Blow the Whistle, We’re at Penalties Sports Bar and Grill

 Penalties Sports Bar and Grill

469 Magnolia Avenue, Suite #101 

Corona, CA 92879

There are many things I love about Katie. Everything about her is lovely, but when we first started dating, one of the things I liked the most about her was that she had a big family. She is one of four kids in her immediate family, but what struck me was how close all her cousins, uncles, and aunts were.  Coming from a family of four with only one uncle and a couple of cousins, it was a little overwhelming initially, but I loved every minute of it. 

I met Katie's cousin Alyson at one of my first big family parties. She was awesome, and we have seen each other a few times through the years. As people usually do, we follow each other on social media, which helps us stay in touch and keep up to date with what's happening in our lives. As luck would have it, I was on vacation for the week and planned on meeting my good friend Ozker for lunch in his hometown of Corona. Alyson works at a sports bar nearby, so meeting at Penalties Sports Bar and Grill was natural. 

Penalties opened in April 2023 and has quickly become one of Corona's favorite places to watch sports. As we walked in the door, it was easy to see why. Wherever you sit, lift your head, and you'll have access to at least four TVs within your eyeline. Whether you choose to post up at the bar, a high-top table, or a booth, you won't miss any of the action on the field. When we visited at noon, many people were watching soccer and Dodger baseball. After an introduction between Alyson and Ozker and ordering drinks, it was time to get down to business and eat. 

The Penalties menu will not surprise anyone who has eaten in a sports bar before. Wings, nachos, and mozzarella sticks are prominent on their appetizer menu, while the compact entree portion features a burger, a couple of sandwiches, tacos, and two salad options. No entree is more than $20, and starters are modestly priced at $15 or less. Let's see if the food would be a touchdown or a fumble out of bounds. 

Ozker is a big fan of chicken wings and considers himself a connoisseur of all things chicken. Naturally, we started out with the Penalties Kickin Wings ($18). A boneless version is available, but bone-in is the way to go, according to Ozker. These came ten to an order, and we chose the traditional buffalo sauce to coat these rather large drums and flats. They also offer BBQ or a mango habanero, which I will try next time. These wings were fried well, had a perfect crunch, and the meat inside was tender and juicy. It's one of the better wings I have had in some time. The buffalo sauce could have had more heat, but it was worth getting these. Solid ranch, too. 

After the wings, our entrees were out next. First up was Ozker's choice, the Philly Fans Cheesesteak ($16). He eats like a three-year-old sometimes, as he ordered this without onions and peppers, and it came out by mistake with them. I quickly snapped a picture before Alyson took it away to remake him another one. This cheesesteak is made with grilled ribeye, provolone cheese, onions, and peppers on a hoagie roll. Ozker liked this once it returned to the table sans onions and peppers. From across the table, it looked like it had a good amount of beef, and the bun was soft, holding the sandwich's contents well. 

I asked Alyson what her favorite item on the menu was, and she claimed the Penalties Burger ($18) was the way to go, but with her favorite modifications. She always adds avocado and grilled onions, a $3 upcharge for the avocado. They use a short rib/ brisket mix for their patties, then pile on the sharp cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and burger sauce. A delicious, straightforward burger. The beef was juicy, and the avocado and cheese added a nice creaminess to each bite. Unfortunately, they don't offer bacon, which would have made this an even better burger.  

This was a great meetup with Alyson and, of course, Ozker. We stayed for two drinks each, and then it was back home for me. Penalties is the kind of sports bar most people wish would be in their neighborhood. I wish it was closer to where I lived. It is a chill spot to catch a game and have some excellent bar food. I would like them to expand their menu, add a hot dog, patty melt, or more sandwiches. Even though Alyson was the only one working when we were here, she handled things like a pro and seemed to have a good relationship with many of her customers, many of whom I imagine to be regulars. I'm thrilled that Katie and her big family brought us to Penalties Sports Bar and Grill.  

