Vin Santo Ristorante

There was only one choice Italian restaurant for my first-born’s birthday — Vin Santo. This family restaurant consistently serves the most authentic and delicious Italian cuisine. To top it all, the owner Umberto is warm and hospitable and really makes you feel like you are visiting his home.
I had the OssoBuco the others had the Wild Boar, Fettucini, Halibut, Salmon, Salads, Pizza, Carpacio, etc topped with Icecream and fresh berries and of course Crème Brulee to share. The wine was perfectly harmonized with the dishes and we all came away with wonderful memories. Go there for the food but the memories will stay with you forever. Thanks Umberto!

We found a Groupon for this restaurant. Showed up a little early for our reservation and they seated us right away. The hostess /​server was very friendly and nice. She recommended a few items and explained what a few items were. I had Local Wild Boar on spaghetti.. Never had boar so figured I would try it. Did not know there was local wild boar in Willow Glen… :) It was quite delicious. I would definitely return many times over.

Found a Groupon which is what got me to go try this restaurant. The groupon did it’s job, I Loved it and will definitely be going back!
1^st of all the groupon was a very good deal, it included 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, 1 dessert, and a bottle of wine!
We were seated by a very nice waitress. As we pondered the extensive menu she brought our bottle of wine, fresh bread & butter, and Polenta (on the house).
It was hard to pick, everything sounded good! My date had the Mediterranean Salad which was served on a plate and encased in a cucumber ring (beautiful presentation) and I had the Fritto Misto appetizer which was fried calamari, broccoli, shrimp, and zucchini that came with aioli, pesto, and marinara sauces for dipping.
For our entrees he had the CINGHIALE SU SPAGHETTI Local wild Boar braised for 3 ½ hours with red wine, vegetables and porcini mushroom; served over spaghetti tossed with mixed mushroom and truffle oil and I had One of the specials, I don’t remember the name but it was Chicken Breast stuffed with Elk Sausage and wrapped in Bacon, it came with mashed potatoes and asparagus and was set on a delicious sauce.
We opted for the Gelati Misti Dessert which was a Choice of 3 scoops, We picked Espresso, Spumoni, and Mango.
The service was great all night, and our server was very helpful with her recommendations.

Authentic italian food at its best. Great service and atmosphere. A must try in Willow Glen.

This place is so good! Everything I’ve had has been amazing. The service is also amazing. This is one of my favorite spots.

What a beautiful, refreshing, delightful, relaxing and wonderful place. Beautiful wait staff and so attentive. The food was EXCELLENT! I definitely will come back. Thank you for wishing my mom a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Stopped by this place for dinner after going to Petroglyph and decided to roam around Willow Glen on a Saturday night. We didn’t have reservations so we sat at the bar which was fine since my boyfriend wanted to watch football.
My boyfriend ordered ravioli and I got the pasta carbonara. His ravioli was delicious, however my pasta carbonara was just ok, it wasn’t what I expected. Our waitress was extremely nice and even though our order took awhile, she informed us early on and we just munched on the bread/​butter. She apologized for the wait and even gave us free dessert!
Would definitely come back here if/​when we are in the area.

Very nice place in Willow Glen. There were 4 of us on two Groupons. Totally enjoyed our meals and Umberto was our server. Definitely will come back. Appetizers were great, my husband’s oysters were exceptional. For Dinner one had rabbit over polenta, two of us had the Lamb and my husband had the red snapper — all was delish.

Found a great deal on groupon and you can’t go wrong with Italian food. However, even though you can book a reservation via open table but the groupon directs you to call. The restaurant was pretty busy and a little noisy, but I didn’t mind. Ordered the Sea bass (4 stars), it was cooked perfectly especially how the cranberry dressing compliments the dish. On the tail end, it was tad bit salty but in any case excellent!
Chiopino was like any ordinary seafood stew, it was good and portion was pretty decent size.
The frog leg was bland and meat texture was a little chewy. Definitely not ordering that, even at a Vietnamese restaurant it’s cooked and flavored better. The polenta that came with it was okay. 1 star
The lobster and crab croquette was really good, flavorful 3.5 stars
Do not order any of their raw fish, sashimi or Tuna tartare. It was darn fishy and not fresh. 0 star
The fondue was horrible, chocolate was not warm at all and the rice crispy was super stale. Even a 5 years old can make it better. The lady fingers were super dry and also stale. The only thing decent was the banana. .5 star

Still one of my favorite restaurants of all time. Everyone I have ever brought here has totally loved it. Outstanding food, friendly staff and appreciative owners.

