Cafe Pro Bono

Before I came here, I thought fine dining was a rip-off. But after tasting the chocolate cake, I was in heaven. The chicken was perfect. And so was the fresh lemonade. Everything was very well worth it!

This is a special restaurant for us - the food, service and ambience is excellent and very classical Italian. My wife and I come here for special lunches and they never disappoint.

Anuj A

Been here over 20 times. It does not matter if you come for lunch or dinner! It’s consistently incredibly delicious. Food is always fresh and yum! Staff is always ready to please. The menu has something for everyone to enjoy. Great bar! Awesome for a business discussion and meeting or a casual friend meeting. Definitely worth a visit

R A M

Spectacular service. Old school and delightful. Sever Akif was excellent sharing various pairing wines for the Halibut lunch special. While some prefer a white with fish, the right red can work well. I choose a 2018 Italian Amorona Classic 2018.

Roman S

Dining at Pro Bono Restaurant was a wonderful experience from start to finish. The atmosphere was calm and cozy even on the busiest evening and the staff was incredibly friendly and attentive. They were clearly passionate about the restaurant's mission, and their enthusiasm made the whole experience even more enjoyable. Plus, the food was fantastic!

RichS

Great food and service . Long has been a staple on California street for good food and service . Causal, no rush atmosphere. Black ink pasta is favorite.

Alex Zepka

Excellent Italian restaurant in Palo Alto. It has been there for a long time and there is a reason it has endured: great food, great service and great atmosphere. My mother-in-law loves to go there when visiting and they always remember her. It is the sign of a special place when they remember not only the regulars, but people that come once a year. I had duck this last time which was excellent, albeit a smallish portion. The beef carpaccio was delicious. If you are super hungry, I suggest you stick with the pasta dishes. Desserts are also top notch.

Maria Drp

The waiter was fantastic. Super kind and would often come to our table. I got the Capellini Pomodoro and the Warm Apple & Pistachio Torta. The dessert was my favorite part. The pasta wasn't the best I've ever had, but it was still good (I felt it needed some protein to accompany it). My friends got the Rigatoni, and it looked really good.

Trudy Willis

Great food, perfectly prepared, just the right amount of meat, lovely vegetables, a bit of starch. It may be a bit pricey, but it's worth every penny!!! Can't go wrong here. Post (I hope) pandemic: With an outdoor parklet for cautious diners to an enlarged banquet area and lots of carefully distanced seating areas inside, the restaurant is being discovered again. Warming temperatures are encouraging larger numbers to show up. There are more large groups both inside and out, but the tables are spaced so as to allow other diners to feel safe. I'm attaching photos of a recent meal where I started eating before I thought of taking a picture (my apologies). It's braised short ribs (minus bones) and an artfully arrayed selection of vegetables, plus dessert -- apple-pear cobbler. Delicious!!!

Wayne O

This is a special restaurant for us - the food, service and ambience is excellent and very classical Italian. My wife and I come here for special lunches and they never disappoint.

Sherry Tsai

Awesome Italian Cuisines here and people were very friendly. I kept eating and only 1/10 of the dishes I took photos. Great place for gathering and will be back for sure!! 👍👍👍

Geh Benjamin

Good food, good service. Do try their chocolate cake. Awesome. So chocolatey and taste good. I love the Panna cotta too, it's great. As for the entrees, we ordered the rabbit meat, and I would say it's kinda nice. The pastas and ricotta were very tasty too. Overall, a very nice place to dine in for all kinds of occasion.

My favorite Italian restaurant in the peninsula. I was craving authentic, not gummy or doughy, but fresh gnocchi. This is the only place I know of that makes it fresh, rather than using prepackaged pasta. The gnocchi was perfect and pillowy and the balance of flavors was so good. The waiters and front desk that work here deserve all the praise. Super nice and accommodating. Shout out to the wonderful lady I spoke to on the phone.

I’ve been to this place a couple of times with a friend who raves about the Italian food and I couldn’t agree more. Today we tried the polenta and shrimp appetizers, the rigatoni pasta (which they kindly split in two plates for us to share), and we finished with tiramisu for dessert. Everything was well prepared; flavorful, well-balanced, and not too salty or overpowering. Truly a great meal over good conversation.

Manu H

My favorite Italian restaurant in the peninsula. I was craving authentic, not gummy or doughy, but fresh gnocchi. This is the only place I know of that makes it fresh, rather than using prepackaged pasta. The gnocchi was perfect and pillowy and the balance of flavors was so good. The waiters and front desk that work here deserve all the praise. Super nice and accommodating. Shout out to the wonderful lady I spoke to on the phone.

Amy Wang

I’ve been to this place a couple of times with a friend who raves about the Italian food and I couldn’t agree more. Today we tried the polenta and shrimp appetizers, the rigatoni pasta (which they kindly split in two plates for us to share), and we finished with tiramisu for dessert. Everything was well prepared; flavorful, well-balanced, and not too salty or overpowering. Truly a great meal over good conversation.

john STETAK

Fantastic place all around. The food is excellent. They NY Strip was prepared perfectly. The homemade sausage in the Rigatoni was not to spicy -- so just right. Loved the Susan's Downfall, very rich -- so perfect as an appetizer. We had a bottle of the Barnet Pino Noir which was worth every penny. Service was exceptional. Atmosphere was welcoming and lively. We decided to use this place for an upcoming wedding rehearsal.