Out of five whistles (because the sure sign that a penalty is being called is to listen for a referee's whistle), five being best to zero being worst, Penalties Sports Bar and Grill gets 3 whistles. 

Penalties Sports Bar and Grill does not have a website, but you can find out information about them on their Yelp page by clicking here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/penalties-sports-bar-and-grill-corona

Farm to Table Comes to Corona - CLOSED

Blackburn's Farm to Table

4300 Green River Road Unit 106

Corona, CA 92880

It's another trip out to Corona to visit our good friends Sabrina and Anthony. We met them about 8 years ago now, and can't get rid of them. We have been on vacations together, played in the same bowling league for way too long, and they even read at our wedding three years ago. Although we don't see each other all too often these days, when we do reconnect, we pick up like no time has passed. We alternate between heading out to see them and them coming this way.  As is my usual job, I pick where we are going to eat, and this time we headed to Backburn's Farm to Table.

Blackburn's is situated in a shopping center that I have driven by numerous times when I'm out this way but had never stopped at. There's a couple of retail shops, a Mediterranian, Mexican, and a pizza place in this 91 Freeway adjacent shopping plaza. Blackburn's has been open for coming up on three years next month and is brought to us by Bill Blackburn, who wants to share his passion for farm fresh, organic food with the people of the Inland Empire.

Blackburn left a lucrative job in telecommunications, went to culinary school, and opened up a catering company in OC. After a stint in Redlands, he opened up Blackburn's Farm to Table in these Corona foothills. He's gotten plenty of positive press from the Press Enterprise, Inland Empire Magazine, Dining Out Magazine, and Westway's Magazine. It's not just food publications that have given Blackburn's their seal of approval, they have a solid four-star rating with over 500 reviews on Yelp. I was intrigued to see how our visit would go on this evening.

We arrived at Blackburn's at 6pm on a recent Saturday evening with a reservation from OpenTable. We did not seem to need one, as we were one of two tables occupied at this rather early dinner hour. People must have known that Sabrina was going to be eating here, so they got out of Dodge. It did get a tad busier as the evening went along though, but never more than half the dining room was full at one time. The dining space is nice and sleek, with assorted artwork on the walls, pale wood table tops, and a darkened ceiling.

The one-page menu at Blackburn's is broken up into appetizers, soup and salads, entrees, and desserts. Entree prices range between $13 to $29 with ten options to choose from. Appetizers, salads, and soups hover around the ten dollar mark, and there are five choices offered. We made our meal selections leisurely since we hadn't seen each other for a long while. Here's how everything turned out for us at Blackburn's on this evening.

I have a weird relationship with mac and cheese. I never had it while I was growing up, not even the Kraft blue box variety. I put that fact on my online dating profile, and it's one of the reasons that Katie reached out to me, so I guess I have mac and cheese to thank for being married. Thus, I now have a soft spot for this very comforting dish and have learned an appreciation for it. We tried the Skillet Macaroni and Cheese ($9.95) on this evening at Blackburn's. This was a very good representation of a grown-up mac and cheese. A very good four cheese blend, which was equally delicious and clung to the noodles wonderfully. The top had a nice amount of bread crumbs which provided a nice textural element. The menu online states that this used to come with shrimp and crab, and that would make this version even better than it already was.

Katie and I are clearly salad people, as we both opted to add a salad to our dining experience at Blackburn's. She had the Organic Field Greens ($6.95), while I went with the Iceberg Wedge ($7.95). Her salad included cucumbers, sliced tomato, sunflower seeds, and a white balsamic vinaigrette that impressed her a lot. Blackburn's lived up to their name with this salad which featured some farm fresh produce and that very good dressing tying everything together. I love wedge salads but I am not a fan of having to chop it up myself, but I did not mind with the one here. The fresh iceberg was paired with plenty of blue cheese chunks, chopped tomato, and some of the best bacon I have had in a while. It was very crisp and flavorful and went well with the other ingredients of the salad. I was happy with the change from my usual Caesar salad that I get almost everywhere I eat out. I definitely see more wedge salads in my future, especially if they are just as good as this one.

