Gourmet Italia's great Italian food comes Alessandro Prestifilippo. He is from Sicily and moved here around 1996. He has come up with a menu selection that is huge, not to mention the wine list.This is fine dinning and what a wonder of food it is. Gourmet Italia uses as much seasonal fresh organic produce from its own 6 acre garden along with the highest quality of imported Italian goods. It is all great.The place itself is beautiful and spotless. The service is great and they can help you with specials and the menu.We started with a great salad and shared it. We had poached pear in a port sauce with mixed greens a great cheese and caramelized walnuts. It was heavenly. We also had their antipasto with Italian meats, cheeses and olives with vegetables. The main was ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese, all in a wonderful red sauce. The baked lasagna was out of this world. We also add veal with lemon butter sauce. All of it was great. We ordered too much and took just a little back to our room.You will love this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Melissa Olah
First time my husband and I have tried this place. Our server, Hailey was amazing. She was so hospitable and nice. But the food was very underwhelming. My fagioli pasta was cooked well, but the chicken was so extremely dry. Hailey was quick to apologize and offered to bring out new chicken. Too bad that it was just a new bowl of sauce with a few bits of chicken that I would say was drier than the original. Very unfortunate that I was not even offered a discount. The chicken was uneatable. Hailey brought out an apology cannoli but the cannoli shell was so tough and dry that it wasn't really a treat.I would say Hailey did an absolutely amazing job. The food was just so bad that we probably won't be coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Sam Beau
Several of our friends recommended Gourmet Italia, so we decided to visit for my husband's birthday. We made a reservation in advance, which is suggested, and we were sat almost immediately (it was 2:30PM so the restaurant was pretty empty anyways). Despite being nearly empty, we were seated at a two person table in the hallway of the restaurant near the deli fridge where they keep the desserts. It wasn't exactly romantic nor secluded which would have been nice considering it was his birthday, but it is what it is. Not a big deal--maybe they sit the larger parties with 4 people or more in the dining room areas. The service was really excellent though--our waitress was quick, kind, and attentive.For appetizers, we ordered the calamari and mussels; the calamari was good and the mussels were decent. We found that they were pretty watery and lacked any real seasoning or flavor like garlic, butter, or salt--the juice was more like lemon, wine, & water--but the mussels themselves were cooked well. Some people like a more thin, wine sauce where you can taste the mussels more--we tend to prefer more creamy, garlic, buttery mussels.For dinner, we ordered the lobster raviolis (they weren't on the menu, so make sure you ask for them), the chicken parmigiana, and the Fusilli Al Filetto (Filet mignon tips, mushrooms in a red wine tomato cream sauce). The lobster raviolis were PHENOMENAL! Hands down the best dish we had for our dinner. The sauce was creamy, flavorful, and delicious--the lobster was cooked perfectly and sweet--and the raviolis themselves were amazing--you could tell they were handmade. The chicken parmigiana was also good, as was the Fusilli Al Filetto--but like the mussels, my husband thought the sauce was pretty watery and tasted like too much wine. He would have preferred a more creamy sauce with the filet tips.For dessert, we got the strawberry cheesecake and berry tart cake--all very good, very fresh, & absolutely delicious. Overall, it was a good meal but the lobster raviolis really put it above and beyond--they are the main reason why we would return to Gourmet Italia!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Parmesan
We had a reservation for 645 and were not seated until almost 730. We then had to wait almost 30 minutes for our server. Our food took an unreasonably long amount of time to be delivered to our table and that was only after we asked our server to check on the status of our order. The dishes had clearly been sitting under a warmer for quite some time and some were only lukewarm. Our server spilled iced tea on one of our party and was consistently rude, as was the hostess. When we asked to speak with a manager, they claimed there was no manager on site at the time. The food was average and definitely not worth the horrible service.  This is the first time I have ever given a bad review for a restaurant, but the service was so exceptionally poor that I believe I should share this experience. 
Food was good, not great. Pasta was basic, did not taste fresh or homemade. We were seated by the band and it was extremely loud but did enjoy the music. We were a party of 4 and had to yell to have conversation. Will always return as we enjoy this restaurant but the food quality has deteriorated in my opinion.
Minchire
We visited Temecula as a weekend getaway from the desert and wanted a change of pace from the usual sea bass, filet, pork chop, salmon fare. Gourmet Italia was the perfect choice! We're from Chicago where Italian fare is abundant. The bolognese, sausage, fettucine, and lasagna were all delicious. Beautiful antipasto and desserts as well. Great wine list. Our waitress, Karolina, was excellent--and super attentive. We'll be back next year!
