I really wanted to like Celestino. We were served by a couple of boisterous Italian men. Perfect atmosphere for a business lunch. But the food was underwhelming and we left unsatisfied. Complaints - The bread did not taste freshly baked. A bit dry and too crisp. The pumpkin ravioli in creamy thyme sauce was too rich for me. I love pumpkin, but could only stomach 3 pieces of the ravioli. The calamari was over fried and marinara sauce lacking flavor. The veal ravioli was good but not great, more cheesy than meaty. Again, I'm saddened that our lunch didn't meet our expectations. I love supporting local businesses, but can't recommend this restaurant. Definitely pricey for what it was. read more

Disappointed! Arrogant manager! Smokers huddle at the front door. No matter how good the food, overshadowed by smoke and a rushed arrogant staff! "Can't order appetizer before food order, it confuses the cooks"!!?? WFT?? Oh yeah, the awning and patio dining is in shambles. Pasadena's worse Italian restaurant. read more

It is rare for me to write a poor review but when an experience is like the one we had, I find it only fair to share with others. i would have to say that the one star rating is primarily based on service. I would give the food a 3 star rating. Nothing out of this world, just average. We were celebrating a special occasion the other night and my husband suggested Celestino. He had been there the week before and thought that I would love it. Upon entering the restaurant, I already felt crowded and uncomfortable. The ambiance is not my taste, a lot of tables crowded into a small space. We were seated at the table right next to the door as you walk in with other patrons practically standing around us while they wait to be seated. Once seated, we were not greeted by our server for well over 10 minutes. I guess this would have been fine if it had been one of the servers who was busy tending to guests. However, our server was the one leaning against the bar, chatting with other employees and an occasional guest. When he did approach us, he asks us if we are ready to order appetizers or dinner. Considering that my husband is a general manager of a fine dining establishment in our area, this was found to be unacceptable. We are the type of diners that enjoy a cocktail followed by a nice bottle of wine and perhaps an after dinner drink. He never asked us if we wanted a drink to start... We had to ask him. He was pushy, he wanted us to order, he barely tended to our table. He was too busy socializing with staff, hanging out at their bar, or otherwise, invisible. We were all very uncomfortable as our family's expectations of service is much higher than that of what we received. Unfortunately it set the tone for the rest of the evening. We were going to leave and go across the street to Smitty's but decided to stay as my husband felt that the food was worth waiting for. My daughter ordered the angel hair with tomato, basil, and garlic... I'd say that was the best dish at the table. It was flavorful and felt like it was infused with garlic. A very basic dish done well. My husband has seafood risotto which was salty and contained very little seafood. My son had chilean seabass which was very good and I had the filet mignon ravioli. The ravioli tasted as though it was filled with mushy meat. It lacked anything special and was the most forgettable dish at the table. We did start with Carpaccio which was delicious and Calamari which was also good. Maybe I was expecting so much more because of how much my husband enjoyed it the first time. Maybe we would have enjoyed it more if we didn't have a pompous waiter who spoke to us in nothing but a condescending manner. When we go out to dinner, we go big. We enjoy dining the "soup to nuts" style, attempting to taste a little bit of everything and pairing it with a fine wine. The best part of our meal was the server who brought us our wine. He was attentive and friendly, knowledgeable and courteous. I was hoping that our waiter had gone on break and we would be blessed with our new friend.... but that just wasn't the case. With so many restaurants out there, pretty sure we won't be back. Ambiance 1 Food 3 Service 0 Value 3 read more

Normally I'm not one to give a bad rating. On top of that, I've based very few, if any, ratings on bad service. But I took my girlfriend to Celestino for her birthday the other night, and I have to say that our experience was less than stellar, to say the least. (quick background: I've been to Celestino maybe 6-7 times for various occasions, mostly birthday parties and special moments, and I haven't experienced anything that was overtly unpleasant with the establishment) I'll begin where most stories start, at the beginning. We had a 7pm reservation, and showed up a minute or two after that. I spoke with the hostess and she assured me that a table on the patio was being prepared (I had specified a patio table because the indoor seating gets very loud). She said it would be a few minutes, so me and my boo went out front to wait. In hindsight I would have elected to stay indoors so that they would recognize we were waiting for a table. After a few minutes of waiting I noticed a couple being seated at a table of four. A few more minutes and no word so I went back in to check. At this point the hostess is a bit busy, helping one couple leave the restaurant and a family of four to their table. In her stead, a man in a blue collared shirt (who appears to be someone of importance) proceeds to help out. Now there is an elderly couple who cuts in front of me, even though I was plainly standing in a line. He then seats them at the table they were preparing out on the patio. When he returns, I tell him he may need to re-seat them, he asks why and I explain that the table was being set up for myself and my date. He apologizes and I say "Well you might want to communicate with the hostess so you two are on the same page." We get seated at 7:30. Our server is nowhere to be found. After repeated attempts to get him over to our table I waltz back inside to find my blue-shirted friend. I explain that we still haven't ordered, so he comes out to take our orders. In the meantime we are each given one small piece of bruschetta, a sort of consolation for treating us so poorly. When we finally order it is 7:45. I inform the waiter that it is my date's bday after the meal is served. But by that point the first part of the evening is tainted. It was simply frustrating to have been put on the back burner so many times. I really wanted to give Celestino a higher rating cause I've had other great experiences there, but this one just didn't cut it. I would also add that parking in the back is a cinch, and overall it has a good romantic atmosphere. read more

