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| - Welp Yelp, this place is legit. When you park at the strip mall, it appears unimpressive from the outside. But wait - there's a treasure trove of taste awaiting through those doors.
We were greeted and seated immediately. Our waitress Rina (ask for her - she's always there) ran through our questions that we had about the menu, which is largely in Italian words none of us really understood. Of course everything was proclaimed to be delicious, in typical Italian fashion.
After ordering, we were brought a delicious basket of bread. And this is the kind of bread that you remember and go back to a place to get again. I could literally see my friends eyes roll into the back of their heads from tasty bliss. It was a kind of bread I can't pronounce, drizzled in olive oil with slight hints of garlic. Rina then brought us a mini-cup of lasagna soup to sample. It too was delicious. I wish I would have had some more of that bread to soak up the soup that my spoon couldn't reach, but alas, I inhaled the bread too soon.
The salad that came with my sandwich was nothing too spectacular, but it was good enough that the plate was cleared. I guess that says something in itself.
The sandwich - the Focaccia - was delicious. This pesto aioli that came with it was awesome. It was a little on the small side, but when I finished it I wasn't too full... and that's a good thing when you have to return to work.
One thing about the atmosphere that I found kind of odd. They had a TV with a screen-saver like floating fish, and it played elevator music on repeat the whole time. That was their background music there - by the end of the meal, I was a slightly annoyed with that tune.
The prices were on the high side, but the food is worth it. The floorplan is small and intimate which makes Mama Catena's very date-night-worthy.
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