Paul King
Totally excellent. Includes drinks and
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Michael Stevenson
Wife and I have been looking for a truly authentic Italian restaurant with delicious food and home atmosphere. The wine was delicious, enjoyed a bottle of Chardonnay. Try the calamari appetizer, it is phenomenal and the best around. My wife had the filet mignon tips with mushroom and spiral pasta, and I had their clam, mussel, calamari linguine special. Can't remember the name right now. We then shared a spumoni dessert which was covered in chocolate. Everything was perfect and they were busy! The owner and server always checked on us, and the owner sung as he topped off our wine. Live band perfected the atmosphere. The whole experience was phenomenal and we will be making this our home! Thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Lynn2
Excellent food, great service and a warm atmosphere, what more could you ask for when celebrating a birthday. Very special place for a special occasion or any other day of the week.
Not only the best Italian restaurant but the best restaurant in the area. Our server Hailey was top notch. So professional. Just a pleasure. The food was amazing. Was told the best chicken Parmesan one of our guests ever had. Former Italia never disappoints.
The service was top notch. Our server, Hailey, was fantastic. Very attentive but also gave us our space when needed. She was the highlight of the experience. The food was very good. We enjoyed everything we ordered. The Baratta was great. Our main entrees could have used a bit more seasoning but overall very good
SusanH
This is a great restaurant! Server was Ashley. She was attentive, friendly and competent. Food was amazing! Ambiance is warm and beautiful. We had the filet mignon special and gnocchi with pesto sauce.
Judy Mazzorana
I love this restaurant! I think it is the best in Temecula. Always when we would like to have an Italian food, we go there!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Lasagna Bolonese, Gnocchi Pesto, Caesar Salad, Fettuccine Bolognese
Gourmet Italia is our favorite Italian restaurant in California. We have been coming to this restaurant for almost 5 years. We have been living in Menifee for about two years, and even before we lived in Menifee, we would come out to the area just to eat at Gourmet Italia. Over the years, the quality has never faded, and we are happy to call it our favorite Italian restaurant in California. We often bring our friends and family, and no one has ever been disappointed. In fact, we have many friends who now drive all the way from Orange County and Los Angeles County just to have dinner at Gourmet Italia. Our wedding anniversary often falls on the same night that they do the wine club Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant, and we are more than happy to celebrate our wedding anniversary at the restaurant with the owner, who curates a beautiful Thanksgiving menu for the wine club members.
The hosts and waitresses were very hospitable. The food was delicious as well as the drinks. To top it off, there was live piano playing beautiful music. I would definitely be returning here.
Gourmet Italia's great Italian food comes Alessandro Prestifilippo. He is from Sicily and moved here around 1996. He has come up with a menu selection that is huge, not to mention the wine list.This is fine dinning and what a wonder of food it is. Gourmet Italia uses as much seasonal fresh organic produce from its own 6 acre garden along with the highest quality of imported Italian goods. It is all great.The place itself is beautiful and spotless. The service is great and they can help you with specials and the menu.We started with a great salad and shared it. We had poached pear in a port sauce with mixed greens a great cheese and caramelized walnuts. It was heavenly. We also had their antipasto with Italian meats, cheeses and olives with vegetables. The main was ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese, all in a wonderful red sauce. The baked lasagna was out of this world. We also add veal with lemon butter sauce. All of it was great. We ordered too much and took just a little back to our room.You will love this place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
First time my husband and I have tried this place. Our server, Hailey was amazing. She was so hospitable and nice. But the food was very underwhelming. My fagioli pasta was cooked well, but the chicken was so extremely dry. Hailey was quick to apologize and offered to bring out new chicken. Too bad that it was just a new bowl of sauce with a few bits of chicken that I would say was drier than the original. Very unfortunate that I was not even offered a discount. The chicken was uneatable. Hailey brought out an apology cannoli but the cannoli shell was so tough and dry that it wasn't really a treat.I would say Hailey did an absolutely amazing job. The food was just so bad that we probably won't be coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 1
Service: 5
Several of our friends recommended Gourmet Italia, so we decided to visit for my husband's birthday. We made a reservation in advance, which is suggested, and we were sat almost immediately (it was 2:30PM so the restaurant was pretty empty anyways). Despite being nearly empty, we were seated at a two person table in the hallway of the restaurant near the deli fridge where they keep the desserts. It wasn't exactly romantic nor secluded which would have been nice considering it was his birthday, but it is what it is. Not a big deal--maybe they sit the larger parties with 4 people or more in the dining room areas. The service was really excellent though--our waitress was quick, kind, and attentive.For appetizers, we ordered the calamari and mussels; the calamari was good and the mussels were decent. We found that they were pretty watery and lacked any real seasoning or flavor like garlic, butter, or