We had a fun ladies night last night at this place. The ambience is intimate yet casual , that's how the ladies conversation and laughter can be carried on. We were given the choice to sit in the outside patio area or towards the back around the kitchen area. We picked the latter, Although I really wanted to be seated in the center dining room, where there is a beautiful flower decoration. But the good thing to sit near the kitchen is we get so many attention from the waiter, even the owner, who is absolutely a friendly and funny person. He told us with his heavy Italian accent to pronounce arugula which we suddenly forget the name of this vegetable. And emphasized that it's " organic baby baby baby arugula". When he saw the leftover mozzarella cheese in my plate, he ensures that I ought to eat the stuff since it is shipped here every week from Italy. Not being a fan of the cheese, yet I can taste the freshness of it. As usual, we couldn't decide what to order. Being a frequent of the establishment, my friend Polley once again became the commander of this food battle. For starter, we ordered the mushroom soufflé and fried calamari, an Italian stable. The soufflé is very yummy and rich and the white truffle sauce greatly enhance the flavor. The calamari is very tender, but didn't satisfy my taste buds. To me, it's quite bland since I am used to the heavy flavored Asian cuisine. We also had the prosciutto, mozzarella cheese, baby arugula salad. The Italian ham is very taste, I mozzarella is very fresh, taste as good as the one served in the Mozza. Two of us ordered the house wine to go with it, and it's very light and refreshing. At this point of meal, I am already half full, since they give delicious freshly baked warm bread, the dipping is butter and balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a cute two way container. The battle has to be continued. We then ordered: Scallop with basil and bean: lots of scallop considered that it's an appetizer and those scallops were yummy. Hen with potato: the chicken is tender and the potato is thickly scallioned and full of flavor. The whole grilled sole: the fish is deboned in front of us and tasted juicy yet not over flavored. Ribbon pasta with baby scallop: still very good after the big scallop invasion. Finally the dessert time, I pointed the yelp picture to the server, we wanted this. Didn't expect he is as excited as us, he shouted "Labomba! I will make one for you right now". It's a chocolate covered ice cream call with three three flavor Raspberry, almond and chocolate. Yes, to me, no meal will be considered complete with dessert, and chocolate is one that strike the highest score. The finale is not disappointing. We liked the ice cream 100 percent. If you want authentic, traditional and moderately priced Italian food, this is a place you should go. Oh, did I mentioned the super friendly service that made you feel like home. All in all, it deserves a solid four star. read more

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Was there September 17,2022 with my 2 sisters. Let me just say the service was horrible. We waited over an hour and a half for our food. When the food arrived it was barely warm. My sister had swordfish that was over cook and dry and a very very small piece with two pieces of vegetable that's it! The portion was very small. I had Ossobucco. It was Luke warm and a very fowl taste to it. No vegetable with it at all! The risto with saffron that came with it was blah.. I couldn't even eat it I took it home for the dog. My other sister had the seafood salad which was just OK she said. for the money you have very small portions, have to wait and be ignored, I would much rather eat at Gail's. Much better food that it comes out hot and you have decent size portion not like here. With what it cost it eat out these days you should get your monies worth!! You definitely do not here! I don't go out that often so when I do I expect to be waited on and good service! read more

