Teresa's Place Italian Dinners

Who has ever heard of shrimp scampi or salmon being served with pasta with a red sauce on it? Who would even think of such a thing? But it happened.

OK, back to the beginning. When I first read about Teresa's I was intrigued by the idea of a restaurant that started in 1921 as a boarding house for miners. Then I read the Yelp reviews. The positive reviews may outnumber the negative ones but, by and large, the negative ones rang truer. It is worth reading reviews rather than just looking at stars.  We went there anyway because of a lack of options. For a resort area Amador County is very lacking in dining options. I think that there have to be real opportunities there.

Things actually started pretty well. The service, which had been panned even in some positive reviews, was prompt and friendly. I was disappointed by the selection of wines by the glass, just unidentified (but for one) except as house wines. The minestrone soup was fine even though it needed some salt and pepper put that is ok. Those are easily added and it is better than having too much. The salad was very good though I would have preferred a choice of dressing.

Up to this point I was ready to giver three stars, maybe four. Then the entrees arrived. My shrimp (prawns actually or else the most unshrimpiest shrimp ever) were under cooked and Judit's salmon was over cooked to my taste anyway. She did not mind but I sure would have if it were my meal. But then there was this pasta with a red sauce, I honestly could not believe it. I actually like spaghetti with red sauces but they just do not go with seafood which have a much more delicate taste. Think of serving a glass of wine that was half sauvignon blanc and half cabernet sauvignon. Ugh. I pecked at the pasta but my initial amazement was confirmed.

The only reason for giving more than one star is that the soup and salad are quite good.

There are many pluses and some minius with Teresa's.

The ambiance of Teresa's is very pleasant.  It is a throwback to a 50's Italian American restaurant.

Our visit was on a Monday night and although we had reservations, the place was busy but not full.

We sat a while before we got our menus, water, and bread.  I saw only one waitress so the slow service probably was due to an understaff problem.

Finally she came and took our order and brought our wine.  I thought that the wine list with local wines by the glass was great.

The first course, minestrone soup, look a long time in coming.  It was a pretty large bowl of minestrone with a lot of veggies and was quite good.  There were two types of bread on the table.  I liked to crispy thin bread a lot.

The next couse, salad, took about as long as the soup.  It was a typical Italian salad with thousand island dressing, beans, carrots etc.

Our entree was veal parmasan which we agreed was very well done.  The pasta side dish was overdone to our taste.  Too bad because the meat sauce was pretty good.

We arrived at 6:30 and didn't finish dinner until about 8:15.  This was due to the slow service and the rate the food came out of the kitchen.  If you are not in a rush this place is great.

A repeat visit to Teresa's will be in our plans when we get back to Jackson.  Hopefully the serving problems will be a little smoother then.

Teresa's is full of history and the owner is proud to share her family's past with you. Love the ambiance here. Its cozy, family, warm atmosphere won me over. There's nothing pretentious about this place.
5:30pm on a Saturday and it was packed with locals and tourists. Everyone working there was bustling, no one slacked. I was very impressed with that. Service was friendly and professional. I liked the food. It's better than most Italian places out in the Sac/valley area. Calamari was a bit squishy, my seafood lasagne was too rich, the meatball in my son's spaghetti was too meaty and chewy; otherwise the pasta was done just right, the red sauce was perfect. Teresa's food was above average for sure. Growing up eating at North Beach in SF, I'm a bit picky when it comes to Italian food. This place was a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to find decent food in the middle of Jackson. I'd certainly dine here again.