It's always a crapshoot as to what light eating Sabrina will get when we go out to eat, and she finally settled on this Garlic Pesto Chicken Flatbread ($9.95) after some great debate. Besides the chicken, garlic, and pesto, this also came with some balsamic onions, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Sabrina was of course very stingy with giving me a taste of this, but she proclaimed that it had a good flavor, she thought the portion size was more than fair, and she would definitely get this again. High praise from hard to please Sabrina.

Katie wanted something light for dinner, so she zeroed in on this Vegan Bolognese Spaghetti ($19.95). Spaghetti squash was the base for this very healthy dish, while the bolognese sauce was made up of quinoa and lentils. Predictably, when I tried this I was not a fan, but Katie really enjoyed this different take on spaghetti. She claimed that she did not miss the noodles and meat in this, found the sauce wonderfully flavored, and it has even inspired her to try making this at home. I'll probably eat somewhere else when she finally gets around to doing this.

Anthony could not resist the allure of the Fresh Fish of the Day ($26.95) which happened to be sea bass on this evening. The sea bass was flaky, fork tender, and had a nice sear to it, but it was kind of plain tasting on its own. It definitely needed a sauce to help boost its flavor profile. The green beans and the mashed potatoes were nicely done sides that helped save this dish a bit. Not the best fish dish Anthony has had but it ended up being adequate.

I asked our server what the most popular entree was here, and she immediately stated it was this Center Cut Pork Chop ($21.95). This was a big double cut pork chop, which was topped with sliced peaches and a fruity sauce, which I could not detect what it was made from, maybe cranberry? It was good, but a little too much on the sweet side for my liking. Some bites of the pork chop were on the dry side, which is hard to get around with a piece of pork this big. I remedied this by alternating bites of the mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. A beautiful dish, but one that fell a little flat for me.

Dessert was going to be our last hurrah at Blackburn's and this Whiskey Bread Pudding ($6.95) might have been the best thing we had here. The bread pudding base was neither too soggy nor too dry, which is one of my major critiques with bread pudding. This one passed with flying colors. It was moist and had a nice structure to it, along with a nice caramel sauce and plenty of vanilla ice cream perched proudly on top. A very nice ending to our long overdue rendezvous with Sabrina and Anthony.

Blackburn's did have a few hiccups with their entrees on this evening, but it's easy to see that this is the kind of restaurant that Corona needs more of. Restaurants that are chef-driven, independent restaurants serving food made with good quality and healthy ingredients. Highlights for me on this evening were the mac and cheese, salads, and the dessert, but the entrees were underwhelming and missed the mark for me. I've heard really good things about their breakfasts though, so that might be another opportunity for us to come here again. Service was pretty good, and our server kept things moving along nicely and did not seem to mind us sitting here for a while after our meals to continue catching up. Can't wait to see where the four of us end up next.

Out of five hawks, (because the hockey team based in Blackburn, England is known as the Blackburn Hawks, and I'm missing hockey this summer), five being best to zero being worst, Blackburn's Farm to Table gets 3 hawks.

For more information about Blackburn's Farm to Table, head to their website here: https://chefbillblackburn.com/

No Clowning Around at Breakfast Time at Goodfellas

Goodfellas Cafe

1090 Pomona Road

Corona, CA 92882

It's not every day that we are out in Corona, especially for breakfast. The stars aligned for us on this particular Sunday though. We were out in Riverside at my awards banquet for work and decided we did not want to drive all the way home late at night. It also just so happened that my very good friend Ozker moved out to Corona with his much better half, Bianca and her daughter, so we definitely had to check out their new home.

After a quick tour, and a little catching up, breakfast was definitely in order, even if  I could barely stomach it after checking out Ozker's Dodger shrine. Ugh, absolutely awful. Anyways, I had decided where we were going to be eating before coming up here, and it was only about a ten-minute ride from Ozker's new homestead. Goodfellas Cafe was our destination to celebrate our friend's new address.