Fan-​freaking-​tastic! Love Vin Santo and my man Umberto!!!
Take me off now, Unilocal,you freaking losers!!!
But I digress. Atmosphere — 5 stars — Umberto greeted us like family.
Service — outstanding, great recommendations.
Food — wow! Best ever! Meatballs to die for. Nothing says Chonika like pork ribs.
Back to the atmosphere — it was nice to dine without a bunch of loud Guero Glen losers and NO KIDS!!!
We will be back very soon.
And to Umberto

My husband and I went here to celebrate our 20^th wedding anniversary. Our waiter was very knowledgeable of the menu and gave us great recommendations for appetizers. Which were so delicious.
Our entrees were so good and the portion size was perfect.
We love this place the staff and food is such high quality!

We stopped in on a Saturday night without a reservation and were happily seated at a table in the bar area. The table was small, but the staff did a great job of taking unnecessary items off the table and pacing our meal so it wasn’t crowded with plates. We had the buratta and prosciutto appetizer, which was tasty. The butternut squash ravioli was also very good. I like that you can order half portions, since pasta tends to be very filling. The cannoli dessert was so-​so. Our server, Sonya, was great.

This place continues to be one of the best restaurants in San Jose. The Caesars salad is yummy. Calamari great too. Service always the best. Love it here.

My husband and I decided to come to Vin Santo to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. We also came to Vin Santo the night that we got engaged, so it has a special meaning to us. So this was only our second time here.
They gave us glasses of champagne on the house when we arrived. I love champagne! Our appetizer was delicious. I’m vegetarian and on a diet so I tried to stay away from anything heavy or fried. We had a yummy vegetarian option, the granoturco arrostito. It was a bowl of grilled corn with red onion, bits of asparagus, feta, and a soft boiled egg with a little lime juice squeezed on top. They also gave us a side dish of polenta that was on the house. YUM! I didn’t eat any of the bread or butter. My husband ate enough of that for the two of us. ;-) It looked good though. I ordered a half order of the pear ravioli. The first time we came I ordered the butternut squash ravioli and it was to die for! We also had the asparagi e funghi as an appetizer that time, it was amazing! But this time we wanted to try something new. I was not disappointed. Everything was delicious! I felt guilty ordering pasta since I am on a diet, but I was thankful for the small portion. It was the perfect amount for me. My husband had the full order of the lobster and bacon ravioli. It was a generous serving, which was great for him. He let me try a little piece of the sauce and ravioli that didn’t have the bacon in it. It was really good! He ordered tiramisu for dessert, but I had a glass of moscato. We shared a bottle of wine with dinner. It was the Plungerhead Zinfandel from Lodi. We were very pleased.
It was overall a great dinner. It was busy and loud because it was a Saturday night so it made it hard to have an intimate conversation. The table was a little wobbly so we had to be careful leaning across to speak to one another. We were seated across from each other which was kind of disappointing. I love booths where we can sit next to each other, cuddle and hold hands. The waitress was great, very friendly and attentive. Vin Santo did a great job at making sure we had a wonderful anniversary dinner!

Nice atmosphere. I went on a Thursday night and it was packed. It happened to be ladies night so drinks and appetizers were half off! Try the heirloom tomato appetizer, the burrata cheese is amazing. It’s like Mozzarella but creamier :)

The only reason I’m not giving this restaurant 4 stars was the freezing cold dining room. They should have closed the glass partition at the front of the restaurant. Other than that the service was excellent. Our server was very friendly, very informative about the menu and very Italian. His warmth and booming voice made for a fun
experience! The food was delicious and well-​prepared. The portions are gigantic! This is a loud, busy high energy place. A giant menu with numerous options. The rib-​eye steak was beautifully charred and flavorful and HUGE! Wild boar was super tender and unctuous. The dessert selection was limited. The only item we disliked was the polenta. It was very bland and served cold, unfortunately almost inedible. Everything else was great! This place is an experience!

