So I have been to both Italian Village and Vivere on several occasions so I thought I'd try out La Cantina, which is their steakhouse. I have always had great experiences at both of the other restaurants and wasn't surprised when the service here exceeded my expectations. We had reservations for 7:30 on a Saturday night, and were seated very promptly, our server greeted us right away and suggested a fantastic pinot grigio to start off with. The wine selection at all three of the restaurants, I believe their wine cellar has something like 45,000 bottles of wine, and a lot of reasonably priced bottles. We started off with the beef carpaccio which was delicious. We then had the Captain Salad, the Italian dressing was outstanding. For dinner we had the Beef alla Toscanini, which were sauteed in a mushroom and marsala wine sauce, and the New York strip, the gorgonzola cream sauce was to die for. Overall, the experience I had here was outstanding. The Italian Village restaurants continually impress me with their excellent service, knowledgable staff and amazing food.

My husband and I were so excited to try the Italian Village for Valentine's day, especially since Citysearch had rated it so favorably. Instead, we were completely disappointed. The food was worse than mediocre: our salads were wilted and our main courses (eggplant parmesan and seafood ravioli) were truly so disappointing that we didn't even take our leftovers home. We decided that maybe dessert would help redeem the meal, but instead, our waiter didn't even offer us dessert or coffee; he simply brought us the check. It was a huge let down, and I'll never go back.

My girlfriend and I were excited to try an Italian Village restaurant, so we decided to go with La Cantina. (The restaurant downstairs.) Besides the fact they seat you in the hallway, (if you go you will see what I mean) the food quality and taste is much below average. The pasta was wet and cold, and the tomato sauce had no flavor. The chicken tasted like it came off of a dirty charcoal grill. I consider myself a food enthusiast having a pretty diverse palate. La Cantina is hard on both the wallet (for the quality you receive) and the stomach. Consider dining at one of the other two restaurants in this building. Hopefully, the food comes from a different kitchen.