I just about had one of the worse dining experiences in this restaurant. While the staff is quite polite, it took about an hour to receive the main course. I ordered the ravioli, which was undercooked and so I had the waitress take it back. She gave me a new plate about 10 minutes later, and unbelievably, my ravioli was still undercooked. I found this to be ridiculous, as chefs are supposed to know how to cook pasta al dente, especially in an Italian restaurant, for god sakes. While the food may be tasty and appetizing, the long wait and undercooked pasta is not worth it.

A newcomer to the Pacifica dining 'scene' Barolo is run by the owners of San Francisco's Vignette Restaurant, in the old Ristorante Mare location.

The location may be the same, but the room has been modernized since Ristorante Mare, and so has the food.

Terrific calamari, carpacchio, and a steak my children fought over. The pizzas were also very good, although not as terrific as our other main dishes. A wonderfully inventive pasta dish of papardelle, spicy italian sausage, sauce aurora, and crumbled blue cheese, has my husband and I adding a new dish to our home cooking repertoire. The biscotti wasn't terrific, but the molten chocolate cake absolutely was - indeed, from looking around at other people's plates, most desserts seem to hit the mark.

We brought our own wine and paid corkage of $15, as it was a special occasion, but the wine list looks good, and of reasonable length for a restaurant this size. There is also a private room, although we didn't make use of it.

We are delighted, as Pacifica residents, to see another top restaurant player in the local market, and this has become our new favorite.