It was an early evening mid-week and we decided to go for a quick dinner somewhere nearby. Since it was still not quite autumn, we took advantage of one of the last days of warm weather and wanted to eat outdoors so we ended up at La Pappardella Sul Mare in Laguna Village. We had been to this restaurant a few times during the summer when it stayed bright till late. The other day, we arrived before eight just in time to watch the sun set on the horizon and have an early dinner. We all wanted something simple to start and shared a pizza bread (thin-crust pizza topped with tomato sauce and garlic) and a tomato mozzarella salad. I prefer pizza without cheese so this type of tomato-pizza-bread is what I always order – it’s actually a pizza margherita without the cheese.
To follow, we all had pasta – gnocchi Sorrentina (with tomato and mozzarella sauce), spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti aglio, oglio e peperoncino con gamberoni (with prawns in garlic, chili and olive oil) and my all-time favorite spaghetti alle vongole (clams in white wine, garlic and olive oil). All were al dente and quite good. It started to get chilly so after finishing our dinner we went straight home.
La Pappardella is a nice option in this part of town and an ideal place for an al fresco lunch but get ready for the usual steep prices that come with having a table outdoors overlooking the Mediterranean. The view is amazing but it doesn’t come cheap – at least the food is good.
Travels with a Gourmet 
Yes, the food here is good, however beware of the deserts. There is nothing on the menu and you are presented with a plate of attractive looking deserts – however no mention is made of price. The cost for the sweets on the plate is 8 Euros (we found out), which is a high compared to equivalent competition, however we asked simply for vanila ice cream – we were charged 8 Euros each for this – for about 50p worth of ice cream! This is not good value for money and we left feeling very dissapointed that the price of sweets had not been advised to us – yes we should have asked before ordering, but we did not expect such a disproportionatly high cost. The staff did not have an answer to why the cost of a simple ice cream could be so high. After a nice first course, we wish we hadn’t bothered with the sweet, as it left a bitter taste.
LikeLike
I never had a chance to go there and try their food. I think it is worth a visit1
LikeLike
The aglio oglio is easy to make at home but the vongole is always so much better at a proper Italian restaurant. Why don't you have it tonight for dinner?
LikeLike
mmm…I would kill for that plate of oglio e peperoncino con gamberoni and sphaghetti alle vongole. I'm drooling on my keyboard already.
LikeLike