Thousand Oaks, CA - Vivoli Cafe

Today I had a chance to visit one of the franchise branch of my beloved Vivoli Cafe that is located in Thousand Oaks, CA. We head to the restaurant early so we'll be able to return in time to catch the VP debate and Must Watch TV Thursday; since we got there before dinner time, the restaurant was pretty empty and we got seated right away.

(I did take pictures of the food that we ordered, but I did not realize that the SD card was not in the camera and I left the camera cable at home, so I won't be able to post those pictures till I get home next week, but they are coming.)

There are major differences between the original store on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles and this franchise store in Thousand Oaks, CA; and although this restaurant is not bad, I was extremely disappointed in how different the food is from the original Vivoli Cafe. Since this is the first time we're dining here, we decided to order a few of our favorites: the calamari fritti and the gnocchi. We also ordered the Pizza margherita with mushroom and MilleFoglie di Maiale, which is pork tenderloin sliced and pounded with mozzarella, leaks, tomato in a black olive sauce.

The menu and the recipe is the same as the Sunset store, however, it is obvious that the chef makes all the difference. First of all, the free focaccia bread was cold, and that pretty much set the tone for the whole meal. I made the comment to my boyfriend saying that I have a feeling that we still need to make a trip to the Sunset restaurant, and I think at the end of the meal, my boyfriend was in agreement with me.

The calamari that I rave about did not make an appearance here tonight. The portion was smaller and the calamari was overcooked and a bit rubbery. The calamari itself was not seasoned and pretty much relied on the sauce to deliver the flavor. The pork tenderloin was cooked well, however, there were no seasoning and the entire dish was bland and boring.

My biggest disappointment was the gnocchi. If you have read my July post about Vivoli Cafe on Sunset Blvd, the gnocchi at Vivoli Cafe is my all time favorite dish; it is THE dish that I would drive 400 miles for, they are "little pillows of heaven" that melts in your mouth, or at least that was what they were suppose to be. The gnocchi at Vivoli Cafe in Thousand Oaks, CA bear no resemblance to the original dish, and I didn't have to taste it to tell that it was not the same gnocchi dish that I love. Just from looking at it, the gnocchi looked dense. I then proceeded to stick my fork into it, and it did not feel light and fluffy. I put one into my mouth and it tasted just like all the average gnocchi out there, it was the same gnocchi that my boyfriend had avoided for many many years; it was dense, chewy, and uninspiring.

The only dish that was good was the pizza. The crust was thin and crispy. The topping and sauce were flavorful and complimentary. I would prefer to have more basil on the pizza, but overall, the pizza was a delight to eat.

The upside of this place was the size of this restaurant was significantly bigger than the Sunset store, and parking was free. The service is about the same compared to an average restaurant, but it did not meet the high standard of the Sunset branch. And it definitely did not have the warm, fuzzy, friendly family restaurant feel to it.

After the meal, I have this urge to just drive down to the Vivoli Cafe on Sunset Blvd to get the bad taste out of my mouth. However, I am glad to have this experience, because now I can really appreciate how wonderful the original restaurant on Sunset is, and I can truly tell you that if you want to try Vivoli Cafe, do yourself a favor and visit the one on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. Sure, the restaurant is small and you have to pay for valet parking, but the food is fabulous there and the service is superb. I would not recommend anyone to the one in Thousand Oaks, but if you would like to try it out for yourself, be my guest, but don't say that I didn't warn ya! :P