Cucina Rustica  7000 Hwy. 179, NW, Suite 126 A. • Sedona, AZ 86351 • (928) 284-3010 Sedona, Arizona

My wife and I went to Cucina Rustica on a Thursday night for a pre Valentine's Day dinner. I hate going out on really busy restaurant nights because I hate crowds and with that potentially slow/bad service and long waits. But even though it was a Thursday the place was hopping with a full dining room, crowded bar and a party of 70 veterinarians. Everything went like clockwork thanks to our server Amy and a couple of Johnny-on-the-spot bus people. So the service was great, the place looked great (just like a rustic Italian restaurant), and the food was great! This is by far one of the best restaurants in the Sedona area.

The place looked as great as ever. We were seated next to the fireplace and I wish the flame was turned up a little more, not just for look, but for a little heat too. The table was one of those along the wall with a bench seat built on the wall with chairs at the table facing the wall. So I sat facing the wall, which I didn't like. But I was facing my wife also, so that was good. These types of wall bench seats are a great, efficient use of space, but it doesn't give a lot of people (all those facing the wall) a feel for the restaurant. A mirror would have been nice to look into to see what's going on behind you. When another couple was seated next to us at a table for four, they sat next to each other against the wall looking out into the restaurant. It would have been crazy if they both sat facing the wall. Well anyway, its a simple fix, next time I'll just ask for a different table! Enough about the walls, onto the food!

An appetizer special of the night was Norwegian Smoked Salmon on Crostini. That was absolutely delicious! The crostini were still warm and not totally hard, which made it easy to soak up the balsamic vinegar and olive oil drizzled on the plate. The capers and roasted red peppers rounded out the taste, which was fantastic. I love the richness of smoked salmon and this was good! Next up were our salads. I traded up $2 to get a Caesar Salad and my wife got the house salad. Excellent Caesar Salad with lots of dressing, which I like, shaved Parmesan cheese, fresh cracked black pepper and croutons. The croutons were extremely hard, so I avoided eating them in fear of breaking a tooth. I gave one to my wife, who has super human teeth, and even she said they were hard. My wife's house salad was very tasty. Its interesting to have a Oriental flavored house salad in an Italian restaurant, but its very good, so why try to figure that one out?

Onto our entrees. Cioppino was a special of the night. I heard our waitress say "Lobster, shrimp, sea bass, mussels, clams and scallops", but I couldn't find my lobster. I thought one of my big shrimps was the lobster, but it was just a big shrimp. I'm use to my lobsters being bigger than my shrimps and I didn't see anything bigger than my shrimp. When I asked Amy, our server, about it, she said it was "slipper lobster". For $35 I thought I was going to get at least one big chunk of a lobster that would be bigger than a little finger, but that's the way it goes. Slipper lobster are in the lobster family and are tiny, probably smaller than the shrimp in my dish. So I probably ate it without even noticing. Pay attention next time!  So, how was the Cioppino you ask? It was great! The sauce was absolutely fantastic and there was a ton of seafood! My wife had the Linguine Angelica which is homemade linguine with prawns in a lemon, garlic, tomato. chardonnay sauce, which was very good. The prawn were gigantic! My wife couldn't finish it all and took the leftovers home. It was just as delicious the next day!

Now the dessert. We ordered the three layer chocolate mousse cake. When it was put down it front of us, it looked picture perfect. The top white layer, the middle milk chocolate layer and the bottom dark chocolate layer perfectly straight and aligned would make a Marine proud. The drizzle of chocolate sauce expertly drizzled. And a little whipped cream and the beautiful, little chocolate fans. It all looked so gorgeous, my wife and I actually thought it was made elsewhere by a machine maybe, but our waitress gave all the credit to the Cucina Rustica pastry chef. Bravo! It was beautiful and it tasted as good as it looked!

All in all a great meal by any standard. I highly recommend Cucina Rustica. I've had the Veal dishes before and they were great. Specials are good. Good wine list. We had an Arizona Stronghold "Nachice", a red wine blend. Its nice that local restaurants serve the local wines.Good looking restaurant. Lively bar area. Can't wait for warmer weather to sit out on their beautiful patio. Total cost for one appetizer, two salads, two entrees, one dessert and one bottle of wine ($40) was $134 plus a $27 tip brought the total to $161 which is average for a good meal in Sedona. Good food, good drinks and good times!