salt--the juice was more like lemon, wine, & water--but the mussels themselves were cooked well. Some people like a more thin, wine sauce where you can taste the mussels more--we tend to prefer more creamy, garlic, buttery mussels.For dinner, we ordered the lobster raviolis (they weren't on the menu, so make sure you ask for them), the chicken parmigiana, and the Fusilli Al Filetto (Filet mignon tips, mushrooms in a red wine tomato cream sauce). The lobster raviolis were PHENOMENAL! Hands down the best dish we had for our dinner. The sauce was creamy, flavorful, and delicious--the lobster was cooked perfectly and sweet--and the raviolis themselves were amazing--you could tell they were handmade. The chicken parmigiana was also good, as was the Fusilli Al Filetto--but like the mussels, my husband thought the sauce was pretty watery and tasted like too much wine. He would have preferred a more creamy sauce with the filet tips.For dessert, we got the strawberry cheesecake and berry tart cake--all very good, very fresh, & absolutely delicious. Overall, it was a good meal but the lobster raviolis really put it above and beyond--they are the main reason why we would return to Gourmet Italia!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chicken Parmesan
We had a reservation for 645 and were not seated until almost 730. We then had to wait almost 30 minutes for our server. Our food took an unreasonably long amount of time to be delivered to our table and that was only after we asked our server to check on the status of our order. The dishes had clearly been sitting under a warmer for quite some time and some were only lukewarm. Our server spilled iced tea on one of our party and was consistently rude, as was the hostess. When we asked to speak with a manager, they claimed there was no manager on site at the time. The food was average and definitely not worth the horrible service.  This is the first time I have ever given a bad review for a restaurant, but the service was so exceptionally poor that I believe I should share this experience. 
Food was good, not great. Pasta was basic, did not taste fresh or homemade. We were seated by the band and it was extremely loud but did enjoy the music. We were a party of 4 and had to yell to have conversation. Will always return as we enjoy this restaurant but the food quality has deteriorated in my opinion.
We visited Temecula as a weekend getaway from the desert and wanted a change of pace from the usual sea bass, filet, pork chop, salmon fare. Gourmet Italia was the perfect choice! We're from Chicago where Italian fare is abundant. The bolognese, sausage, fettucine, and lasagna were all delicious. Beautiful antipasto and desserts as well. Great wine list. Our waitress, Karolina, was excellent--and super attentive. We'll be back next year!
Totally excellent. Includes drinks and
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Wife and I have been looking for a truly authentic Italian restaurant with delicious food and home atmosphere. The wine was delicious, enjoyed a bottle of Chardonnay. Try the calamari appetizer, it is phenomenal and the best around. My wife had the filet mignon tips with mushroom and spiral pasta, and I had their clam, mussel, calamari linguine special. Can't remember the name right now. We then shared a spumoni dessert which was covered in chocolate. Everything was perfect and they were busy! The owner and server always checked on us, and the owner sung as he topped off our wine. Live band perfected the atmosphere. The whole experience was phenomenal and we will be making this our home! Thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent food, great service and a warm atmosphere, what more could you ask for when celebrating a birthday. Very special place for a special occasion or any other day of the week.
Not only the best Italian restaurant but the best restaurant in the area. Our server Hailey was top notch. So professional. Just a pleasure. The food was amazing. Was told the best chicken Parmesan one of our guests ever had. Former Italia never disappoints.
Restaurantji Recommends
The service was top notch. Our server, Hailey, was fantastic. Very attentive but also gave us our space when needed. She was the highlight of the experience. The food was very good. We enjoyed everything we ordered. The Baratta was great. Our main entrees could have used a bit more seasoning but overall very good
This is a great restaurant! Server was Ashley. She was attentive, friendly and competent. Food was amazing! Ambiance is warm and beautiful. We had the filet mignon special and gnocchi with pesto sauce.
I love this restaurant! I think it is the best in Temecula. Always when we would like to have an Italian food, we go there!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Lasagna Bolonese, Gnocchi Pesto, Caesar Salad, Fettuccine Bolognese
Gourmet Italia is our favorite Italian restaurant in California. We have been coming to this restaurant for almost 5 years. We have been living in Menifee for about two years, and even before we lived in Menifee, we would come out to the area just to eat at Gourmet Italia. Over the years, the quality has never faded, and we are happy to call it our favorite Italian restaurant in California. We often bring our friends and family, and no one has ever been disappointed. In fact, we have many friends who now drive all the way from Orange County and Los Angeles County just to have dinner at Gourmet Italia. Our wedding anniversary often falls on the same night that they do the wine club Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant, and we are more than happy to celebrate our wedding anniversary at the restaurant with the owner, who curates a beautiful Thanksgiving menu for the wine club members.
The hosts and waitresses were very hospitable. The food was delicious as well as the drinks. To top it off, there was live piano playing beautiful music. I would definitely be returning here.