Aldo's, Los Gatos

Our close family friends (and they are not alone) adore Aldo's with it's uber-friendly servers, accessible drinks and standard Italian-American dishes. And, admittedly, it's a good place for rambunctious children. If only the review could end here.
Surely there are many reviews of Aldo's that attempt to point out its failure of "authenticity." But that misses the point. More importantly, it is a general blow to ones culinary intelligence, exuding the plasticine sense of a Disneyesque Italy outlet while producing largely flavorless dishes with distinctive notes of frozen food and vacuum packing. Whether it's authentically Italian or not is largely irrelevant when the food and drink simply are not very good.
Gnocci are overcooked, taste frozen, and spackled in an overwrought blue-cheese dressing. Cannoli gasp for air in a pool of indistinguishable packaged cream sauce, which accents the saccarine twang of the ricotta cream. A chocolate martini arrives proudly adorned with flaccid whipped cream redolent of aerosol and artificial sweetener. Is anything actually made in house? Perhaps it all is, but there's not much evidence to support it.
On the positive side, the rigatoni is cooked well and not oversauced with a perfectly acceptable version of a home-cooked meat sauce - faint praise for sure.
To say more would feel like picking on dear Aldo, who has carved out a successful niche in the family dining space. One can only hope that as tastes evolve, consumers will either demand more accountability from their friends at Aldo's, or find another less cynical place to dine casually.

Number of visits: 2

Aldo's
14109 Winchester, Campbell

Village Pub, Woodside

To call the Village Pub a dependable neighborhood destination is accurate, but utterly insufficient. Its highly accomplished and satisfying menu is augmented by beautifully proper but comfortable surroundings. Bring the well-behaved child, have a burger and wine at the bar, or reserve an anniversary table - the Village Pub is appropriate for each. And while quality showed some hiccups several visits ago, that issue has stabilized thoroughly. It is a standout among Peninsula dining destinations.
Brief highlights: some call sea bass the tofu of fishes, flavored mainly by means of its seasonings and accompaniments. Chef Sullivan encases his in simply seasoned and crusted potato slices with sublime results. Rack of pork can be a dicey proposition. Even normally dependable restaurants can turn out unintentionally chewy swine. Not here. Its white polenta bed appears to blend in with the plate itself, but provides a homey contrast to the pork. Charcuterie is largely home made, and delicious. The wine list is extensive and interesting, but short on the truly local producers served by the glass. And service is attentive and not-too-stuffy.
How appetizing; We'll be back for more very soon.

Village Pub
2967 Woodside Rd., Woodside

Number of visits: >5

Viognier, San Mateo

The holiday season allowed for some new dining opportunities, thus the chance to comment on them.
My patience for writing comprehensive restaurant reviews is limited, so the style will be to cover the big beats of these places. Take it for what it's worth.
Vioginier is located (strangely?) above the upscale Draeger's market in San Mateo, which gives it the shiny-catalog patina of high prices and fancy cooking utensils. But the atmosphere does fall short, stretching to fit an upscale image it can't fulfill.
To say the food is disappointing ascribes higher expectations to it than it deserves. Suffice it to say that it was not good, highlighted by butternut squash rice pudding that was wishfully called "risotto." Individual grains of rice were genuinely unrecognizable, and the entire mass was hidden crazily by a layer of delicate greens. The flavor was not unpleasant, but combined with the tapioca consistency it remained nearly entirely uneaten (no notice made by our waiter). Very surprising that any cook would serve it, frankly, it was so overdone.
The rib eye was quite nice, equally well produced as hundreds of others, nicely fatty and crusty. Its traditional accompaniments, creamed spinach and potato-Emmentaler gratin were superb and memorable. The price? $40. Ridiculous. And $25 for the butternut squash-starch pile.
Starters of charcuterie & cheese and beet salad were fine, if unremarkable, which would be completely forgiven if not for being wildly overpriced for the overall quality.
Draeger's had a certain upscale concept in mind when it created Viognier. Most local diners will know what it aspires to. But it fails - not without some charm and certain well executed flavors. But overall a place to overlook until the quality of what it produces even approaches the height of the prices charged for it.

Viognier
222 E. 4th St., San Mateo

Number of visits: 1