Pianeta Ristorante, Truckee

My wife always find the best restaurants we can when ever we travel around the country or the world, and ask locals what they recommend. Last night was awesome. The waiters would all help each other keep everything flowing smoothly, and were very friendly and attentive. The Winter Caprese salad we shared was like none we have ever had. I had the Lamb, and my wife had the Ragu. It had Sausage, shrimp, chicken, butternut squash, over grilled polenta. My wife is a great cook, and said it was amazing. It is going to inspire her to do the same thing at home when entertaining. I would say this restaurant has improved since the last reviews I see below. The food, wine, ambience were all perfect. We are looking into buying a home on the Lake, and will definitely be coming back.

Living in Tahoe, we had been going to Pianetas on a fairly regular basis for the last 2 years, but have decided to stop for a while. We have had too many disappointing meals lately and its apparent that the quality is slipping. My husband had a NY steak that was well over $30. It was so thin it looked like it had been cut to make two steaks out of one! It was also pretty tough. The balsamic chicken which is usually terrific was dry, tasteless and not much meat. The polenta was watery. We are wondering if there is a lack of supervision in the kitchen going on because this restaurant had been consistently good for a long time. A few months ago we had dinner at Pacific Crest, owned by the same people. Again, this restaurant had always been consistently good. I ordered a seafood pasta dish that was so garlicky you could barely taste anything else....for the next two days. Not wanting to judge on one bad experience we returned about a month later. This time I decided to avoid the pasta and ordered the half chicken. Only problem was when the chicken came out it was the bottom half of the chicken!!! Again, we have a feeling management may not be doing their job on quality control. We're opting for a few other restaurants in town at the moment. The ambience however remains wonderful and the service is always prompt and pleasant. We hope things improve on the food end!

I have been there three times in the last six months and whenever we are in town that's the place to go. Service is exceptional...the food is inventive and fresh and they are always re-creating the menu. It's best to make reservations because it fills up.