I came here with a friend after a night of hot and sweaty salsa dancing. Needless to say, I was RAVenous for some RAViolis. We had made reservation for Saturday night (which I highly recommend doing), so we were seated with very little wait time.
The staff was friendly and attentive. The food was spectacular. I ordered a caprese salad and some raviolis stuffed with pear and mascarpone. My caprese salad was refreshing and super tasty. Sweet balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper topped the tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil layers. I thought it was a great starter and did not overshadow the handmade raviolis, which were beyond delicious — a great balance of savory and sweet ingredients. I was dancing in my seat with every bite. I left the restaurant extremely full and satisfied.
I highly recommend Vin Santo and would come here again!

Groupon expiring. Need to use quick! Made reservations for a Sunday with no issues. When I arrived for my 7PM reservation the place was not packed. I did mention over the phone of my groupon and it was used without any problems.
(2) appetizers, (2) entrees (1) bottle of win (1) dessert.
First off, we opted to not get a bottle of wine. They let us get two glasses of sangria instead. Didn’t get the 4 drinks substitute like a previous reviewer got but we didn’t push hard for anything.
Knowing that we did this, think ordering off their 3 course special would’ve been better as it costs $ 38 for one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert. You gain a dessert and lose the wine. To each their own.
For our appetizers, we got the ahi tuna tartar. Funny I just finished watching «Chef» who had a line saying you have tuna tartar and people are gonna order it. It’s true, I was a sucker that felt pulled into ordering it. It was underwhelming. The flavors weren’t that impressive. I actually feel the tuna appetizer at Yard House packs better flavors. My bf got the Mediterrane salad. It was… ok.
For our entrees got ordered off the weekly special menu and got the Gorgonzola NY Steak with Bone Marrow. The bone marrow was delicious. The steak… I’ve had better. It was a bit tough.
My bf ordered the boar braised spaghetti and really enjoyed it. He also really liked both glasses of sangria we got. Lol.
Dessert we got the crème brûlée two ways. It was good. I liked the vanilla flavor more.
Service was efficient and on point.
All in all, it was an OK experience. I might return for their 3 course menu at a future point. But it won’t be on my regular list of eateries.

We were 2 college students just looking for some grub at 9pm in Downtown Willow Glen on a Thursday night. We were dumb and didn’t realize almost all the eateries closed by 9pm on a weeknight there. At first we were hesitant to try this Italian restaurant because we saw the wine bar, the three dollar signs on Unilocal,the fancy white table cloths — and here we were wearing cutoff denim shorts and brotanks.
DISHES —
We took a chance and was pretty impressed at our dining experience. The menu actually had a lot of tasting dishes where you can try a bunch of the chef’s specialties if you can’t decide on one dish. Most of the dinner pasta plates were $ 15 – 20, and the portions were quite filling, so it was well worth your money.
HOMEMADE PASTA —
They have a whole section of homemade pastas (ravioli, gnocchi, lasagna). They all sounded AMAZING. So I was really excited that they had a Ravioli Sampler dish where you can pick 3 of the 4 ravioli offered and the gnocchi. You may think that samplers give you less pastas, but their raviolis were actually quite large (1 – 2 pieces of each) and it was a pretty filling dish. I got to try all 4 of ravioli luckily because our waiter got me the wrong ravioli!
RAVIOLI —
[Details in attached picture]
1. Casoncelli Bergamasca — the pancetta and butter made it a little heavy
2. Agnolotti di Zucca — very big ravioli with butternut squash
3. Caramelle Aragosta E Bacon — lobster ravioli in vodka sauce — simple
4. Ravioli di pere — MY FAVORITE. The grilled pears gave the ravioli a sweetness and there was an interesting crunch in the ravioli
5. Gnocchi — just gnocchi in red sauce — nothing special, was a little disappointed
My friend got the Farfalle Ai Crostacei which was basically a seafoood pasta with lobster and crab meat and shrimp in vodka sauce — very big portion and the sauce made it very creamy and heavy. But vodka sauce in general is pretty heavy and we’re Asian and not meant to eat things heavy in cream and cheese haha.
TL;DR — Very cute and classy place for a romantic date. Try their homemade ravioli! I will definitely be back for that pear ravioli!