Pizzeria Venti
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
69 reviews
Sunnyvale, CA
"My parents have been taking me to Vito's my entire life :] I absolutely love this place. Not only is the food amazing and inexpensive, the…" read more »
23 Reviews for Pizzeria Venti
This place is OK. I think its extremely overpriced and the food is just alright. I had one of their calzones that wasn't anything special, but they do have terrific potato leek soup. I have gone now a couple of times and the service is always a bit slow, but very courteous. It is nice to have a restaurant nearby that adds some variety in Mtn View.
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Flatbread pizza. We got the $10 pizza which is half cooked (they heat it up for you). Artichoke, feta, red onion. Not that crispy at all. There's not much dining eatery around this plaza so this is a considered a fancy sit-in pizza place.
They serve illy coffee too!
Pizza Antica (Santana Row) has the better flat bread pizza I have tried so far out here in the bay area.
This review proves that YELPing is good for your belly AND your pocket book! Can you say, "HOOK UPS"!?
*After stalking their table all night at the Yelp Summer Bash event at the Computer History Museum, I really wanted to come and eat here with my bf.
Earlier in the day, me and the man had some crazy good massages at Watercourse Way in the late afternoon, and we decided to go for a walk around the lake at Shoreline Park. Little did my bf know I had dinner planned out so that we conveniently past by this place and the museum.
Shortly after walking around, I convinced him that I had my heart set on eating dinnner here, even though he does not like to go out for italian food. Being my last night in town before my "Girls' week" in Seattle, he was obliged. "I WIN!" yeay!
The place was a bit stuffy, because the a/c was trippin', but Bella (the owner, which I met at the Yelp bash) suggested we take a seat out on the cute patio in front. Much cooler, and not too noisy for being off the street.
Let's just say, after I raved about the food from the Yelp event, Bella was flattered and offered us a few items on the HOUSE! (Mentally, I was raising the roof with my hands. Hollah!) A slice of Chicken Pizza with mushrooms and olives, and two salads with green apples, feta, walnuts, cranberries, romaine, and vidalia onion dressing. She hooked us up with at least $15 dollars of free food. I could barely eat the entree at this point.
Entrees included the angel hair pasta with shrimp (prawns were extra fresh and cooked perfectly), and penne pasta with chicken in a spicy cream dressing. The ingredients were extra fresh, and the service was terrific.
Bella and Pizzeria Venti, you won the keys to our hearts and stomachs!
Yelp love+ Good food = 5 stars! Raise the Roof!
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I thought I was on Candid Camera.
After being served a glass of wine in a glass that looked as if it had been dipped in lipstick and then rolled in dust and dirt...
Me: Um, I'm sorry, but can I have another glass? This glass is dirty.
Waitress: Oh, ok.
A few minutes later waitress comes back with another glass of wine...IT"S JUST AS DIRTY!!!!!
Me: I'm sorry, but this glass is also filthy.
Waitress: What? I don't know what you see that I don't.
ARE YOU SERIOUS?! THE GLASS IS COVERED IN LIPSTICK AND DIRT.
Me: Ok, the 4 people at this table can see that this glass is dirty. I don't understand what you CAN'T see. Just give me a beer. Just the bottle, please, no glass. (Yes, I was rude at this point. Rude with a smile. Seriously, don't tell me that I'm full of crap when you keep giving me dirty glasses).
I ordered the spinach/ricotta pizza pie thing. It was soggy, bland, and cold.
I take it that I'm not the only one that's not impressed with this place, as we were there at 6:00pm on a Saturday before a show at Shoreline and the place was empty.
This place should get their crap together. I'd start with replacing the waitstaff and the kitchen. Otherwise, just close down.
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WOW- I'm shocked by the reviews on yelp. I've always had extremely good service and food from Pizzeria Venti. I work close by and have enjoyed lunch here multiple times. Yes the place is totally empty but the pizza I have had has always been very good and the service has been great. I think they are still trying to work out some of the "newly opened bugs."
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Finding this place has been a gift from the food gods. fab pizza (no oily stuff on top, i HATE that) and the pasta is some of the best ive had. After my visit to italia last year my heart has ached for meals lost. no longer. very nice service. and illy coffee!
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I agree with Nancy R. The pizza is alway luke-warm and caked with cheese. I find it odd that i have to actually ask to have the pizza heated. I'm only giving three stars because the service is decent and the gelato is fabulous. My coworkers like this place, but for me it's just a notch above "ok".
