Linguini’s Cafe Pasta & Vino

Oh my gosh! This place was great. I’ve never written a review before but after eating here I had too. The service was great and the food was fantastic. The crab cakes were the best I’ve have ever had. The crab chowder was also way too good. I wanted another bowl just to take home.
Calamari appetizer with sauce was perfect and the garlic bread was yummy.
Portions are large and will not leave you wanting more… Well at least not til later because I am already looking forward to my to go box. Highly recommended.

We had never tried this place due to spotty reviews, but got around to trying about a couple months ago on a groupon deal.
We were pleasantly surprised. Pasta dishes were ordered were legit and HUGE portions. Kids enjoyed their stuff off the kid menu. Service seemed kind of busy and slow the night we went, but food we got was good. Definitely on the list to try again.

Date: 7÷26÷2015 Time: 1:30 PM 68° Sunny
Being here for the second day at the Park Street Art & Wine Festival/​Faire, and meeting my oldest sister for lunch, we stopped in Linguini’s. I wish I have never.
The ambiance is okay — bar with 5 flat screen TV’s and plenty sports memorabilias to admire. The service is a tad slow and I can only speculate the reason is there’s an influx of people strolling on Park Street.
My sister ordered the spinach salad and I, the aglio e olio con funghi. My pasta dish is supposed to be spaghetti with fresh chopped garlic, mushroom, olive oil and Italian spices. Her salad was fine, but the pasta dish was a big disappointment.
The sourdough French bread wasn’t what I expected either. Definitely this was no comparison to the warm, soft breadstick I had at The Red Onion about two weeks ago.
When my pasta dish arrived, I was forever looking and stirring the pasta around, desperately seeking for the mushrooms. There was none to be found. I asked our waiter what happened — no mushrooms? He apologized for placing the order wrong, but there was no comping the meal or a discount on the bill. There was not even replacing the pasta dish with one that had mushrooms. It’s $ 16 for the aglio e olio con funghi? My dish lacked the mushrooms and I was still charged the full price of this entrée. I have been fleeced again, and let me add bamboozled. Linguini’s, it’s a two star for my meal. The only redeeming factor is my sister enjoyed her spinach salad. Thus, I am being generous in giving this place a three star rating.
Return visit: I don’t think so. Thanks, but no thanks.

I remember this place being better than what it actually was.
Ordered calamari app — can out looking ghostly white, it obviously coulda used more color but at least it wasn’t over cooked and rubbery.
I got the Alfredo which tasted like straight up milk… had to ask for extra cheese to make it barely edible.
Bf ordered bolongese with meatballs — came out watery and the meatball was stone cold…
Probably won’t return…

Though it’s a little out of the way for a Marinite like myself, it definitely worth a trip to the Island. The pizzas and pastas are all exceptional but I’ve been hooked on the Cajun Chicken Sandwich since I first started coming here almost 15 years ago. The house dressing is spicy, garlicky and the perfect compliment to any salad on the menu. The service is quite good, especially at the bar where a full compliment of beer and liquor are generously poured. There are also several tvs with just about any sporting event you could imagine on at all times. Parking is a bit of an issue as Linguini’s is located on Park Street in Alameda but you can usually find a place on one of the many side streets. Be sure to bring a few quarters as the closer spaces are metered and don’t take credit cards yet. It’s also a great place for kids with all the cool sports memorabilia adorning its walls.

OMG! Sooooo good! Thank you husband for bringing me to this amazing place! Next time we will try the pizza!

Food is OK, service is OK… just left pretty annoyed since they trick you on the groupon. There are different parts of the restaurant, and different Groupons are valid in different sections Same kitchen, same restaurant, so read the fine print. I would have sat on the other side if I knew… they seem to know that people will make that mistake… they could at least put a sign up, or ask you if you will use a Groupon so you know where to sit. If you are going to try to promote yourself, don’t piss off your customers while doing.

Great customer service. The food was excellent and the drinks too. It was nice to have them only offer water if you wanted it, as they are trying to conserve.

We love coming to Linguinis! The crab chowder they serve on the weekends is so rich and creamy and has real crab… a bowl of it will satisfy! The seafood Pescatore with olive oil and garlic is my husband’s usual. Perfectly cooked pasta, the freshest shrimp, mussels, clams and squid… and a very generous portion! We always take food home and enjoy it the next day too!
My favorite is the shrimp scampi pasta! We used to always order the shrimp scampi appetizer and practically lick the plate clean because the sauce was ridiculously delicious! One day I asked for the scampi to be tossed over some linguini for me… they did it and it’s awesome! Now today it’s available as a special and I highly recommend it!
The fried calamari appetizer is crisp and browned nicely and they serve it with their own dipping sauce that starts with their fresh made Caeser dressing and then they make magic with it and it pairs perfectly with the perfectly cooked calamari. My favorite bites are actually the little Crunchy legs!
The service is always super friendly and attentive. This is our favorite italian restaurant! And we drive clear from Vallejo! It’s worth the drive!

Ordered from here a couple of times and it’s always hit and miss. Just recently we ordered 2 pasta dishes and the bruschetta. The marinara on the pasta dishes tasted like someone had dumped a bottle of Italian seasoning mix in it. It was awful. And the bruschetta… tomato/​onion mix was hot, which I’ve never experienced before, and am willing to go with, but the bread was white sandwich bread with the crust cut off. Very strange.

I recommend getting the salmone affimucato. It’s delicious! The pasta noodles, the sauce and the salmon pieces were perfect!
Very nice servers!