Awful ambience, terrible service, decent food. Without question the worst restaurant experience I've had in at least 10 years. AVOID AVOID AVOID. Considering this restaurant is owned by Celestino Drago, one of the finest Italian restauranteurs in the LA area, I went in with high expectations. We have dined at Drago Centro many times, and each time we are thrilled with the attentive service and superb food. We showed up on time for our reservation, but were asked to wait for "our table" to vacate. The restaurant was half full...there were plenty of other four tops available. Considering we did not see the restaurant fill up during our meal, the delay was unnecessary. Our party of three sat down and they provided us with only two menus. When a server, who did not introduce himself, showed up I began to ask him for a third menu, but he robotically began reciting the litany of specials. When he was done with his soliloquoy, he simply walked away without another word. We sat for a few minutes more, sharing a menu, waiting for someone to offer us something to drink. A busboy poured us water. The first gesture of hospitality for the evening. Also one of the last. Another server showed up and said, "have you ordered yet?" I told him we hadn't - no one had asked us if we even wanted a drink. He did not apologize. He just said, "OK, are you ready to order?" I said, "we need a third menu - you only gave us two. And do you have a wine list?" He said yes, and went away. We had three menus and a wine list. I looked through the wine list as quickly as I could to find the wines by the glass menu. It did not exist. I asked him, when he returned, if he had wines by the glass. He said, "Yes!" and then began to rattle of a bunch of grape types. He did not show me a menu for this. It became clear that, for wines by the glass, I was going to trust that he was going to pour something. I didn't get to choose, or see the label. I have NEVER been to a restaurant that does this in this day and age. Even the most pedestrian chain restaurant gives you a by the glass menu. I was completely dumbfounded. At this point, my wife and I tacitly agreed we needed to get this over with as soon as possible. The three of us ordered entrees, no starters. I figured that the food had to be decent. It was Drago after all. In that regard, the food did not disappoint. The osso buco was delicious, the saffron risotto a little runny, but otherwise a fine dish. My wife had a pasta dish that we both enjoyed. My daughter also had a pasta dish that she liked. Had that been all, I would have figured they were having an off night, perhaps, but then the theatrics began. An employee, who seemed like a manager, as he was everywhere - behind the line, seating people, shaking hands, pouring wine - spent much of his time chatting with what clearly were regular patrons. This place had an establish "neighborhood gem" vibe, and with each bite of food, I could imagine why some folks would enjoy coming there regularly. But then this guy comes out of the kitchen holding two plates and begins yelling at one of the servers. And I mean YELLING. They had a huge argument that spanned the better part of our ENTIRE meal. Yelling at each other from across the room. It was tacky and pathetic. If you want a quiet plate a pasta with some nice wine in a cozy booth, the kid of place for a date, or even a special occasion dinner (it was my daughter's 18th birthday) - by all means GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. If you want to feel like you're on the set of a terrible Italian movie or living a Billy Joel song, then Celestino is your place. The food is pretty good. I would love to explore the menu. But I will never sit down in that dining room again. read more

Our meal was a disappointment. Firstly, service was terrible. Our waiter ignored us, then was rude when he took our order. The waiters were snacking on food literally right in front of us. Salad was good, bread was good. Entrees mediocre. My red snapper was fishy and not a good cut. The mushroom risotto was bland and tasteless. And they need to remodel the bathrooms.. old and dingy. Would never come back here. read more

I went to Celestino last night with a party of five. We had a reservation and were seated immediately. That was the last positive thing that happened. We waited at least 15 minutes for someone - anyone - to acknowledge us. No waiter, no busser, no hostess. We didn't even have water at the table. Finally we asked the hostess to send someone over. The waiter arrived and asked us for our drink order. We asked to see a wine list. He disappears and basically does a drive by of our table dumping the wine list in the middle without even looking at us. He finally comes back and takes our wine order. We ordered the calamari as an appetizer and the waiter suggested what he described as a "bruschetta" for the table to share. We said, "Sure." Another waiter came by to take our order. I don't know if there were any specials but no one told us about any, so I assume not. I ordered the filet, which the waiter recommended medium rare. That's how I like it cooked, so no problem. I also ordered a mixed salad. The waiter gave me a strange look at the salad but didn't say anything. I figured out why a few minutes later when our "burschetta" arrived. Basically, the first waiter had ordered salads for the entire table at an up charge of around $50. I cancelled my (apparently redundant) salad. When the food finally came out, my filet was almost well done. I sent it back. I figured that we'd already had terrible service and been upsold like we were at a used car lot, I at least was going to get my food the way I ordered it. In the meantime, my friends shared some of their dishes. Their food was just OK. Nothing special. When I finally got my steak (after everyone else had finished), it was devoid of any seasoning whatsoever. That should have been OK because of the barolo sauce, but the sauce was very one note. Because we'd had such a terrible experience, we agreed as a table to leave only a 5% tip (I usually leave 18-20). We paid and left. The waiter actually chased us into the street to demand a better tip. Sure, it takes him 15 minutes to get to our table, but he had no problem counting his money in a flash. My friend told him that the tip reflected the quality of the service, which was true. So, the food was OK, the service was terrible. Don't waste your time or your money. Go to Cafe Santorini instead. read more

Came in recently to bring a friend for a birthday celebration. We made a 7:30 reservation on a Monday, but it wasn't really necessary. There was plenty of available seating in the restaurant. The staff was nice enough, but very stiff. There was a strange vibe in the restaurant, almost somber. I mentioned that I felt like I was at a funeral luncheon, as opposed to a celebration. We were without a doubt the only people smiling and laughing in the entire restaurant, and when we did so, we'd get side glances from other patrons. We ordered the burrata as an appetizer, which was phenomenal. I ordered the black and white taglietelle with scallops and saffron sauce, and was a little bummed out. The scallops were tiny, like small pearls. I'm not really a Texas eater where I think big is better, but it just felt like a cheap move. ;) My fiance ordered the spaghetti with mini meatballs which he admitted wasn't that good, and he wished he had went with his first choice. He went with the spaghetti based on the waiters recommendation. Our friend enjoyed hers, but wasn't in love. We all agreed that for the price, the quality of food and weird vibe wasn't worth it *FOR US*. We will never go back, and we wished we just went to Osteria Mozza instead. We tried to save some cash but it just wasn't worth it. :( read more