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I went here again to get some gelato after lunch. I can now say that their gelato, pizza, and service is good. The only issue I still have with this place is with the cashier. Last time they overcharged me and this time it took 10 minutes to pay for gelato to go! They really need to fix their issue with the cashier, maybe get multiple cashiers instead of just one.
And Rachelle, I'm sorry if you think my review is "rude" but I have a right to state my opinion on Yelp.
Recently I had a conversation with Bella, the owner, and I'm glad to see that she's reading the Yelp reviews and is aware of the issues regarding Pizzeria Venti. It's great that they are paying attention to Yelp reviews.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
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03/19/2008
I've eaten here about 4 times and every time I eat here it makes me wish I went somewhere else for… Read more »
I want my lasagna in a boat bowl!
I want my Coke cold!
And I want it with a straw!
I like this place.
I like it more b/c Cujo, that's the pug, can be seated outside with me.
I like it better b/c during the weekdays it's not overly crowded.
And now that I have my lasagna, I need a nap. :-)
*If You Give a Mouse a Cookie* type of situation applies to my lasagna situation. Awh memories!
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MEH.
It's a nice spot to eat w/o having to deal with Castro parking... but the pizza was really cheesy, not very "saucy-y", and its all thin crust. The service was good, but I'm not dying to go back nor would i refuse to go if somebody invited me.
But... it has gelato!
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I have been here twice now. The first time was a few months ago, and so they were still brand-spanking new. There were a few customers in there, but it seemed pretty empty despite the full parking lot outside. I was greeted by a very friendly man who was happy to tell me all about the menu. I wound up getting a slice of the feta and onion pizza, I was contemplating getting two slices, and just went for one, and I am glad that I did because this pizza is expensive! I hadn't even looked at the prices as I was talking with the guy and all. He rang me up and my eyeballs just about popped out of my head. The slice is about 4x6, and it was $4.75. That's a damn pricey piece of pie. Granted, it was good, but not worth the price. If the slice was twice the size, I would have been fine with that.
Anyway, I found myself starving on the way from a meeting at one of my facilities back to the other one. I needed to eat immediately, and I could not stomach fast food. I recalled the area around this place having a few options, so I stopped by again. I just really got an amazing craving for pizza, so despite my prior experience, I went again. At 4 pm on a Thursday, the place was EMPTY, however there was some bustle in the kitchen. A different man greeted me this time, but again, very friendly. I had forgotten just how expensive everything was, and since I was starving, opted for something other than a slice of pizza, since I would have had to buy about 4 slices to satisfy my hunger. Speaking with the man about their vegetarian option, he steered me to the timpanini, their "stuffed pizza pie." I got the three cheese and herb to go, and I asked for Alfredo sauce on the side.
It took a good ten minutes for my food to be ready, and I am not sure if they were making a whole new one or if they were just heating it, but I didn't really care as I was about to pass out from hunger. I got my food and was walking to my car, planning on eating a few bites before driving back to work. I got a whiff of marinara sauce, and quickly opened the box when I got in my car. To my dismay, my timpanini was smothered in marinara sauce, which I had specifically said I did not like nor want. Yuck and sigh.
I made it back to my work without passing out, and then removed as much of the marinara as possible. The timpanini was good, despite the lingering and offending sauce. At $7.75, it was filling and just about worth it.
If someone else was paying, I would be happy to eat their food, but they are just a bit too pricey for what you get. I might try a salad one day, but I have no overwhelming desire to go back.
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If I could have given fewer stars, I would have! We were completely disappointed. $30 for a rectangle of undercooked bread with a bit of tomato and cheese on it? No wonder we were the only people there!
By far the worst pizza I've had in the last year -- and that's saying something!
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Ate here with a couple of friends after seeing a movi across the street. Have never before had gorgonzola and walnut pizza, but it was tasty enough. The bus person continually came by to fill our drinks - maybe that's the norm, but I was impressed by her thoroughness.
Pros: Great pasta, nice interior. Group friendly. Hi-def TV for sports. Good price (10 for lunch, 15 for dinner)
Cons: Parking sucks.
Meh: Pizza is ok. New wait staff.
PV is really a sit-down and eat place (if you eat in). You have two options, you can order pizza by the slice, and then you go sit down. The wait staff then gets you drinks, and takes care of you for the rest of your visit. Or you can just sit.
