Carrara's Pastries | Restaurant, Gelato & Coffee

Really good tasting food. You won't be dis appointed.

Nothing special with these Italian themed restaurant when it comes to their desert display. This review is for their patisserie. No posted prices with their patisserie selection display. Got sticker shocked after ordering 8 pieces of cookies for $ 48.50 . Hyped and overpriced !

The food and pastries are as delicious 😋🤤 as the coffee is horrible. Tiniest cappuccino I ever had. Asked for extra hot on the wet side. Stone cold with no foam at all! Two gulps and it was all gone!Not cheap either! The cold brew was very weak with a very strange flavor in the roasting of the beans I guess?? Maybe hazelnut ! 🤮 YUCKY 😝

A truly wonderful meal, courtesy of owners Mel and Rosie, who shared stories, hints, and Rosie’s delicious favorite drink; red wine and Coca Cola. Yum!
I had a great Chicken Alfredo with Prosecco, while the wife enjoyed the Chicken Parm and Pinot Gris, all the while listening to live music.
Did I mention our starter, the Caprese salad? Wow!
Afterward we ordered the Chocolate Hazelnut gelato to take home, along with two very special Canoli’s.
We love this light and bright Moorpark restaurant and it’s staff, and will be back often.

Updating this old review just to say this is our go-to restaurant for special evenings out, birthday cakes or just a coffee and dessert. Everything is carefully prepared and beautifully presented. The pastries are works of art. We love this place and were so happy when they moved to this new location where they could expand their seating and their menu.

Their live music on weekends is a real bonus.

Still true -- Great gelato, wonderful cookies and some of the best coffee in town. I love this place!

I drove up two hours to get here cuz I heard it was so good. Props to, Mason, Oscar, and Julian. Homies were chill and provided excellent customer service. Would and will come back again

My husband and I were going to our favorite restaurant, Moody Rooster, in WLV for my BD. But l changed my mind at the last minute and decided to try Carrara, and we were happy that we did. The food is tasty, and the service is good. One of the managers even came over twice to check if all was good. Before we headed home for our desserts, a musician started playing, so we decided to have dessert and coffee at the restaurant. To our surprise, the waiter comped the coffee and one dessert. I said to my husband, "I only tipped 22%". My husband smiled and said, "Maybe they knew it was your BD." We never told our waiter it was my BD. Lol. My 5-star review is not because of the free coffee and dessert but because the food and dessert were delicious, and the service was superb! Since I am a big foodie, Carrara has been added to my best restaurant list. :D

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bakery, A Wide Variety of Exquisite Single Serving Desserts, Salmon Salad, Salad, Chicken Piccata

Waited at register to be served at least 4 minutes. Several employees walked by. Then one came up and than without saying to us , that she was going to leave and hand a pickup to someone. They just left grabbed the bag and handed to someone. We do love coming here.

Dietary restrictions: You can eat here

Parking: Easy to park

Kid-friendliness: Good for children

Wheelchair accessibility: Easy

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 2

Recommended dishes: Fritata, Bakery, Mushroom Risotto, Salad

Carrara’s catered the cakes for our wedding and oh my gosh they were so delicious! We selected the yogurt wild berry, chocolate hazelnut, and peach & mango cakes. So many guests told us how much they loved all the flavors and they couldn’t stop themselves from eating all three cakes.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Frittelle is wonderful.

Parking: More than 50

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Bakery

November 2024
A blessing... to my waistline. Lol.
Here's why:

1. Yes, I will be back...... religiously! Lol.
2. So much good gelato, so little time
3. I definitely have to try some of the regular menu items for dinner next time
4. You'll never get me to shut up about how good those cream stuffed puffed pastries are
5. The Lemon Granita is powdery, smooth, not overly sweet, nice lemon flavor that tastes like real lemons

Where do I even begin? So many good things in this one establishment. No clue they had live entertainment on Fridays and saturdays, until I walked in the door tonight.
What a great entertainer, straight from Texas, who knows all those classic 1960s jazz lounge favorites like "take five," and also is hip to Liza Minelli's New York New York.

So I was already in a happy mood walking just feet inside the front door. Figured, let's splurge!

Next great moment came from the manager behind the counter, who definitely took the time and patience to answer all 536,000 questions I had, lol, and stuck with me through the entire process of ordering, and paying.

Oh, even the operations manager stopped by our table to check in on us, which I really appreciated. He gave us some insight and backstory into the original owners, and how the new management team is trying to preserve the old ways.

Speaking of which, I absolutely love the fact that this is truly Italian Gelato. Not the fake stuff! Their process and ingredients are true to the way it's made in italy. And I'm glad the operations manager stuck to their guns by keeping the old methods alive and well.

The gelato here, and I cannot stress this enough, does not have any of those artificial fillers or stabilizers, and it shows. You can literally taste how smooth and creamy it is. There's a certain technique and process involved in mixing and freezing, without incorporating unneeded air. Carrara's does this process once a week they said, and each batch lasts them through the end of the week. Once they're done with the flavor, they're done with the flavor, until the next week when they do it all over again. That to me is what I call Quality Control.

Tonight we had the chocolate hazelnut gelato, which is as smooth as can be. Very little air incorporated into the final product, and super fine crystals, almost like powder, which gave the gelato a very nice mouth feel.

Very authentic Italian Granita, aka the lemon sorbet as well. Very little air, very powdery texture, smooth, sour, and fresh! I cannot stress how important it is to get that Perfect Blend of not being too sweet, yet having some sourness to give that freshening feeling in the mouth, and also having a super smooth texture to melt away with each bite.

The pastries? I could have had one of each of them tonight, but chose the cream puffs. They remind me of Italian puffed pastry, stuffed with a smooth vanilla cream. Not overly sweet at all, the coolness of the cream inside of the lightly puffed shell is absolutely heaven. There is no equivalent of this, and it would almost be an insult to compare it to a cream filled donut at Krispy kreme. You'll have to try one to experience it for yourself.

What threw me a little off guard in a good way was watching other people ordering full-blown dinner. I definitely have to come back, and something that caught my eye on the menu was the squid ink pasta. So I'm looking forward to trying that next time.
Other people were having halibut, Caesar salad, different types of pasta, it all looked so good.

Parking is a breeze, located in a huge shopping center.

The staff, absolutely amazing. I felt like if you asked anyone for anything, they would either get it for you, or would bring someone over to help yo

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Amazing Gelato and pastries. The croissants were ok but we did go there at 5 pm so probably would have been better early.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Came this evening and had just the most extraordinary experience. My server Eriika P was nothing but exemplary. Hands down one of the best servers I have ever had. Such a pleasure, will surely be coming back and specifically sitting with Eriika.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great restaurant, wonderful food, and amazing entertainment! What a great neighborhood gem. Highly recommend.

Vegetarian options: Restaurant seems eager to accommodate all dietary restrictions.

Parking: Easy parking in large strip mall location

Wheelchair accessibility: Wide aisles, no stairs, and automatic front door for easy access for all people

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Mushroom Risotto, Salad, Caesar Salad

This place has amazing food made with fresh ingredients (including freshly made pasta) and a fantastic selection of desserts. We had Erika as our server and she also did an incredible job. Can't wait to go back.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5