Pricey, mediocre food. Came for my birthday. Some of our plates came out warm/cold as if they were sitting for a while waiting to be served to us. The best plate was mine, the pumpkin tortelloni, but not enough for me to come back again. For the price, I could go to some of the other Italian, or places that serve pasta, and leave much much more satisfied. read more

Great dry bread :) You know how you go to places and they serve you either HOT biscuits or BUTTERY/CHEESY/SAVORY/CRISPILY GRILLED bread? Celestino doesn't do that. What they do instead is serve up high quality, naturally prepped and crisped bread that goes splendidly w/ the oil/vinegar/butter trio. I must have had about 2 loaves all on my own. I'm talking about CARBing-UP at it's finest :) Amazing wine selection--and it definitely helped that every server who passed by had knowledge about the best pairings. I had the duck ravioli--of course it wasn't called that on the menu--just look for the description that has DUCK in it. I'm very picky w/ my duck because often times it can be either TOO dry or TOO gamey. This duck was great and the cream/mushroom sauce that accommodated it was creamy and fattening, haha. The portions were PERFECT. I had enough to say "I'm full" and not so much to say "I'm stuffed" (until I had more of that delicious bread, hahaha) MAN... my review is all backwards. Lemme get to the start of the dining. Haha... we started off w/ the fried calamari and scallops. The calamari was good but not memorable. The scallop, IMO was a bit worse. Something about it was just a bit too "Bitter". The sauce did nothing for it, and the bed of beans was unattractive to me. I know the appetizers put a hamper on the entire experience but believe me the bread and the raviolis definitely bring everything up. Our server hooked us up w/ free dessert! WAHOO!! How's that for great accommodations?!! WE had this flan type, cool whipped tasting block surrounded by strawberries. Perfectly chilled and perfectly refreshing. Give Celestino a shot, you'll enjoy the loving and warm Italian environment that showcases a very fun night on the town. read more

Came here for business lunch with my boss. Started with prosciutto melon, which is always good. I got the seafood salad, could have been better, they did have alot seafood but it didn't taste too fresh. Colleague had the special filet Mignon ravioli... it was delicious!!!! Of course i had to have pistachio gelato.. yummmy read more

My favorite Italian restaurant!! I LOVE their tortellini di zucca al burro e salvia- which is there tortellini with pumpkin and sage. When I eat pasta, I usually stick to the tomato sauces, and never tried anything stuffed with pumpkin. It sounds so unusual, but it's light, creamy, and tasty. I think their service is excellent...five stars. I've never seen such an attentive group of servers. You gotta love a place that makes fresh pasta, great service, great food, and the prices are very reasonable and worth it. I had my birthday dinner there back in February, and I think everyone really enjoyed their dishes. No hassle getting reservations and waiting one hour if you have a reservation. Dessert- panna cotta is EXCELLENT. My bf normally doesn't like dessert, but he finished the whole entire thing. YUM-O! read more

Oh boy. What a colossal disaster! I've been to Celestino's once before, about a year ago. Sadly, they've had a terrible food-makeover since then! Gone are the fabulous service and the delectable, authentic Italian cuisine, replaced with an overpriced, laughably awful meal. Same menu - but such a different experience that I wondered if I'd wandered into another dimension. Our first course was pasta - the Timball of Pasta (what's a Timball?) with artichoke sauce. I ordered it the last time I came as well and thought it was fantastic back then. Not this time! First, when it arrived it was COLD - can you imagine, in a fancy place like this?! And not like lukewarm but actually ICY in the center! My fellow yelper's pasta (same dish) was cold too! Unbelievable. When we got them replaced with warm food, we noticed the pasta was mushy and overcooked, and the sauce was salty and bland. What a bust. Second course was the sea bass. Thankfully it was hot this time, but it tasted a bit like someone had pulled some old, fishy sea bass out of the freezer and covered it with cheap balsamic vinegar. It was paired with 2 little eyeball-esque onions atop a pile of purple mushy potatoes? parsnips? I'm still not sure. I've had better fish at Chili's or TGI Fridays for 1/3 the price! This fish was $30! I didn't get wine but my fellow yelper did, and there was sediment in her wine! When we told the waiter he kind of laughed and brought her another glass, but come on, can't you decant it first before serving it? Worst part of the meal was the price! $87 for 2 people with 1 drink, no appetizers, and no desserts. What a price to pay for food as awful as this! Totally ridiculous. All in all it was one of the most memorably disastrous meal I've had in a while, but at least it made for a good story later! read more