Goodfellas appears to be the place to eat breakfast in Corona. We got here at just after 11 and were met with a thirty-minute wait, which was just enough time for Ozker to explain to us how his fourth place Dodgers were still going to be able to win the World Series this year. Goodfellas is situated on the north side of the 91 Freeway, on the corner of Lincoln and Pomona, right next door to the Best Western.

If the name of this restaurant doesn't give it away, once inside you will for sure get that the theme of this restaurant is gangster movies. In the waiting area, there are plenty of framed pictures of stars associated with mobster films and TV shows, along with plenty of pictures of the Rat Pack and other associates of this genre. There's even an old slot machine near the register, which unfortunately was for display only.

The menu at Goodfellas is pretty extensive. Omelets, traditional and special breakfast plates, pancakes, waffles, french toast, and Mexican breakfast options are offered. Since we were here a little later than normal breakfast hours, we also had the choice to try out their lunch menu, which had plenty of sandwiches, burgers, salads, and appetizers. We all decided to try out breakfast though, so let's take a look to see how it all worked out for us.

Let's start with Ari's first meal of the day, the Classic Omelette ($10.45). The omelets at Goodfellas are made with four eggs, and this base model includes your choice of either bacon, ham, or sausage, she went with bacon, and American and cheddar cheeses. From across the table, this did not look like a four egg omelet, but they did include plenty of hash browns. You also get a breakfast bread choice to go along with this dish, and Ari picked a biscuit. No complaints from Ari, but she does not really seem like the kind of kid that would complain about too much, other than her mom dating Ozker. Just kidding big guy.

Katie loves Breakfast Burritos ($8.95), so it was no surprise that she'd try this one from Goodfellas. This burrito was filled with her choice of breakfast meat, she went with bacon, and three eggs, cheddar cheese, and hash browns. Sour cream and salsa were served on the side. Katie called this a very solid breakfast burrito but nothing really made it pop. It was sturdy but needed some guacamole or a better salsa to push it to new heights. Good, just not great.

Bianca went big here, with this NY Angus Choice Steak and Eggs ($17.95). This was a very big steak for breakfast. From across the table, I liked the grill marks that were streaked across the top of it. This plate also came with three eggs, hash browns, and choice of a breakfast bread. Bianca was too busy eating to give me an opinion of her meal, so I guess I'll take that as she liked it.

Ozker and I were looking at the pictures of the food at Goodfellas at work before coming here, and we knew when we saw this Scrambler Special ($11.25), this would be the thing for us. Three scrambled eggs are mixed with the holy trinity of breakfast meats, ham, bacon, and sausage, then topped with gravy and cheese with hash browns and biscuits mixed in here somewhere. Sounded great, and when it came to the table I could not wait to dig in. It did not really live up to the expectations I had in my mind though. It was fine, but everything kind of got lost here. I could not get a good taste of the biscuits, they also did not seem to add a lot of bacon to this, and the gravy was kind of on the thin side. It was a big plate and filled me up, but like Katie's burrito, it did not wow me, which is a shame because this one plate has all of my favorite breakfast foods included.

The five of us walked out of Goodfellas Cafe with the same opinion of our breakfast. It was good, we'd come back, but it was not worth the half hour plus wait that we experienced on this late Sunday morning. I'd also definitely get something else on my next visit here, maybe the country fried steak, pancakes, or even maybe their burger. With how busy they were, we did experience very good service on this morning. Our server was not overly attentive, but she did keep an eye on us while moving things along nicely. Glad we had the chance to see Ozker's new house and visit with the always wonderful Bianca and Ari. Great seeing you guys.

Out of five shovels, (because in the movie Goodfellas this was one of the most useful tools used by the gangsters in that iconic 90's movie), five being best to zero being worst, Goodfellas Cafe gets 3 shovels.

