Mazzotti’s on the Plaza

A stopover in Arcata on our way to see the National Redwood park so we had to find a good place to eat and this restaurant in Arcata Plaza was just right. Good deal on the entrees meant we could have a soup or salad included in the price. The various chicken pasta combos were good and the service excellent. Table in the window overlooking the plaza made our tourist experience complete.

If you lived in Southern California and moved up north and wanted Olive Garden Italian food, this place is it. Service is friendly, they have a good beer and cocktail list. Big portioned food that didn’t wow me, but did what nature intended. Low quality food for a high price.

Restaurant was recommended by our hotel concierge, the food was excellent service was great highly recommend it!

My wife and I got the Ravioli (with beef and sausage) and a large Prosciutto Pizza. Considering the Ravioli comes with a salad and bread, we had more food than the both of us could eat. We saved 90% of the pizza for the next day’s long drive. A++ on portions.
The pizza was delicious, but we were a little disappointed with the proportions of toppings to crust. They definitely needed to be a little more generous with the toppings. The ravioli and was about average on taste and quality. Everything tasted fresh and the house italian dressing for the salad was very good. Selection of draft beers could have been a little better given the large number of microbreweries in the region. Wine selection was good.
The service was outstanding. Our waitress was very kind and attentive, gave good advice about the food and drinks, and was easy to access when we needed something.
The establishment was clean, but we were not huge fans of the style. It didn’t feel much like an italian eatery, more like a dance hall/​bar that happened to have tables. There was music, but it was easy for us to have a conversation.
Prices were good for the portion sizes and quality. We recommend it for a nice dinner on the more casual side of things.

Went in tonight with my sister for a celebratory dinner. Let me just say there was no one at the front desk to greet us and when they did they only looked at my sister I suppose because they thought that since she looks older that she is paying for the dinner, when in reality we paided for out meals separately. We were sat down and we waited for five minutes for a waitress. She didn’t greet us just asked what we wanted and rushed us to pick a dinner option from the menu. She was stacking the dishes on one another when she brought us our soups, take about unsanitary and rude. The balsamic and olive oil dip they always accompany with their bread was mixed in the wrong ratio. There was practically only balsamic to dip your bread in, and trust me it is very unpleasant. My sister’s filet mignon steak was over done to well done when she order a standard medium. My lasgna was medicore and undercooked. The waitress kept ignoring us and only asked how our meals were once. Terrible service. I feel as we were discriminated against because we were the only people of color in the whole restaurant. Never coming back.

Good service, good food, and good location. Server was very personable, even allowing me to taste 2 different wines to make my decision.
Pizza was quite good, as was the complimentary bread (served with sundried tomato butter). Pasta Sicilia dish (all vegetables on angel hair pasta) was magnificent.
My mom went with the half serving of fettuccine Alfredo and said it was quite tasty.

I’m not sure why there are a decent amount of Mazzotti haters but overall I found the place very good. I’m a traveler so not a local but I have been to plenty of restaurants. I think the food is very good with very large portions (you will likely take home leftovers) service is very good, and prices are low given it’s on the plaza. My negatives would be two items: (1) Atmosphere — It’s a bit dated and dark (2) Food Presentation — It’s diner like, white dishes no garnish, you get the picture. If management fixed those negatives it would be 5 stars but the downside is they probably could raise prices 15% so take advantage of the value.

Great service. The bread was warm soft and yummy the garlic butter was excellent. Food took a bit to get. However it’s Friday night. when the food did come It was worth the wait. My husband had filet mignon. It was outstanding I had the cannoli, I’ve had better but it was good. ;-)
Ok and they have chocolate mousse yay

My family and I got done with an extensive hike in the redwoods and needed a place to fill our stomachs and appeal to our tastebuds. This place did both! I can honestly say it is one of my favorite restaurants in the state of California and the service was friendly and accommodating. They had plenty of vegetarian options as well and each meal came with delicious bread and an amazing salad. 5 star! Bring me back!

I’ve been eating at Mazzoiti’s for years now and absolutely love this place. Every server that I’ve encountered has been really helpful and pleasant. The owner does a great job at giving customers plenty of food with their dinner orders (love the salad and free bread yum) along with a relaxing environment to enjoy your food in. Will certainly continue to frequent this spot.

We stayed in Arcata on a road trip to Oregon and hit this place based on the recommendation of the desk clerk at our hotel. Very glad we did.
Nice place, casual yet classy interior. Good for families, but its not noisy or out of control. They do have butcher paper on the tables which makes for a decent «tablecloth» and an even better blank canvas for kids with crayons.
Service was top notch. Friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. Suggestions were made on menu items and accommodation made for our picky eater 6 year old.
The bread they provide is fresh baked and delicious. Bonus points for having oil & balsamic as well as their house garlic-​butter.
We enjoyed our oysters, salad, manicotti and a few draft Stella’s. Portion sizes were good. Some Italian places over do it with pasta dishes but this place was just right.
Overall a very enjoyable experience.