I've been to Celestino quite a few times in the past 5 years. It runs hot and cold in terms of service. And it's not random. If you have a reservation, are seated anywhere other than the front sidewalk patio, are dressed reasonably well, and have a more mature looking party, then you should be fine - esp if the server recognizes you. You'll likely have one of their charming and gregarious servers who make entertaining shows out of announcing the daily specials and provide excellent, timely service. If you decide to just drop-in unannounced with the wife, dressed down, especially on a Friday night, you are delivered to the front patio where you will grow frustrated waiting and waiting to place your order, having to ask for the daily specials, and being generally appalled at the obvious partiality the server will pay to the most dressed-up, white-haired party there. This is not based on one experience. So I've experienced both sides of spectrum in terms of service here, and it's disappointing that its this way. Pasadena snootiness. In terms of food: 1) The Penne Prosciutto Vodka never disappoints, and I mean anyone. Great pasta dish. 2) The Farfalle and Fruitti De Mare also regularly score high. Never seen anyone have anything bad to say. 3) Stay away from the Raviollis, as the portions tend to be very sparse. The pumpkin raviolli? Don't even think about it. I got brave once and was incredibly disappointed. 4) The Risottos (squid ink and balsamic) are enjoyable but will leave you wanting some variety on your palate, esp as you watch the people in your party enjoy the rich pasta dishes. 5) The Rustica salad is my favorite salad in the world. I CRAVE this stuff. Must have for folks that enjoy crisp textures w/ bitter and savory tones. 6) The Panna Cotta dessert is also a must have. Will get wolfed down by your party. So ... do yourself a favor. Make a reservation for the main dining room. Look decent. And enjoy! read more

Came here for our work Christmas dinner. Had been wanting to try it for a while. The food was okay. Nothing special. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't that great. I ordered a margarita with my dinner and I have to say the bartender who made it put a lot of tequila in it! So no complaints there. read more

I had a reservation for four at Celestino last night. I was with my parents and grandmother. The hostess seated us right in front of the door. There was a lot of foot traffic and it was cold since people kept walking in and out so we asked the hostess if we could sit at one of two empty tables tucked away in the back. She said we couldn't, they were reserved for a large party and would be put together. She then said we could switch to a table that was outside (there were heaters but we felt it out and it was colder than the first table). We told her we'd rather stay inside and asked if we could wait at the bar until something else became available. She told us they were booked for the night and we needed to decide right then or she'd give up our table. We took the table in front of the door. About five minutes after sitting, the hostess sat two separate groups of four at the empty tables I asked about previously. She said they were for a large group. It irritated me, my grandmother has bad hearing so we really would've benefitted from one of these two tables. So, I went up and asked the hostess what happened. I said, we asked if we could sit at one of those tables and you told us no because a large party was coming.. but you didn't seat a large party there. Instead, you seated two separate groups of four. She said there's nothing she could do about it, management told her to move the large party somewhere else.. So, I asked her once more, "my grandmother is hard of hearing, this table isn't a good spot for us, can you move us once something else becomes available?" She said yes but never came to move us or let alone make eye contact with us. Our waiter experience was equally bad. He never smiled and never checked in with us to ask how the food was or if we wanted drinks. While he told us the specials, my grandmother kept interrupting(as they sometimes do) to tell him she already knew what she wanted to order. He never paused to listen to her. She said it at least seven times. After he finished saying the specials, he didn't turn to then hear what my grandmother had to say. He just walked away. While we sat our waiter rushed by me frequently to attend tables behind us. Again, our table was in a bad spot with a ton of foot traffic. One of the times he bumped my shoulder and one time my elbow. He never turned around to acknowledge it. They weren't light brushes, he seriously bumped me. Wine almost spilled from my glass. It was strange. When we finished eating he appeared and cleared our wine glasses. He didn't ask if we wanted another bottle of wine. (We finished our glasses about 20 minutes prior). We decided it'd be more comfortable to drink a bottle of wine at home so we let it slide. The food was good and the wine was awesome. The hostess and waiter encounters took away from our overall experience. I believe if the hostess moved us to a different table assigned to a different waiter/waitress, our time at the restaurant would've been much better. My grandmother is a frequent costumer so despite the bad visit, we'll be back. I wish she was treated as a regular (at least). She is in once a week and deserves better service. I hope she has better customer service when she goes on her own and with her friends. read more

The venue here is absolutely beautiful. They have a nice outdoor dining for special events where you can call in to reserve. They have nice lighting with lanterns too. The staff are also very kind and interactive with the customers. The reason i'm giving this place 3 stars is because the restaurant is pretty upscale/pricy but the food was just not up to par. The chilean bass and the filet meats with the wine was okay. The bartenders are super nice ! They gave a generous pour on the top shelf liquor. Supposedly the "Old Fashion" wasn't so great so we had to return the drinks. They were very nice about that and made us new drinks. I probably won't rule this place out, and give this restaurant another chance. The food dishes were just not a wow factor to me. Parking is pretty simple, it's in the back and also free! read more

