Prior to becoming the food-enthusiast/blogger that I am today, Italian food meant Olive Garden to me. Thus, I wasn’t much of an Italian fan… (sorry if you like Olive Garden). I was sick of the super heavy, overly rich, stomach-ache-causing, “Italian” dishes. I never knew what REAL Italian food was like.

Now that I am immersed in more upscale dining, I have learned that Italian food is actually quite versatile and decadent- in a non-gross way. If you know me, you will know that I am a HUGE fan of Angelina’s Pizzeria in Irvine. When I went to North Italia for the first time today, I figured they would be pretty similar. I was very wrong. I cannot tell you that I now like one more than the other, because they are very different, but both AMAZING and worthy of equivalent praise.

North Italia is actually a chain owned by the Fox restaurant group, with nine locations throughout the country. The second California location is in El Segundo. To be honest, I figured this would just be another fancy, Irvine location filled with wealthy business people. Nothing special, just fine-food. Wrong again! I am not lying when I say that I experienced once of the best wait-staff, EVER today. Not one team member was anything less than friendly, helpful, and kind towards me. What a refreshing change. They were very insistent that I try a plethora of dishes, which was so sweet! My server, Rachel, was extremely knowledgable about the entire menu, and I could tell she was completely honest in all of her recommendations. Here is what I ended up trying :

Arancini : Crispy risotto balls in a tomato sauce. I had never seen anything like this on a menu, so I wanted to try it out! Not my favorite item that I ordered, but reminded me of a light version of a meatball in a strange way!

Zucca Chips : Holy addictive. Lightly, flash-fried zuchinni. If you like vegetable chips like I do, you will find yourself eating the whole bowl of these little devils.

White Truffle Garlic Bread : I don’t care if you are on a diet, or you don’t like truffle, or whatever your excuse is. You HAVE to try this. I promise you will never find something like this anywhere else. I am a carb addict, and I LOVE truffle and ricotta cheese- so this whole dish was pretty much up my alley.

Burrata Tortelloni ****** : I hear the angels singing in my mind right now as I think about this God-sent bowl of goodness. ALL the pasta/noodles are FRESH-MADE from scratch here (along with everything else, drools), so just imagine the most AMAZING, melt-in-your mouth tortellini stuffed with burrata cheese. Then pour a whole bunch of sinfully good sage brown butter over it, and top it with butternut squash cubes, brussel sprout leaves, HAZELNUTS, and mushrooms. Are you salivating yet? This was honestly the best pasta I have ever indulged in.

Bolognese : That homemade pasta, though! Ugh! This is a very light bolognese that won’t leave you feeling stuffed.

Short Rib Raditori : Honestly, I am pretty sick of short rib right now, so I didn’t really want to try this, but Rachel was literally raving about it. After my first bite, I understood why. This is NOT your average short rib. There was not one bit of fat on this meat, and it literally could have been consumed if I had no teeth. Melted away on my tongue like a candy! The parmesan cream and horseradish were so flavorful and decadent.

Seasonal Vegetable Salad : I love salads, and this was awesome. So refreshing, and packed with all sorts of goodies that are not typically salad toppings. Cauliflower, dates, pistachios, butternut squash… wow. Perfect dish to accompany all the pasta

 

Rachel also was sweet enough to bring me out all of the different salad dressings and aioli to try, which was awesome!!! My favorite was their house aioli. It had a lemon-y hint to it, which was so flavorful. I also really liked the white balsamic dressing.

Everything was divine, to say the least. Thank you, Team North Italia, for an amazing experience and meal. I will back as soon as possible. This is a place you NEED to check out.