On a recommendation as a good restaurant for kids I can attest it certainly is. The kids were treated well and the table was set up for them perfectly on arrival.
The staff was friendly and attentive. The hot bread and herbed butter was fantastic.
The prices are certainly reasonable for the restaurant and perhaps even a few dollars cheaper than they could/​should be. The corkage was a neat $ 10 a bottle.
My only real complaint was the entrée I had. I ordered the cioppino which along with crab cakes is one of the few things I’ve almost entirely given up ordering at restaurants. This meal was no exception unfortunately and although I’m almost sorry to give Mazzotti’s the grief because of this single dish I will because of one thing that happened to me I’ve never experienced. After taking a few spoonfuls and asking myself why the stew tasted so off I realized it was bad mussels. I sat there as my stomach gurgled for a few minutes and then the sips of cioppino came right back up and into my napkin. Dinner was done for me.
Would I try Mazzotti’s again? Absolutely but fish stew is off my list.

This place could be so much better but poor management is probably holding it back.
Staff was friendly but there probably were not enough servers for the number of tables.
There are no booths in this restaurant. We were seated at a table that rocked back and forth. I had to wedge something under the pedestal to keep things from spilling.
Our chairs were hard, uncomfortable and felt he like they were going to fall apart any minute.
The décor is poorly done. The ambience was muffled music from the bar at the back of the restaurant and the loud sounds of the bus boy dumping silverware into the wait station.
The gnocchi is a frozen product and not freshly made. The shrimp in the scampi were previously frozen, not worth 25 bucks, and the bay shrimp tasted like canned shrimp. The scallops were over cooked and the crab was the only good part of the frutti de mare. Disappointing for living right next to the ocean.
The lettuce in the Caesar salad was wilted and not crisp at all. The best part of the whole meal was the warm bread and cocktails.
A good manager would see all these flaws and fix them. I usually give places 3 strikes before I no longer return but this one hit a foul that was caught!

Wow… Delish! Came with the family, ordered stuffed chicken Alfredo, amazing! The flavor is on point! Stuffed with Sun dried tomato, mushroom, cheese, artichoke hearts. cioppino was soooo good. the service was awesome and prices are decent.

I had heard such great things about this place from middle aged HSU alumni that I wanted to try it out. The service was good and quite pleasant. The food, however, is not very authentic Italian. The food is not bad, it’s just very average. I live in an area with great authentic Italian food and this seemed kind of generic.

1 word– «Cioppino»
Where else are you going to find it around here? AND– where else are you going to find all the good stuff SHELLED? I realize the shell is authentic, fun, etc., but on a work-​lunch, the shells/​mess make cioppino the succubus of Italian cuisine.
If you’ve never heard of cioppino, google some pics. Then go try it.
PS– I just know– some snob foodie out there is going to say– «That’s not Cioppino, I make better Cioppino» Sweet. Make a huge, fresh pot every day, give me a standing invite, and then give it to me for around $ 20! Then clean up my mess ’cause it’s gonna be everywhere when I’m done! (You wise-​acre…)

Ridiculously overpriced yet I can’t get enough. The bread and butter is killer, and the servers are always nice. The portion of food you get for your money is pretty small but it’s delicious. I love this place very much!
Amazing vegi lasagna. I love meat, but the meat lasagna is so gross. Waaaaay too much shreds of ground beef. So overwhelming.

I love this place! Just went here with my family the other night and we all had fantastic meals. You really just have to know what to order here, some of their items are hit or miss (iv’e come to find that their spaghetti and lasagna are good but nothing to write home about).
Yesterday I ordered the eggplant Parmesan and it was so delicious, very light and crispy, layered with just the right amount of marinara and cheese. My boyfriend got a $ 12 cheese, basil and tomato calzone that was to die for! For a small calzone it was huge (definitely big enough to split) and tasted amazing.
The service here was really good (especially compared to the Eureka Mazzoti’s)
Overall good experience, would highly recommend to anyone who it looking for a good Italian dinner.

Food is slightly above average for the area and way above price. The total lack of customer service skills do wonders for killing any kudos for the slightly better food than Alibi!
After waiting over an hour for my take out order I was told that the fryer broke and only my entrée (a fried entrée at that) could be prepared.
!:;&#!$!% Like, do I look stupid to you? Your fryer broke? You don’t have frying pans and oil?
I would have had more respect for the little liar if she had said screw you we don’t care about our customers so we just choose not to make you hall your good.
Well, screw you too! I won’t be back, EVER!

Mazzotti’s is a decent Italian food establishment. The food is always okay to good. The service is very good. That is just it, however– the food is just okay. I feel like everything is overpriced not just for the portion sizes (I always seem to leave a little hungry) but for the quality. It is nice that they give you the option to get half portions of the pastas, but somehow those half portions are always too small, and the regular portions are just enough to fill me up. It’s always nice to leave with leftovers, I feel like.
They give you bread and butter (their garlic butter is great) with water, which is nice. I tend to ask for seconds of the bread, though, cause there never is enough for the whole table. They have a nice wine selection, also. I enjoy coming here when I am looking to pay extra for a nicer experience, but there are other options in Arcata and Eureka that I go to first.