Aldente Pasta

08/07/2008 Posted by bob94117

We found this amazing restaurant via a recent Citysearch review posting. I would argue a mark of an excellent italian restaurant is the execution of the simplest dish. The bottom line is Aldente Pasta makes extraordinary pasta dishes at a great price. I had the garlic and olive oil. Simply done with terrific taste all for $8.50. My sister had the,tomato, garlic and basil sauce with the right amount of spice and zing - another amazing pasta dish under $10! For dessert, our waitress recommend what can only be summed up as a little piece of "lemon heaven". It was cool and refreshing and simply made your taste buds dance with delight. Overall a excellent culinary experience. Our only regret is that we are leaving tomorrow and can not go back and experience some of the other dishes. We will be back on our next travels to Palm Springs.

Pros: Gook inexpensive food

Cons: none :)

10/24/2006 Posted by julia721

Nice restaurant away from the main hoopla of downtown. Cute outdoor seating area (although avoid the first table so you are not bothered by the fluorescent lights from their sign). The one thing my Italian husband uses to easily rate a restaurant is the bread. And unfortunately if we stopped there Aldente would have failed! I was surprised the bread wasn't better quality. And the vinegar they brought to dip the bread in wasn't the best either. OTHER THAN THAT everything was good. We ordered the mussel and clam soup in tomato broth and it was good. The broth was silky; it had the right amount of oil in the broth. We each ordered the ravioli; I ordered the lobster ravioli and my husband ordered the ricotta ravioli. The pasta was very good and tasted as if it were homemade. My ravioli could have used more lobster; the lobster flavor was very very very subtle. Since we always make our own sauce from fresh tomatoes grown in our own garden, we are very picky about tomato sauces from restaurants. I am pleased to say the tomato sauce on my husbands ravioli was very good! It had a nice fresh tomato flavor. IF they in fact use canned tomatoes (which is very likely) they either use a high quality canned tomato and/or know what to do to the canned tomatoes to bring out the best flavor. We were happily surprised! We finished up the night with a cannoli which again was good. The restaurant wasnt good enough to make it a must do when visiting Palm Springs, but I would think that I would get a good meal every time I would visit. Two soups, two meals, one glass of wine, one mineral water and one cannoli was $80 (not including tip).

08/31/2006 Posted by afjwa

Being an afficionado of Italian food and a new resident of Palm Springs, I began my search for good local Italian food here. And I've not gone anywhere else. The service has been first rate and the food as good as I've had anywhere. The pasta has never been overdone, the sauces everything one could ask for. Why go anywhere else?!

Pros: Great food, great service, good selection

Cons: none

01/21/2006 Posted by k_riccio

When I went into Al Dente pasta for the first time for lunch i had the pollo alla grilla pannini. It was very flavorful and tasty. I highly recomend this restaurant I have bein to many italian restaurnts and this is one of my favorite's. They are open for lunch Monday-Saturday for 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and dinner daily from 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. come on down and have a taste of heacen

Pros: Very nice service, good for romance, good for group partis

03/11/2005 Posted by Carlosbob

Al Dente has a great location off Palm Canyon. The atmosphere is OK. Nice, but small... almost cramped. The pesto pasta sauce was mediocre at best. The Alfredo was fair, as was the marinara. I hope there is better Italian in town...

Pros: mediocre food, mediocre service

Cons: mediocre food, mediocre service

02/19/2005 Posted by jbjohansen

This unpretentious, charming restaurant was a completly satisfying experience from my very first visit. The service is first rate and the spaghetti bolognese, my secret test of Italian restaurants, is as good as any I've had in Italy. The space is intimate, even a bit cramped, unless you are fortunate enough to be seated in one of the comfortable booths. I've become a regular and have found the pasta to always be fresh and delicious and the fish and meat dishes always up to par. If you've got room order the tiramasu....

Pros: service, location, wine list

Cons: limited seating, no liquor