We came here on Valentine's Day with a 8:15 reservation. We arrived right on time and got seated pretty fast. Our order was taken in reasonable time, the first course was brought out to us and everything went downhill from there. Our entrees came out probably 30 minutes after that and we saw many people sitting near us receive their food before we did when we ordered long before them. I had the stuffed chicken breast from their set menu and it was probably 5 bites worth of food. Everything might have been ok if they could handle the VDay rush, but they did not handle it well. I may come back for lunch someday, but who knows. read more

Lesson learned here. Went for Mothers day dinner. Never again. Knowing it was busy, I didn't expect such poor service. The pasta arrived at the table cool not hot enough. It seemed everything was rushed. Previous meals were pretty good. Must be the occasion. I'll eat at home on commercial holidays. read more

The food and service are always impeccable! 100% my favorite Italian restaurant with the best Penne Arrabiatta

Amazing food! Great staff! Always feel i am treat like royalty and great food. Owner is there all the time he make sure your experience is the best every time. I got my favorites but love getting there specials as well. read more

I had a penne with Vodka sauce. It was kind of bland, and I remember it being better at Yard House. The bread served was kind of hard and cold. The leaves in the salad were obviously wilted and not fresh. The worst part was the service. It was hard to get any of the waiter's attention, and even when we were able to flag a few down, we just kept being ignored. We were literally sitting at the table staring at each other for a long time while no one came to give us the check, ask us if we wanted dessert, or check up on us the entire time. We noticed we weren't the only table being treated this way. I would give zero stars if I could. Worst dining experience ever. read more

I will never be back. The servers are old, slow, and sometimes rude. Inside is run down and very dirty in the back with FILTHY restrooms. Oh, and the prices are OUTRAGEOUS for an Italian restaurant. Pasta should never cost that much unless you're on a private yacht in Sicily. PROS: good location Cons: way overpriced, terrible service, dirty and old. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else. read more

I would give 1 for their service! The waiter was so rude that after leaving a good amount of tip, he chased us down to ask for more. This is the first time this happened to us! Besides that, he wasn't patient with us to order the food. The food we ate was fine, not great. If they improve their customer service, it'll be more enjoyable to be there. read more

Ummm...boy, this is a tough one. Overall, I like this place, and I have frequented it much over the years. I am of Italian heritage (parents were born there) and have been to Italy many times. Is the food authentic at Celestino, some yes, and some, not so much. There is definitely an attitude here with regard to the behavior of the waiters and the owner. They are all male and Italian (a few strike me as pretending to be from Italy, but they pull it off well enough) and they are into the performance of "being Italian". In other words, lot's of deliberate gestures, heavy accent and more than a little drama. It's entertaining, provided you are in the right frame of mind. You have to have a little patience sometimes and know how to interact with these gentlemen. They mean well... The food: Well OK, it is good enough, but some things could be better. Meat dishes, especially beef, is generally average. The veal dishes are good. The rabbit is very disappointing. I grew up hunting and cooking fresh rabbit, so I guess no restaurant will ever live up to my expectations. The pasta dishes are where it's at here. Oh, also there is a really kick ass dish if you like seafood. The "Fruita de Mare" salad is excellent, though small. Sometimes I just order two of these, and along with the bread and olive oil, I call it a meal. Very satisfying... The place is worth going to, and if you go there more than a few times, you will be recognized and valued as a regular customer. Sometimes, that is enough. The rest works itself out. read more

I took my mom and brother (visiting from Missouri for the holidays) for a midweek dinner. The menu changes frequently so what we had, you may not be able to get. The super fast version: Appetizers and main courses--excellent. Go somewhere else for dessert and coffee. We started with a round of Campari and soda. Next were a lovely mushroom souffle and carpaccio. The souffle was rich, smooth and surprisingly light. Mushrooms are moist. Who knew they would make a good souffle ingredient? The carpaccio was paper-thin and translucent, and brightly flavored with capers, olive oil and lemon juice. My mom had a salad of baby greens with a lovely balsamic dressing. It was perfectly dressed and presented beautifully with a small scoop of Gorgonzola cheese on top. Now for the main courses: My mom ordered lasagna--something predictable, right? Well it was nothing like her lasagna. It was made with a light vodka sauce, a few layers of tender, homemade pasta and capers. A bit of meat, a hint of cheese. Nothing like the heavy, cheesy stuff we're used to. Dirk ordered the pappardelle. Like the pasta in the lasagna, it was thin and delicate--not heavy or chewy. It was topped with a rich, delicious sauce with pheasant and morels. Dirk says of the sauce: "pheasant and morels...not a lot of the latter two items in the dish but it was still delicious." I ordered the mezaluna ravioli, lovely half-moon-shaped pockets of tender pasta filled with duck and served with a blueberry sauce. Before you say "yuck," the blueberry was just a hint of flavor in a rich, savory, cream-based sauce. The mezaluna ravioli were incredible. I highly recommend them. The dessert course was disappointing. I had panna cotta with strawberries based on the recommendations of my fellow Yelp reviewers. Dirk ordered tiramisu. Mom passed on dessert. We all ordered coffee. I was expecting a dark Italian roast but was disappointed when it arrived tasting very much like American-style grocery store coffee. Dirk enjoyed his tiramisu, but I was disappointed with the panna cotta. I make a mean panna cotta myself with a combination of whole-milk yogurt and heavy cream. I thought this version was much too sweet and flat--I really missed the slight tang of the yogurt. The strawberries were way too sweet. They could have used less sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar to bring out the flavor of the fruit. One of the things I liked about this place was the table we had facing the kitchen. The chef smiles and looks like he enjoys his work. We were close to the station where the whole fish is de-boned befor it is taken to the table. It was great to watch these masters at work. The service was good. Our waiter was great with my mom, who had no experience with Italian food, just Italian-American (yep--there's a difference). He helped her choose the right combinations of appetizer and entree for her tastes. And he was kind and patient when she tried to order blue cheese dressing for her salad, explaining that they had their own dressing that would enhance the greens and to trust him on this. Overall we had a terrific meal with good service, but if dessert and coffee are an important part of your dining experience, save that course for another restaurant. read more