Goodfellas Cafe does not have a website, but you can find info about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/goodfellas-cafe-corona-2

No Surprise, Pie Leads Us to the Circle City

Casa Taquito

2721 Green RiverRoad #106

Corona, CA 92882

It seems that after a long absence of not coming out to Corona, we have made numerous trips out the 91 Freeway recently. This visit to the Circle City was initiated about three months ago when my family and I had a late night craving for pie and headed to Polly's in Yorba Linda. There we met a server, Albert, who after some small talk we discovered that his family owned a small Mexican restaurant in Corona, which he claimed to be the best in town. Always in the mood for good Mexican food, I jotted down the info, and it sat there for three months, but the stars finally aligned and I made the trip to Casa Taquito with my parents in tow.

Casa Taquito is located in the Sierra Del Oro Towne Center, at the corner of Serfas Club and Green River. This shopping plaza is anchored by a Ralph's and a Dollar Tree, and Casa Taquito sits almost right between them. We arrived here at close to noon on a recent Thursday, and I was surprised to find this small, 15 table or so restaurant pretty full throughout our stay.

This truly is a family restaurant. Run by the Ortega family for the last few years, they are residents of the Corona community and make a point to stop by each table to make sure everything is up to their guest's standards.  When we walked in, we were met by Albert, who was serving here this afternoon and was then headed off to work a night shift at Polly's. His mom and dad were in attendance running food, cooking in the kitchen, and probably making sure Albert wasn't burning down the place. Kidding Albert.

The menu here is pretty much what you would expect from a family run Mexican restaurant. I was actually impressed with the numerous menu options, based on the size of this restaurant. They have plenty of combination plates, tacos, burritos, seafood dishes, and other Mexican favorites. Of interest for us since we were here midday were the lunch specials. Let's see if Albert's claim of this being the best Mexican food in Corona was founded.

As is our custom when eating in a Mexican restaurant, we always want to share what the Chips and Salsa look like. These chips were pretty good and stood up to the salsa well. I like a little more chunk to my salsa, but the flavor of this was right on. Of course, a little more spiciness would have made this salsa even better in my book.

 Lunch specials at Casa Taquito include your choice of soup or salad. Both my mom and dad went the soup route. My mom favored the Tortilla Soup, even though it had peas in it, which she is not a fan of. My dad really liked the Albondigas Soup, which had a flavorful broth but was a little light on the number of meatballs included in the cup.

Instead of the soup, I got the Salad option with my lunch special. Albert told me that they make the copycat recipe of the cilantro and pepita dressing from El Torito, which is probably the only reason to still visit El Torito these days. I have to admit that they nailed this dressing, as it tasted just like the original.  The greens were topped with a few tomatoes, some shredded carrots, and jack cheese. I really enjoyed this salad, as it had plenty of dressing included, and the produce was nice and fresh. Good sized salad for a dinner salad.

Before showing up to Casa Taquito, I had done a little research online to see what people liked here. A good amount of people mentioned their Nachos ($7.49) so I knew I had to give them a try. This was the small sized version, which was more than enough for the three of us. The nachos were layered nicely with refried beans, cheese, guacamole, jalapenos, sour cream, pico de gallo, and shredded beef. Every chip was covered by something, which is the mark of a good plate of nachos in my book. This definitely could be a meal for some people, but we still had our entrees on the way.

I haven't seen my mom go back and forth about what to order for a long time. Usually, she is very decisive about what she wants, but this time she debated between the taquitos and a cheese enchilada. As you can see, the Cheese Enchilada ($7.49) won out. This enchilada came with plenty of red sauce, sour cream, rice, and beans. For someone that's not a real big eater like my mom, this was the perfect lunch size portion. She devoured the enchilada quickly and was pleased with the amount of cheese and red sauce included here. She'd get this again for sure.

