After reading Luke Tsai’s glowing review at http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/belotti-ristorante-serves-the-best-pasta-in-oakland/Content?oid=4722206, I had to check it out. We started with the Piemontese tartare, and with a glass of barbaresco, I felt like I was back in Alba. It was the best carne cruda I’ve had outside Italy. The butter lettuce salad was beautiful and simple.
The pastas we tried (casoncelli and tagliatelle) were both excellent, on par with Perbacco’s and better than any I’ve had at A16 Rockridge. We tried both desserts, panna cotta and tiramisu. The tiramisu was noticeably above average with a dense creamy mascarpone layer. The texture of the panna cotta was excellent but the flavoring was basic, compared to some of the more exotic flavors at Pizzaiolo or the bay leaf panna cotta from now closed Incanto.
Even though they haven’t been open for long, the service was decent and they are able to turn over tables quite quickly. I’m really happy that a pasta focused restaurant of such high quality has arrived in Oakland, I just hope that it doesn’t become impossible to get reservations.