It's been awhile since I felt the need to write a bad review here. Had a particularly bad dining experience at a place that used to have a good reputation. Wondered in for dinner on a Friday night. The place was busy but we were quickly seated without a reservation. Good sign. Bread arrived with an angry grunt from a busboy. Not a good sign. Waiter told us the specials then we ordered. Tomato and bread soup starter. Fine. Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi for me and Linguine Langostino for my wife. Gnocchi arrived and it was ok. Not bad but nothing notable. My wife's pasta arrived with cracked empty shells, a large shrimp head, and lukewarm pasta. Not delicious. When the waiter asked us how our meal was the answer was reactionary... meh. The waiter brought the bill. $71 with the watery $12 cocktail which was mostly ice. When the waiter returned he claimed to not be able to run my credit card. Ridiculous. Apparently this is how you get payback to a customer that says they didn't like the food. Classy. Food rating: 1 of 5 Service rating: 0 of 5 This place is not good. Eat here at your own risk. You've been warned. read more

Amazing food at an amazing value. The service is incredible. I have private dinners here from time to time and the staff is very flexible about meeting my requests. Their wine list here is surprisingly reasonable, full of good wines at a reasonable cost. Almost every bottle on the California list was under $50. Finally, the reason I give it 5 stars is the quality of the food. EXQUISITE! The sea bass special (in red bell pepper sauce) is one of the best pieces of sea bass I have had. I would eat here again in a heartbeat... and I will! Finally, note that there is FREE parking in the lot behind the restaurant. You enter the lot from Hudson Ave, which run parallel to lake, but is a one way street heading North. read more

Horrible experience tonight. My 80 yr old mother and two sisters took me to celebrate my bday. We called for reservations and were told to just come, they have tables. Well, we were relegated to outside table and had the most horrible experience with a 90 yr old waiter who was rude, impatient and crotchety. We could barely understand him and he became perturbed when he had to repeat himself. I let the man who poured our water know that our waiter was very surly. When we were leaving, our waiter walked by me and said excuse me, however I was helping my elderly mother out of her chair so I was unable to immediately get out of his way. So, he pushed me to get past me. I held my temper at this point and just left. I will never return again and endure that kind of disservice. It was a very unfortunate and agonizing bday dinner. read more

I ordered the grilled shrimp salad because I had eaten a big lunch, so I was thinking I could get full off a salad since I wasn't that hungry to begin with. The salad had this lemony-olive oil type dressing, which was alright. The veggies were nothing special. The shrimp was tasty. My main problem was...the dish was too small and not worth the $11.50 (tax not included) that I shelled out for it. In fact, I think it made me more hungry after eating it. Service was decent. I don't think I'd come back though. read more

Celestino Restaurant - Grilled Shrimp Salad - $11.50 - Italian Near Me - Pasadena, California

I actually work right next to this place, but have only visited twice. Once, I had lasagna and the other time, I had the ravioli. The flavor of each was just ok and nothing to write home about. However, the service and ambience were of high quality. Plus, it also helped that we knew the maitre'd and he gave us some free dessert. Update as of 10/15/07: one of their specials today was the filet mignon ravioli. How is that possible? Well, it's grounded up filet mignon (so they say) and stuffed into the ravioli. It's served w/ mushroom and their special mushroom sauce. It was truly delicious. I've never had anything like it. The service was also superb. I've changed the rating to 5 stars. read more

