"No rating. Came to visit my mother in this town and decided to take her out instead of cooking. We chose this location since they advertise Calamary on a little A-frame on the sidewalk, I love Calamary, so... Cute location, small and cozy, but empty, no patrons coming in or out for most of the time we were there. I'll admit that's usually a red flag for me, sadly I do not trust places that can't attract people. But a was in the mood for italian and there are few choices in Lake Elsinore. The menu is a bit TOO long, it is cumbersome, distracting and frankly I don't speak Italian, and I don't think anyone in Elsinore does either. It seems that the owner and the cook decided to make things difficult. The food was hmmkay, no real thrills here. The server told me they use to own another restaurant in Temecula, she seemed so proud of how good it was, I decided to look it up. Reviews were mixed there too. The place advertises Spanish/Italian blend food, I did not see but three appetizers that could claim Spanish origen, and again, Lake Elsinore is not a very sophisticated place so it all seemd a bit contrived with claims of fine dinning. My mother told me that the place has in fact been there for years, closed most of the time due to poor service. That was not the case now, but the food was lacking. Again, no rating good or bad."

Read Anonymous' Lake Elsinore reviews | Comment

"When Rusticana, in Lake Elsinore's historic area on Main Street closed a while back, my husband and I were very disappointed. Though our hearts went out to the family as we read the notice that the core of the restaurant, the chef, their mother had passed away. We checked periodically to see if or when it would reopen. Then FINALLY after over a year we see an OPENING SOON sign, we had our fingers crossed that it would be the same owners who had always welcomed us graciously. So we went down the very next day for dinner and were so pleased to see Joe the original owner there to greet us. We had a great dinner, I had a great wine that Joe recommended, and we couldn't wait to come back again. The very next week we were back and were greeted by a very nice Italian waitress that completely sold us on her discription of one of their nightly specials. We both ordered the filet and were blown away!! Again we couldn't wait to come back again for more (at this point this was becoming a weekly tradition). Once again, greeted by Joe and our lovely Italian waitress we are seeted and talk small talk with Joe. We don't even need to look at the menu; we order the steak and Joe recomends another fantastic wine. This time we could barely contain ourselves while eating and completely wipe our plates clean with total satisfaction. We request to speak with the Chef to tell him how truely wonderful our meal was and that "This was the best steak we've EVER had!" I can't say it enough but please just order the steak!"

Read Paddykakez's Lake Elsinore reviews | Comment