The servers were very friendly and never failed to check up on us. My boyfriend ordered pizza and beer from the pizza place next door while I had their seafood Pescatore. I loved their seafood pescatore! It had just the right amount of seafood and so much flavor. I liked how the place is intimately small, perfect for date nights or family dinners. Will definitely be coming back for their seafood pescatore =)

I don’t normally give 5 stars, but at the price point of $ 7.00 per person, their all you can eat pizza and soda wednesdays are as good as it gets. I was expecting to see some pizza that was sitting under some heat lamp, waiting for you to eat it. This was not the case at all. Each slice that you order comes fresh out of the oven and there are 3 choices of pizza… all which are great. I highly recommend this restaurant for their AYCE wednesdays. I have not tried anything else here, but now I will.

Staff are nice/​polite. We ordered the calamari antipasto. It was at our table in under 2 minutes. «Famous» house salad was pretty good but a bit vinegary. This is definitely a Sysco house (not necessarily a bad thing; Sysco has a whole line of high-​end food); this place does not use that line.
We had the halibut and the seafood ravioli. The halibut was over cooked and dry; the ravioli was buried in sauce and seemed to be pre-​made, not fresh… hard to tell under all that sauce. The potato au-​gratin was probably a Sysco package.
Although California is in a drought, we had to beg for water and ultimately only got 1 refill.
Prices were not bad but confusing. Ultimately, this place needs to decide if it is going to be a low/​mid-​line or upper/​high-​end restaurant.
Until it is definitive, sadly we will not be back.

Used to like this place a lot. The fried ravioli tasted straight from Sysco. The tomato basil soup was excellent. The wine recommended by the very nice waitress was not good. The Pasta Puttanesca sauce was fine but served with overcooked mushy penne. Again, the SO’s linguini with mushrooms was fine. So really the inconsistency showing on one hand their ability and in the other hand poor execution of simple dishes. So one star.

I am 90% sure that the fettuccini Alfredo I just had here was straight out of a microwaveable lean cuisine package… it was terrible. I’m also 100% sure that we were charge $ 3.00 for a small side of red sauce to add to my boyfriends pasta.
The service was great — a guy on the pizza side during the first World Series game this year. And the house salad dressing was BOMB especially when you dip your bread in it. Otherwise… very underwhelmed with the flavors in my pasta dish. I seriously think it’s from a microwave package.

I like both Linguini’s restaurants. Their Café Pasta & Vino location is much quieter than their Pizza location next door.
My wife always orders their Seafood Pescatore with fettuccine pasta and garlic & olive oil. Good combination of flavors and seafood.
I do not have any favorite meal here. Nothing has been bad, though. Just cannot recommend anything.
Good food, good service, clean restaurant, and reasonably priced. Try them out for yourself.

For starters, we ordered the bruschetta. If you like modern bruschetta, you’ll love this. The bread was perfect with a bed of tomatoes and balsamic. Surprisingly, the bread wasn’t too hard nor was it soggy. I ordered the Vogole which was super bland and actually had thick sauce when the menu said «light cream sauce». I could barley taste garlic or clams. The BF ordered a mushroom burger with sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries were impeccable.
The complimentary bread wasn’t warm. I love bread warm. And we had to ask for the oil with balsamic.
The service was tormenting slow and there were gnats flying all over our table. We spent more time shooing them off than enjoying our meal.
The place looked unkept. There was layers of dust piling on the napkin container! Every time I pulled a napkin out, dust will fly in the air. Perhaps it’s because we say in the back. The front area, where we sat another time, was decently spotless.
Overall, I left disappointed about my meal. Kept thinking I could’ve ordered something better. And if I wasn’t so nice, there wouldn’t be any tip.

This was perhaps the worst fettuccine Alfredo I’ve ever had; I had to send it back it was soooooo bad. There was 80lbs of nutmeg in it… who puts nutmeg in alfredo!!! The salad had giant hunks of garlic … wtf.
As a Jersey guy who has been living in CA for a decade, I’ve gotten used to awful Italian food, but this place is the worst.

Linguini’s is two restaurants next to each other, consisting of Pasta & Vino and Pizza & Brew. We were in the mood for pasta and decided to check out Linguini’s Pasta & Vino for dinner.
As we checked-​in, the waiter walked us to a table in the back next to the kitchen. We asked about the table by window and he said we were welcome to that table. The waiter rattled off the specials of the day after handing us the menu.
The olive oil and balsamic that came with the house bread was disappointing. It was so light in color and very little olive oil taste. Certainly not EVOO. (
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Our order:
Mediterranean Salad: Butter lettuce, roasted red bell pepper, kalamata olives, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, shaved red onions tossed in oregano vinaigrette, finished with feta crumbles. (
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Good sized salad that we were able to share between us.
Pescatore Fettuccini in pesto: Calamari, prawns, mussels, clams and white onions (
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Pescatore Fettuccini in tomato cream: Calamari, prawns, mussels, clams and white onions (
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The pastas were generous in portion. However, we felt both dishes were short in flavoring as we had to add some salt and pepper. Could it be that the olive oil that comes with the bread used in the kitchen? Oh, after the waiter brought our pasta dishes, we were expecting some parmesan cheese to be brought over as well. He didn’t come by with us and we were able to flag down an assistant for parmesan and he brought us a jar of pizza parmesan. Nah! We flagged down our waiter and asked for parmesan and he brought back a dish of freshly grated parmesan.
Overall, good portions but the pastas were ok. Had better tasting pasta elsewhere. Service was friendly but a little inconsistent.