Definitely an old school vibe here with lots and lots of retirement age customers - not that there's anything wrong with that, but it doesn't bode well for the quality of food and service in my experience. It implies a long established business where people continue to come simply because they always have - not because it's anything special, which means the place doesn't have to put any effort into attracting new customers. And sure enough this proved to be the case. I went with a group to celebrate a friend's birthday - we sat at a round table in the corner. Perhaps we got unlucky with the location, or maybe there were just too many big groups that night, but customer service consisted of what I call faux attention: fattention if you like. Staff hovered but didn't really help out. You'd see them around but they wouldn't stop by long enough to see if you wanted a refill or needed an extra napkin or were unhappy with anything. Even when we did manage to get their attention and make a request, they'd either forget or bring it far too late for it to make a difference. Perhaps the place is understaffed, I don't know... Food, on the other hand, was pretty average - pasta, salmon and chicken were all just okay, nothing to write home about. The steak dish was an absolute disaster; it looked and tasted like a warmed up TV dinner, only served on a nicer plate. Not even warmed up that well; we had to send it back and it was no better on the second time either. Overall you get the feeling that you're being served diner food, just in a slightly more fancy setting. By the way, the servers try their best to push expensive wine on you - which is of course irritating. Ours who was actually Italian, seemed particularly fond of this nasty little habit from the old country. We kept asking him if they carried a specific bottle, and he kept recommending another, pricier one, over and over again like some brainless robot, regardless of our questions he just kept coming back to his same damn wine and it just became this insane verbal tug of war, where, in the end, exhausted and defeated, and slightly fearful of possible mob-like repercussions, we just gave in and went with his suggestion. Not cool. On a more positive note, we stayed past their closing time, chatting away, and were among the very last customers to leave, and they didn't bat an eyelid - just left us alone until we were ready to leave, but it's going to take more than just a relaxed attitude at closing time to make me want to go back - sorry. read more

Horrible Horrible Service. It took them over 30 minutes to give us bread and butter and even longer to take our order. The first time I tried to order the guy left while I was in the middle of a question and didn't come back for about 10 minutes. I took my girlfriend out on Valentine's Day and it was a pretty bad experience. They had a special menu without any of their popular dishes and it really sucked. The spinach pear salad was disgusting since they put no dressing and about 3 slices of pears and a small slice of cheese. The calamari was average, nothing special and finally the main course-heart shaped beet ravioli. I heard all the reviews about their usual ravioli so i thought I'd give it a try. there were 3 small pieces of ravioli in a cheese sauce. I paid a good amount of money for all these and left unsatisfied. read more

Came here with a large group to celebrate my uncle's 118th birthday. (OK, I exaggerate a wee bit. He's only 90.) We were seated in a private room. The service was great, and the food was absolutely delicious. We selected items from a pre-arranged menu. Spinach salad with pear and pecorino cheese, then an awesome pasta combination (tortelloni stuffed with pumpkin, risotto with porcini mushroom sauce, and penne pasta with prosciutto and vodka sauce.) Oink! For the main course, I had the Chicken Breast with Marsala wine sauce. Everything was wonderfully prepared. I'm definitely going back! read more

Do NOT go there! The worst restaurant I have ever had! I read many people comments below and I assumed that this was a great restaurant, so I decided to go on my birthday. But it sucks! My table was across the kitchen so I could see very clearly in the kitchen. I saw the chef exposed all the food on the table, instead of putting it in the fridge (even the cakes;) as a costumer I do not want to see that. Besides, the outdoor area's decoration was really bad. One of the old waiters' attitude was very bad. read more

Love this place! Giorgio (sure hope I got his name right!!) is the NICEST server EVER! A member of our party has a medical condition requiring a special and complicated diet. Giorgio listened to her explain her dietary needs and had the chefs create a special dish just for her that looked amazing! I decided on the chopped salad with grilled shrimp to start followed by the mussels and clams in tomato broth. Both were fantastic. For dessert, we had panna cotta on the house. Not what I would typically order (not really into custard/pudding textures..) but it was pretty darn tasty. I wouldn't change a thing about this meal. I don't feel right giving 5 stars without trying one of the main meals (pasta, fish, etc.) so I will have to return in order to give Celestino the full review! Definitely check this place out. Good food, nice atmosphere. And definitely request Giorgio! read more

Pumpkin tortelloni in a creamy sage butter sauce. Need I say more? It was fantastic! Cooked al dante and great pairing of flavors. I could eat just that for days and I'm feeling hungry just thinking about it! read more

Came here on a Saturday night. There were plenty of empty tables throughout the night. It is an "elegant yet casual" environment. Upon entering, I wondered, am I underdressed? But then I looked at some of the patrons there and concluded that no, I was not. I ordered the Spaghetti ai Frutti di Mare which is described in English as "Spaghetti with Mixed Sea Food in a Light Tomato Sauce." Their menu online lists it at $15.00 but it was actually $15.50. I'm glad Cherie T already wrote a review so I can just copy and paste part of hers into mine. It contained "mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp, and bay scallops." There wasn't much of each but with all of them combined, it was a satisfactory portion. The portion size isn't that large compared to what you'd expect from the price, but if you take the restaurant's decor into consideration, it was a good amount. I didn't leave feeling like I overate. And if you're still hungry, just keep filling up on that good bread they have. The servers were fairly attentive. They kept coming by to fill up our glasses of ice water leaving me hydrated throughout the night. I'd like to come back to try some other things on their menu. read more