06/05/09

God I love this place

by Tomgoodlove

No joke my favorite Italian food in Denver.

Try the creamy sausage beet pipe regate - -

It hurts it tastes soo good.

04/03/09

Average, boring Italian

by writeon1

Why do we need another one? The owners have closed previously-innovative Cafe Star and are reopening it as Stella. I hope they at least save the beautiful bar! I just wish there were more corageous restauranteurs in this town that would open something less safe and boring. The last thing I need is to navigate another pasta and cream sauce menu. RIP, Cafe Star,,,

• Cons: this town has way too many "Italian" restaurants

01/21/09

Favorite Date Restaurant

by RColes

This restaurant is my favorite Italian restaurant since coming to Denver. It even rivals some I've been to in New York. Having lived and gone to school there, I'm a hard eater to please. First, I want to praise the lasagna. I have to watch my wieght, but every time I go, I just resign myself to the fact that I'm going to go home like Mr. Creosote in Monty Python, with no room for even a "wafer-theen mint". The lasagna is always slightly different, made with a different sauce each time. But each time, it is transcendent, the best I have ever had. In fact, this once included a sauce that I would normally not order, a puttanesca. I hate capers, and so this has never been my favorite kind of sauce, but I had been so impressed with their past lasagna dish that I tried it. And so now...I can't eat puttanesca anywhere else. The problem with capers is that they often overwhlem all other ingredients. This was perfectly balanced. I had the same experience with their White Chocolate Kahlua Bread Pudding. Not usually a bread pudding fan. Most places either dry it out or turn it into a mushy mess. This was springy, moist, warm and melty. I had no room left, but couldn't stop eating. And the price was absolutely reasonable, even in this economy. Now to address hygiene. I've read in a couple of reviews that it's not so clean, but I have to disagree. I've seen their kitchen, because it is open. And I've only ever seen close attention to keeping hot foods hot, cold foods cold, prevention of cross-contamination by separate and disinfected preparation surfaces, hand-washing, and utensil sanitation. I've heard complaints that they are not "traditional Italian". I grew up with "traditional Italians". Every person I know makes their dishes differently, in Italy, or here. It's basically traditional with a little twist. If my Italian friends had had access to ingredients like truffle oil, they'd probably use it. This is without question, my favorite place in Denver.

• Pros: Food, food, food, amazing quality with good portion size and great price
• Cons: None

11/09/08

Best Highland Restaurant!

by John0030

My wife and I recently moved to the highlands area from San Francisco. We heard from city search as well as other online reviews that Trattoria Stella was a good place so we decided to check it out Friday November 7. The menu is huge, we had trouble choosing from the various cream sauces, red sauces and pesto sauces. We started by splitting the pink lady salad, which was delicious. I ordered the 32nd street pasta and my wife ordered the italian sausage with roasted red pepers. Both dishes we loaded with flavor. The 32nd street pasta is a very unique dish with goat cheese and roasted pecans. For dessert we ordered the bread pudding because our server reccomended it. The bread pudding along with the rest of the meal was amazing. I was greatly impressed by this restaurant, the wait staff was friendly and helpful in answering questions. My wife and I look foward fequenting this restaurant!

• Pros: Price and service
• Cons: Menu size, we couldn't decide!

11/07/08

great food

by sally68

what a treat. My husband and I moved into Highlands area recently and had heard rave reviews about Stellas. We finally went on Saturday nt and had a great time and loved our dinners. I had the special and my husband had the bolognaise . We shared a bread pudding for dessert and loved it so much we took one home to eat later. We will definitely go back. I'm so glad we have such a great restaurant in our neighborhood. The wait staff seemed to be having a good time and our service was excellent.

• Pros: good food, can hardly wait to sit on the patio
• Cons: we had to park little way but its a great neighborhood to take a walk

11/06/08

STELLAR -Great Food, Great People, Great Atmosphere, Great Place for a Date

by manaroundtown

We have been going here for a while now and love the place. My girlfriend and I went on our first date here - the best place for a first date. Recently, we were in a local store and ran into one of the waitresses from there and she recognized us remembering we left my girlfriend's sun glasses at the restaurant and said she put them aside for us. This is a true neighborhood place. It is so lively, really intimate and fun. Everyone who works here is very friendly and helpful - this is typical of the staff. The menu has so many great dishes it is hard to chose, you get excited just looking at all the options. We love to sit on the patio and watch the street life. Great wine list, even better desserts. There is a small patio in the back for drinks while you wait for a table. We love it!

• Pros: Patio, Portions, Price
• Cons: small - can be hard to get a seat, but just wait in the back patio with a drink

11/03/08

Flies and dirt make this a disgusting place

by Denverpete

My wife and I used to go to this restaurant regularly until we sat near the kitchen (which is visible from the dining area) and saw our waitress handling food after money, improperly handling glasses, dipping food in a sauce container and eating it, etc. The restaurant is filthy. The furniture, the floor, the salt shakers, my silverware, the glasses and dishes are all in need of a serious cleaning. The flies are out of control in the summer and constantly land on you and the table. One of the most serious problems we experienced was that my wife ordered a meal without the nuts that come on it, explaining her very serious allergy to nuts. We witnessed our waitress scrape off the nuts and whip cream from her meal and add more whip cream. My wife is extremely allergic to nuts and she can not eat food that has touched nuts in any way. This lax and careless attitude is typical of how they run this restaurant. I have no idea why this restaurant is so popular when it is so dirty and disgusting. I would not eat anything from here without inspecting the restaurant first.

• Pros: Great brunch menu
• Cons: flies, dirt, soiled dishes and utensils, filthy

08/22/08

Good, but overated, like my review

by ligerguy

OK the bad - this place is overated, as the food is not that great. However, it is probably my favorite restaraunt in the Highlands due to the atmosphere and outdoor seating. Expect not too pay that much and get a decent meal. This is a place to have some good times!

05/24/08

My absolute favorite!

by MsPriss812

This is my absolute favorite! From the fresh pasta to the even fresher ingrediants. Yes it is small but its cozy. AWESOME date place! Tomato basil spagetti is my favorite!

• Pros: EVERYTHING
• Cons: Its small

02/26/08

thoroughly enjoyed it!

by ahoppi

Wow, I'm glad I tried the restaurant before reading some of the bad reviews because it was one of the best meals and the best service I've experienced in a while! The waitress that served us was helpful, friendly, knowedgeable and attentive. It was a busy Friday night but we didn't wait long and our party of four was very, very pleased - so pleased we're going back in a few weeks. We sat inside on a cool night but even though the place is small it wasn't a bother to be close to other tables - just a touch noisy, but that's to be expected. Everything we had was great, and we all tried every dish, but mine was voted the best - the creamy/tomatoey/sausage sauce on pasta - can't recall the name but it was out of this world! and the desserts were wonderful too!

• Pros: fabulous food
• Cons: none I found