the homemade gnocchi - some of the best I’ve ever had (definitely rivals many of the places I ate in Italy). Friendly, efficient service and got seated immediately. We’ll be back!

Quality went down from the last time we were there. Wilted Caesar salad floating in oil, greasy crab cakes. Very sad day for us since we used to like this place. Will not visit again.

It was good food! There wasnt really alone there so not sure how poplar it is on a weekend. My girlfriend and I got the salmon and the steak, in which both were cooked very good. The godfather cocktail was mixed well. The cream puff dessert was not what I expected (the puff part was a little odd), tasty none the less.

Food was very good but we had to ask multiple times for bread and hot water. If I didnt know better I thought they had a bread shortage. Otherwise this place isnt bad. Pretty easy to find parking since theres always people leaving. If you cant find a space you can circle the block a few times and youre good.

Good food and wine. We were a large group and got seated in a nice large table apart. We got a variety of wines, appetizers, main dishes and desserts, including calamari rings, pasta, chicken, tiramisu and profiteroli. Great quality.

Excellent service and food. Great local Italian restaurant. Tonight was especially good. We had the pork, the veal, and the black ink spaghetti. Each one was outi.

Food was good but for the price could have been better. Waited a long time for service. Had the steak, salad. The wine was excellent.

Best service and food, a great wine selection and desserts are awesome. This place has got a great atmosphere, defiantly a piece of Italy in San Mateos backyard. The menu is great, havent had a bad dish here yet.

I am not a big pasta person but my wife and family is so we came here. They had one server working and there were at least eight tables. I felt for the guy because he was working hard to get to every table. It took us 30 mins to get the bill. All the food came fast because he knew it will be busy I guess.

The food was very good but we ordered an entree from the special menu and charged for the regular menu price. We brought it up to the waiter and they deducted the extra charge from the bill. Have been here many times but from now on I will check bill very carefully as most people wouldnt have picked this up as it was just the one item. It is pricey as it is without extra charges on the bill.

5 adults, 5 different entrees, 5 similar statements of satisfaction and intention to return with other newcomers. Although servers had a large gathering in back room, all our needs were met quickly and easily.

I liked the atmosphere of La Lanterns - kind of relaxed but upscale too with the white linen tablecloths. The calamari entree was delicious and I thought the wine prices were reasonable. I will definitely return when Im traveling here again.

Out of many restaurants I have been to, this place is great for any occasion. (Family, dates, or friendsthats the first recommend. The second is the best of food cooked, quality. (Same as home Good Cooking, or even betterthe Cooking is well noticed on how the food tastes. My Third recommended is the waiters, they show how great it is to attend the services. I came and a friend really recommended me here, by far she was right about the place. Clean Yes, Professional Yes, Great Service Yes, Good food Yes, I also work close by, this place will be my lunch times also. I most want to thank Kat for her services as a waiter, she shows a sweet smile and a happy person Perfectly for this restaurant. Thank you everyone for reading this review.

Loved the atmosphere. But for gnocchi, Sole has them beat. Plus found an over abundance of mushroom flavors for my own taste.

Visited for lunch while on a business trip. Excellent little Italian bistro. Plan but elegant decor, nice seating and space.Service was top notch, attentive and friendly.Food was excellent overall, had the polenta and tortolloni. Bread was a bit crumbly and dry, but that was the only complaint I had. Traditional European portion size for the pasta, which will look small compared to the average American heaping plateful.Prices slightly on the high side, but well worth it given the food quality IMO.Definitely would recommend as a first date kind of place.

Once in a while you go to a place that takes you somewhere else. La Lanterna is one of those places. Its like a little bit of Tuscany tucked away in San Mateo. It reminded me of a restaurant in Florance, not completely out of the way, but with an intimacy and charm that kept the outside at bay. The menu is a balance between meats and seafood with pastas and entrees. The ingredients are fresh, and well proportioned. When I went, I had the veal picatta, which was a perfectly balanced picatta sauce over the most tender veal Ive had. But, make sure you save room for dessert. The cakes, gellato, and panna cotta are worth the wait. Speaking of waiting, the staff was friendly and accommodating. They are a little slow by US standards, but it reminded me of eating in Italy, where the pace is just a little slower, and the experience a little more savory. Go with friends, enjoy the wine list and the conversation. Prices are moderate, and dress is informal. The flavors are amazing.