I loved the simple presentation of the dishes. If the vegetables and fish are fresh they don’t need a lot of masking with sauces and what not. The salmon was excellent and quite unique. There was a breaded horseradish sauce on top. We also liked the bread pudding drenched in maple syrup.

Decided to have lunch at CPB since it's been a while. Service was really good! The food was delicious. Carpaccio was sliced really thin like it should be and tasty. The smoked salmon panini was really good! Lastly the risotto was creamy and the Mary's chicken slices on the risotto really tender and delicious. You can tell how good the carpaccio and risotto was based on the pictures of the empty plates. We recently went for dinner and weren't disappointed. We sat at the bar and the bartender Virginia and Akif were excellent. We had a great time interacting with them. We had a cocktail and some wine of course. Dinner was amazing, we started with an app special, followed by Gulf Prawns, Risotto SP and finished with an apple tart.

Cozy Italian restaurant. You have both indoor and outdoor seating. All pretty spacious given it is at the heart of Palo Alto. The food quality are ok, not mind blowing good, but it is good. The staffs are all super friendly. You are looking at 50+ per person without drink.

The food was really delicious.(I forgot to take pictures of the food). The server was very friendly as well. The only thing that I had was they took way to long to serve us. We waited more than 30 mins to get our food. My daughter was very hungry. They seems like lack of employees. Despite all of that, I still recommend here.

Alicia DiGiammarino

I loved the simple presentation of the dishes. If the vegetables and fish are fresh they don’t need a lot of masking with sauces and what not. The salmon was excellent and quite unique. There was a breaded horseradish sauce on top. We also liked the bread pudding drenched in maple syrup.

Bruce S.

Decided to have lunch at CPB since it's been a while. Service was really good! The food was delicious. Carpaccio was sliced really thin like it should be and tasty. The smoked salmon panini was really good! Lastly the risotto was creamy and the Mary's chicken slices on the risotto really tender and delicious. You can tell how good the carpaccio and risotto was based on the pictures of the empty plates. We recently went for dinner and weren't disappointed. We sat at the bar and the bartender Virginia and Akif were excellent. We had a great time interacting with them. We had a cocktail and some wine of course. Dinner was amazing, we started with an app special, followed by Gulf Prawns, Risotto SP and finished with an apple tart.

Kailiang Huang

Cozy Italian restaurant. You have both indoor and outdoor seating. All pretty spacious given it is at the heart of Palo Alto. The food quality are ok, not mind blowing good, but it is good. The staffs are all super friendly. You are looking at 50+ per person without drink.

Jacob Gao

The food was really delicious.(I forgot to take pictures of the food). The server was very friendly as well. The only thing that I had was they took way to long to serve us. We waited more than 30 mins to get our food. My daughter was very hungry. They seems like lack of employees. Despite all of that, I still recommend here.

Located next to the police station and near the court house . Ergo the play on words Pro Bono Cafe. Came here with my cousins father and 10 month year old and I got the seafood linguini which was good but the bill for four was 245$ way to pricy for my taste. Have to go back and change review to add that cute little gem vomited everything she ate all over our bedspread ruining it completely. Poor little girl.

Katrina Jenkins

Located next to the police station and near the court house . Ergo the play on words Pro Bono Cafe. Came here with my cousins father and 10 month year old and I got the seafood linguini which was good but the bill for four was 245$ way to pricy for my taste. Have to go back and change review to add that cute little gem vomited everything she ate all over our bedspread ruining it completely. Poor little girl.

Konstantinos Trakalas

I had a large chicken bone in my chicken confit sandwich. Super dangerous and potentially life threatening to children or elderly people. I am going to talk to my lawyer!

Very bad experience with the manager today. He is being soo rude to the people who comes for online pickup food for customers who orders through doordash and ubereats and they treat them very bad like they are servants. One indian guy came to them when I was there and the manager with no hair told him to go out, go out and the guy asked him why - he said go out we will give you food outside and don't come inside and I feel soo bad they are doing the racism. He was being soo loud because there is only 2-3 guests sitting in the cafe and we can hear him clearly. Am never going back to this restaurant. Everyone is working here and you should respectful towards everybody to other people who works hard. It happens today few minutes back there and we are not gonna come back to this cafe again and am gonna tell my friends too who come here quite often. Very bad service amd very bad treatment.

guneet saini

Very bad experience with the manager today. He is being soo rude to the people who comes for online pickup food for customers who orders through doordash and ubereats and they treat them very bad like they are servants. One indian guy came to them when I was there and the manager with no hair told him to go out, go out and the guy asked him why - he said go out we will give you food outside and don't come inside and I feel soo bad they are doing the racism. He was being soo loud because there is only 2-3 guests sitting in the cafe and we can hear him clearly. Am never going back to this restaurant. Everyone is working here and you should respectful towards everybody to other people who works hard. It happens today few minutes back there and we are not gonna come back to this cafe again and am gonna tell my friends too who come here quite often. Very bad service amd very bad treatment.