The pasta is great. Try the "Penne with Chicken and Chipotle Cream Sauce." It's warm creamy pasta with a small zing... very good. I would go back for this dish.
The pizza is deep dish like, but the crust is medium thickness and not as greasy. The standard cheese pizza is a little heavy on the cheese. Crust wasn't soggy, but that's deep dish. Not much sauce.
Not expensive. If you go out for lunch this is a reliable eatery. Good for groups, but you should carpool because the parking sucks.
It's a little hard to find at first. It's in the back corner behind the Starbucks, Quiznos, and 7-Eleven.
Just opened in late November 2007. Waiting staff is is a little new to their own menu. Hopefully that'll change as people go.
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This new Pizzeria Venti just opened recently, and the sweet and sour irony of it is that it is next to three famous chains, namely *$ coffee, 7-Eleven, and Quizno's. This small complex still has some business spaces that are not yet remodeled or done. Other than a pending Dentist office, I do not smell high hopes of future glamorous and glorious food porn and smut in this area. When Google employees have to leave their Disney like faregrounds and gourmet cafeterias to eat outside, only to be surrounded by food mediocrity in general outside their compound and beyond, you can't help but wonder if they also offer and took hits of Disney-like crack.
PV seems small on the outside, but when you go inside it is pretty big with lots of tables and a pseudo counter space. It's easy to get lost in the moment, when you walk in you're supposed to go to the register and order (like fast food style). The problem is that the cashier is all the way on the other side, with the gelateria counter closest to the entrance, so you would end up looking like a dummy if you walked in and waited to be seated. Not sure where the feng shui logic is here, gelati closest to the entrance and money near the kitchen? Or should money be near the entrance, or are they worried it might depart?
Pizza is the main staple here, although supposedly "pan pizza". A rectangular but unspectacular slice will run you $4 to $5 depending on the topping you choose. Pasta dishes run in the $9 range, then there are soups, salads, desserts (there's a menu by the table with NO PRICES), and of course gelati.
A fun thing to note is that they use a different form of currency here. Instead of pricing by $, they use "BUCKS". So a slice of pepperoni is 4 1/2 BUCKS instead of $4.50. How Sorpanically cute, when it ain't so Tony... badabing badaboom doom.
Minestrone was $5 and it's just vegetable soup ya? Well just like I said in the Kingdom of Dumpling review, something simple can be interpreted so many ways. I'm more of a thick chili like meltdown pasta e fagioli MOFO consistency when it comes to Minestrone or at least has a lot of great flavors and depth even if it is not thick. Sadly PV's was while a lot of material, just seemed more watery although it had the right color. They relied too much on herbs/spices, and maybe it was chopped Italian parsley that melted into the soup, but it was just meh (something I could have made at home).
I had the "special" pizza which was just cheese, sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, and bell pepper. Sad to say that despite their claim that they import all the ingredients from Italy from the salt, water, flour, cheese etc, the whole effort put into and the end result it was like that of Campbell's, Boyardee, and/or Kitchen Classics putting heads together to come up with pseudo gourmet. The pizza wasn't that bad, but it was not great either. The cheese for one thing did not stretch for miles when I tried to gnaw it off the pizza, and definitely this was not like your Neopolitan wood fire oven posh classic (far from it). I'm sad to say that even Buco Di Beppo's does a much much better pan brick pizza margherita than PV.
Also you pay before you sit down. That means you have no control over your waited destiny at the tables, so even if you tip in advance that does not guarantee you stellar service.
Service here needs major improvement. After I got my soup, 5 minutes later the waiter asked me if my pizza came yet (which is didn't but a glance from him would have answered his own question). I never got my iced water even though the waiter had the receipt in front of him for the order checklist. So much for Asian Cheapness and not buying my own drink!
Took a glance at the gelati counter. Definitely looked nothing like the primo stuff that's all over the place at virtually any gelateria in good ol' Italia at cities like Roma, Firenze, Como, Venezia, Capri, Amalfi etc.
I ended up getting better service at the 7-Eleven next door getting my own drink and dessert!
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Selected Haikus from Adam's VentiExperience:
Ordered slice to go.
Sausage, mushroom, green pepper
Paid for one, got two!
But kindly freebie
Does not offset the pain of
Food quite sadly vile.
Cheese cheese cheese cheese cheese,
Not a drop of any sauce!
Tombstone for the win.
Why giving *two* stars?
Takeout service wasn't slow.
And I didn't die.