Sensing my mom's anguish about her Sophie's Choice moment at Casa Taquito, my dad came to the rescue when he ordered the Two Taquito Lunch Special ($7.49). This way my mom could eat half a taquito, and not miss out. Who says gallantry is dead? My dad got one chicken and one beef taquito. He enjoyed the beef one a tad more but thought both were pretty decent. He'd probably branch out and try something else on his next visit though.

My benchmark item when eating in a Mexican restaurant for the first time is Carnitas ($8.49), and based on these, I left with a favorable impression of Casa Taquito. Not only were these reasonably priced, but the serving size was more than I was expecting for a lunch portion, and they were done nicely. I enjoy crispy tips on the carnitas, and this pork came to the table that way. Not a bad piece in the bunch and flavored nicely. This was one of the better versions of this dish that I've had recently, and I'd be hard pressed to skip it the next time I was at Casa Taquito. The beans and rice were pretty solid here as well.

I'm usually not a big fan of dessert in Mexican restaurants, but we tried two of them here. The better of the two was the Deep Fried Ice Cream ($4.99). A large scoop of vanilla ice cream covered in corn flakes and then drizzled with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. The ice cream was good quality, and I liked that the coating of the scoop was not overly crunchy and hard like other versions of this dessert tend to be. Also, I have to mention the very nicely done fried chips with a dusting of sugar and cinnamon. They were puffy and light and would be good on their own as well. The Mexican Homemade Flan ($4.99) was good, even to a non-flan lover like myself. It was not overly sweet, had a good solid structure to it, and was a favorite of my dad, who was very stingy allowing my mom and me to have too much of this. Maybe he's not as gallant as I thought.

Casa Taquito is a good, solid choice when craving Mexican food in Corona. If I lived closer, this restaurant would definitely be in my rotation of Mexcian restaurants I would visit frequently. They do all the standard Mexican items you have come to love exceptionally well, and at an affordable price point. Even for dinner no item comes close to the $20 mark, and their lunch specials are definitely a steal for the amount of food you recieve. Service was very personable and friendly, but also quick, which is what most guests probably like at lunch time. Be advised that they are not open on Sundays though. Glad our late night pie craving at Polly's helped us end up at Casa Taquito.

Out of five Aztec dancers, (because there's always Aztec dancers on Olvera Street in LA, which just happens to be the birthplace of the taquito in 1934), five being best to zero being worst, Casa Taquito gets 3 Aztec dancers.

Casa Taquito does not have a website, but you can find their location, hours, and more info on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/casa-taquito-corona

From Corona with Love

Con Amore Ristorante

2630 Tuscany St. #103

Corona, CA 92881

It has been a long while since we have made it out to Corona for a restaurant review. We had not seen our good friend Anthony for about a year or so, and unfortunately, if we want to see him, we also have to see his wife Sabrina. We decided to make this sacrifice and head out on the improved 91 Freeway? After our hour and a half drive from OC, we decided to try a place new to all four of us, Con Amore Ristorante.

This Italian restaurant is tucked away in the Corona Crossings Shopping Center, right next to the Edwards Movie Theater. With the hard to find location and the plethora of restaurants in the area, it would be easy to kind of overlook this place. Opened since January of last year, Con Amore has gotten some glowing reviews online, been praised for their customer service, and been called one of the most authentic Italian restaurants in Corona. I was pretty excited to see if they could live up to this hype.

We got here at 7:30 on a recent Saturday evening. The 20 table or so restaurant was about half full, and we got sat right away in the comfortable dining room. The feel of this restaurant kind of brought to mind a less corporate Macaroni Grill. Tables were nicely spaced, high ceilings cut down on noise, and a faux rock wall framed their nicely stocked wine cabinet. The small, compact menu still offers plenty to choose from. They have a good number of appetizers, two salad options, pasta dishes, which hover around the $15 mark, and more substantial entrees that are offered for around $25. We eagerly ordered, not only because we were hungry, but because we were hoping that Sabrina would stop yammering on about scrapbooking if she had food in front of her. It was no use, she was not to be deterred talking about some new pair of scissors she had just bought. Fascinating.

