Cafe Villa - San Rafael (CA)

5 /5 Wendy Pierson: Such a great place! I was really craving clam chowder and didn’t want to drive across the bridge to San Francisco, so I found this on Google with good reviews. It was a hidden gem, everything we ordered was delicious. The bruschetta, the clam chowder, the chicken Parmesan and the fettuccine bolognese were fantastic, our server was so friendly and fun! I definitely recommend, don’t judge a book by its cover, we will be back.

5 /5 Erica Iacovoni-Melekian: What an amazing find. The outside is almost a disguise for what’s inside. Beautiful ambiance and staff. The food is also amazing and very reasonably priced for the quality. Hidden Gem!!

5 /5 Emi Abe: My parents and I came here last week on a Wednesday night for the first time. Ive driven by plenty of times, but after my mom found it online, we decided to go for a chill birthday dinner. The restaurant was pretty empty, so it had a nice and quiet ambiance. The server (brandon?) was really friendly and knowledgeable. We ended up getting the chicken Parmigiano, the pappardelle, and the local rock cod dishes as our mains, along with the truffle fries and crispy brussel sprouts. I highly recommend the brussel sprouts and chicken Parmigiano as the Alfredo was so good and light! The staff were also very kind and gave us a pot de creme dessert for my birthday and it was soooo tasty and light! Apparently, the restaurant is much busier on other nights, so they do recommend setting up reservations. They have some good deals earlier in the evening at happy hour, so I will definitely be back with my friends!

5 /5 Sophia Zimmerman: My boyfriend took me here, it is a little unsuspecting restaurant adjacent to the motel. However, the inside as well as the food do not give “motel vibes”. The inside is nice and bright, great for lunch. We were greeted by such a friendly waiter (unfortunately did not get his name) who sat us down immediately and introduced the menus. We ordered the little gem caesar salad and the truffle fries for our appetizers. It came out very quickly and it was all so fresh. Both dishes were absolutely delicious. Shortly after came our entrees. We got the tuscan chicken club and the pappardelle with brisket ragu. The first bite rendered us speechless! We were not excepting it to be as amazing as it was. Again, everything was so fresh and you could tell a lot of effort was put in. The brisket ragu was melting in your mouth, and the club was perfectly crispy with amazing flavors. We had such a pleasant experience and are hoping to come back soon.