Vero in downtown Palo Alto is everything you would want in a small neighborhood Italian place: a diverse wine list and a good selection of pastas and entrées with reasonable prices. The dishes may be simple, but most are executed well. Portions tend to be large so don’t be afraid to order a pasta dish as a main course.

The fried calamari with marinara is always a nice way to start:

It’s rare to find Southern Italian wines in restaurants outside of the City, so we were pleased to get a Calabrian Falanghina white wine and a Sicilian Cerasuolo red wine to pair with the various dishes:

The arugula salad came with with a lemon dressing, slices of red onion and shaved parmesan cheese. They also serve warm bread in the baskets (click on the salad or bread in the picture to bring either one into focus):

We ordered the baked Eggplant Parmigiana as an antipasti course:

The Ravioli Pesto Trapanese were ricotta and spinach filled pasta squares topped with a crushed almond, basil and tomato sauce:

Tagliatelle al Sugo was advertised as having a spicy beef ragu. It wasn’t spicy at all but the pasta was still good:

We shared the very tasty Maiale dish which turned out to be a spinach, mushroom and cheese stuffed breaded pork scaloppini. It was accompanied by a tasty panzanella salad:

http://www.veroristorante.com/