When the bread basket was set in front of us, I think we all contemplated putting pieces in our ears to avoid listening to Sabrina anymore, but this is a nice place, so we refrained. This bread was nicely toasted and on its own was kind of average. It was made better with the provided oil and vinegar. They were not shy about offering extra bread throughout our stay at Con Amore.

Neither of the girls is a fan of Calamari Fritti ($13), so this was split between Anthony and me. This was a pretty good version of this fried squid dish. It was nicely fried, without being too oily, and the squid had just the right texture underneath the light breading. This was made even better with the very well made aurora sauce, which I learned is a combination of bechamel, cream, and tomato puree. Wish I'd see this sauce on more Italian restaurant menus.

Both Katie and I are salad eaters, so we got this good looking Side Salad ($6) which is not listed on the menu. This was a very generous size for a side salad. It came with some very fresh greens, tomatoes, olives, roasted red peppers, and a drizzle of balsamic topping this off. A little heavier hand with the dressing would have been my preference, but still pretty solid.

Katie's dinner was out first, and she was very pleased with this Pappardelle Alla Bolognese ($14). The pasta tasted freshly made, and their meaty bolognese was way better than average. Katie described this meal as very comforting, and she said she would get this again on future visits to Con Amore.

Sabrina is a pretty basic eater and doesn't really like to get too out of control when choosing her meals, so this Le Pasta di Mezzanotte ($10) was right up her alley. This was just spaghetti dressed with olive oil, garlic, and some red pepper flakes on the side of the dish. Sabrina seemed to like this, and I enjoyed the presentation here, with the flower and the red pepper flakes on the side.

I needed a little more pizzaz than Sabrina's entree, and I got it with this Penne Carnosa ($15). With this dish, the fresh penne pasta was joined by some house made sausage and meatball in a red sauce. I really enjoyed that almost every bite included either sausage or a meatball. This was filling, without being too heavy. Yes, I added red pepper flakes to this, but I do that with every pasta dish I order.

Probably the best meal of the night belonged to Anthony. He went with the Risotto ai Porcini ($25). This mushroom risotto dish was done really well. The risotto was cooked perfectly, about as creamy as you could get it. There was some big time mushroom flavor in this, which was balanced out by some parsley and Reggiano cheese. A very filling and earthy meal, which I'd probably get on my next visit to Con Amore.

Everything had been pretty good up until this point, and while the desserts we had were fine, they failed to impress. Tiramisu ($9) was a rather small serving size, and the flavor of this was rather heavy on the coffee, which I'm not really a fan of. The Torta di Ricotta Alla Siciliana ($10) was a better choice for me, but it needed more of a sauce to make it more interesting. The guts of this cheesecake were well made but heavier than I usually like. I probably should have tried their cannoli instead.

Even though we did not end on the high note that I had hoped for, I'd have to say that I left Con Amore pretty impressed. For people who enjoy more authentic Italian food, rather than the heavily sauced and cheesed Americanized Italian cuisine, which I also love, this is a great restaurant choice. Not that I have tried all the Italian restaurants in Corona, but Con Amore has definitely set the standard for Italian cuisine in this area. Service was also pretty impressive on this particular evening. The owner, Alfredo was very active during our stay, visiting tables, running food, and even serenading guests with what I assume to be an Italian birthday song. The food at Con Amore helped to soften the blow of seeing Sabrina after such a long absence, and I was proud of myself that I did not have to resort to putting the bread in my ears to try to block out her long winded story about how she got overcharged for a fruit cup many years ago in Tampa. Fascinating story Sabrina.

Out of five foam cups, (because the 9th largest employer in the city of Corona is the Dart Corporation, which is the world largest producer of foam cups and containers in the world), five being best to zero being worst, Con Amore Ristorante gets 3.5 foam cups.

For more information about Con Amore Ristorante, head to their website here: https://www.conamoreincorona.com/