Cafe La Fontana

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fratesad

Joined 7 years ago

Flavorful Italian Around the Corner. We attended La Fontana for lunch on a Saturday. I was surprised to see the place relatively empty, as the food and service were great! For lunch, I had the grilled chicken that was well-seasoned and not dry or overdone, served with garlic and onion green beans also cooked to perfection. The servers were pleasant and attentive. I would certainly go back for seconds.

Doesn't Recommend

CriticalMass048

Joined 5 years ago

Disappointing. The man that came and took our orders seemed very nice and attentive. A waitress came by very quickly with a bread basket and ran off. Four slices of stale, French baguette, instead of Italian bread.

A young man came by and dropped off our salads. I got the side of Caesar salad, while my wife ordered the mixed greens with balsamic vinegar. While I was happy, my wife described her salad as "oily dandelion greens", and despite adding salt to it, it still had no flavor.

After we finished our salad, the young woman came by again to take our salad plates away. She rudely reached in front of us without "Excuse me" or "Let me take this for you"

Yet another waiter brought our entrees and ran away, causing us to call him back to him and ask him for some Parmesan cheese.

My wife described the sauce as "Very close to the original Ragu Traditional, with a touch of garlic". I ordered chicken with mushrooms, peppers, and crab meat in a white sauce, with vegetable and potato (two tablespoons of au gratin).

We also noticed that at no point, did anybody offered us any more bread.

As for the ambiance, well, while the place looked very clean, the way the workers were running around, with grumpy looks on their faces made the atmosphere feel "stressful". You could tell that the people were not happy working there, and so were probably not being paid very well. In the middle of our meal, a pianist came over to play the piano. While he was good, instead of being relaxing, it was somehow adding to the stress in the air, almost like there's one more thing going on. Hard to explain.

Anyway, while we had originally planned on getting desert (my wife is a Tiramisu fan), the whole experience just turned us off and we had no intention of staying. Seeing so many unhappy people just made us feel unhappy to be there. Overall, it was one of the worst Italian eating experiences ever. We won't be going back.

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janders101

Joined 6 years ago

highlight of my night. My Fiance and I found a taste of Italy in Hatboro last night. We were greeeted at the door by a very lovely hostess and promptly seated at our table intimately lit by candle light. We proceeded to start the night off with mussels marinara and shrimp in a cognac pink sauce. Both were delicious. Afterwards, we were both treated to a complimentary Ceaser salad which was very tasty as well. My Fiance proceeded to have Linguini with shrimp in a garlic and oil sauce which she could not finish due to the large serving of shrimp and pasta. I myself, ordered the Filet Special which was a very tender 10 oz, topped with a brandy peppercorn sauce (out of this world). During this time the staff was more than courteous and very attentive. The server brought a dessert tray by with an large assortment of homemade pastries, unfortunately, we were to full to oblige. My fiance and I highly recommend this restaurant and look forward to our next meal there.

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whitechoccolat

Joined 6 years ago

best place to go. best place in town.

hi there, i went at cafe la Fontana last night, i,m not sure if we talk about the same place of you, i think it's the one off bayberry road and york road in Hatboro, anyway i had a very good meal and service last night which the: cozze (mussel) in a red marinara sauce with a lot of sauce (little spicy ) but i still feel the tasty of the sea very fresh to me, then i had the mix greens salad which was very healthy, best at all the salmon and scallops with some kind of creamy sauce so good... i'm fresh new from italy so everything was wonderful just like my mom home.

also there was a piano guy playing italians and americans 60s songs and i drink two glass of red wine and friend mine had a couple drink from the bar (bartender so elegant).

so everything was perfect we had a very good time, best food in the aerea two bars inside and many rooms for private party.

highly recommended if you looking for a nice restaurant not to expansive but elegant and raffineted place where no body rush you up to go..... finally i found it, that's my place.

Doesn't Recommend

hatboro_diner

Joined 6 years ago

What a disapointment.. While I've been to this restaurant many times, my last visit 6 months ago was disappointing. As it's convenient to my home, my wife and I tried it again this evening. What a mistake. Service was good but the food was absolutely horrible. We started with Calimari which was lightly battered, but undercooked to the point the rings were moist with oil and not crispy at all, but edible. We followed that with caeser salad which was good, but my wifes garden salad was swimming in tastless olive oil (we think) that wasn't edible. My wife described her Penne pasta with smoked salmon as disgusting. I tried it and it was amazingly salty, the few chunks of salmon mixed in were so dry it was almost crunchy. After 4 or 5 bites that was it, she couldn't eat any more of it. I ordered stripped bass with lump crab meat. The fish was just OK, but literally only a single fingertip size chunk of crabmeat on top, that was tasteless by the way. I ordered a side of penne pasta with marinara sauce. It has nice chunks of tomato, but the sauce was water, like they just squeezed a tomato over the pasta. The pasta itself was like paste. I hate to sound so negative but it was simply a horrible meal. It's a shame this used to be one of my favorite restaurants. On a positive note the waiter offered to take the salmon dish off the check to which I told him it wasn't necessary. I asked to speak with the manager to give some constructive criticism of our experience, but of course he wasn't available. My advice.....don't waste your money. I don't think it was just an off-night.

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sailorpup

Joined 6 years ago

overcooked pasta and dirty tables mar nice meal. While I've a nice meal there before, and my date has had many good experiences there, I was a tad disappointed last night. The service was fine, and the waiter and buser were very attentive. However, nearby tables remained not bussed for a long while, which isn't the most pleasant sight. My pasta was terribly overcooked, more soggy than "to the tooth." The sauce was good, but way too many capers than one person can eat in a single meal.

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gmusan

Joined 11 years ago

Nice. The food was very good. I had a lobster ravioli special that i enjoyed. The prices were reasonable and the staff was strong. The atmosphere was a little lacking, but all in all it was a good place.

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jbannon121

Joined 6 years ago

DO NOT RECOMMEND. I WAS RECOMMEND BY A FRIEND TO GO THERE FOR MY BIRTHDAY. DON'T GET ME WRONG THE FOOD WAS GOOD. SERVICE SUCKED .. THE WAITRESS DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WE WAITED FOR 20 MINS TO GET WAITED ON FOR FOOD AND DIDN'T SMILE AT ALL WAS TO BUSY WITH THE REST OF THE OLD PEOPLE... Her name was LAUREN!!! I would not recommend this PLACE TO NO ONE! SHE WAS RUDE AND VERY STUCKUP ... ALTHOUGH MY FRIENDS PAID FOR MY DINNER I WAS VERY UPSET ABOUT HOW WE WERE TREATED!!!!!!

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splatten

Joined 8 years ago

Good food, good service. Very courteous staff, young and very attentive which is surprising for this day and age. Great food for the price, excellent desserts. Little too much rum in the rum cake though. Seated right away, but can get busy so I would recommend reservations. Dining for 2 under $100 and I had a better experience than at many over-priced restaurants.