EDITED TO ADD:
Just got an ALL CAPS note from a "Sam H" (with no reviews) who -- seemingly triggered by my less-than-glowing review of Pizzeria Venti -- asserted less-than-kind things about me. Anyone else find themselves in a similar spot? Just curious :)
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Ate here tonight after striking the booth at the festival. Was starving. Vegetarian deep dish pizza was great. Don't think it was because I was sooooooo hungry. I just think it was really good.
I didn't try anything else, but one of my friends had a salad that was huge and looked yummy and really fresh. He too had a deep dish pizza . . . . . cleaned both of his plates. Far more food than I could possibly eat. GRADE: "A" FOR FOOD.
The service was quick and friendly. We were checked on regularly to see if we needed more drinks or anything else. GRADE: "A+" FOR SERVICE.
All in all it was a good, not fantastic, but really GOOD eating experience. I definitely will go back here the next time I'm down in Mountain View.
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South Carolina Chain offering Timpani, Pasta, Soups, Salads and of course Pizza. Saw this place when it was under construction because we were checking out the Kwiki Mart next door. Well we've returned and found some weird dichotomies to it. First it's built out like a sit down restaurant. Nice furniture, beautiful space. However what they offer is more akin to fast food. You order at the front, where they have pizzas by the slice or pan, get a number and they bring you your food.
We had the meatballs, spinach/ricotta timpani and cheese ravioli. Unfortunately everything turned out to be lukewarm and had to be sent back for reheating. The meatballs were tasty, the timpani was ok but the ravioli wasn't all that great. Some of the servers were really nice but the checkout girl seemed pretty disinterested. Not sure if it's worth returning or not because the food's not all that spectacular but it might be an alternative to the theater food if you're catching a flick.
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05/24/08 It's a great place. We have been a number of times a really think it is the closest to Italy we have found. Just an update from our last post. Much improved gelato. (new?) Peace.
Went here for lunch with some coworkers since it's close to work and just opened. Had a slice of the Everything - Sausage, Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Green Peppers, & Onion. Despite that title, the slice doesn't have much topping on it. It was average, the best ingredient being the sausage. At $5 for that slice though, it's pricy for what you get. For that price, you can get full on a La Bamba regular burrito with pollo asado!
Service was slow, it took over 20 minutes to get 3 slices of pizza. Was expecting faster service since the pizza was already out front and just needed to be heated.
Don't plan a return visit.
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I went there when they first open and they had Excellent pizza, meatballs and gelato!!! When I went there they had excellent service! But, I just went there recently 5/14/08 because I was craving pizza. My choice for this place went down. The pizza was not good - The flavors of the pizza went down! I just didn't get that fresh taste of sauce, cheese and dough on the pizza (mind you I got the meatball/green bell peppers and sausage). However the service was excellent so 2 stars for that.
I had lunch there today. We've decided to give it a try since it's open for quite a long time and we haven't been there.
We got there at 1pm, the place was almost empty. It's very impressive inside, it seems that they spent a lot of money in decorating the place.
Our waitress was new, she got confused and everything went wrong with her, but we got to meet the owner Bella who is a lovely woman who compensated us for that
We ordered two soups: Minestrone and the white Italian beans and a pizza (half of the Del Giornio which was blue cheese,mozzarella and nuts with honey and tomato sauce. Half was onion, mushrooms, chicken and black olives). After placing the order, someone came and said that they don't have the beans soup (bummer). We indeed got the other soup after 10 minutes. The soup was great, one of the best I had.
The pizza took about 20 minutes to back. We got one half as expected, one half with bacon (and we asked up front if there is bacon). Our waitress was so confused. The owner who sat next to us offered to fix it at no cost, and also got us another soup for free.
The pizza arrived and it was good. The dough was different then others I know, it was sweeter but thin as I like. The combination of the honey, nuts and cheeses was perfect.
We ended up paying half of the bill actually, about $20, which was a perfect deal. However, I'm not sure I would pay $14+14 bucks for two halves of their pizza.
They definitely need to fix their service but the food is good. I will give them another chance.
If you happen to be there, try to catch Bella, the owner. She listens to your comments, she is very open and very nice.
The pizza was good - good crust, fresh ingredients. I ordered a slice with a side salad, but the salad was big, and cost $5.00. The whole order came to over $12.00.
In summary, the food was good quality, but a bit overpriced. It would be good if there were lunch specials (such as a slice and a small salad for $6.00)
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