I firmly believe that a key to a successful restaurant is an attentive, concerned owner. In this regards Cafe Mediterraneo is top notch. When the restaurant was first opening, my wife was passing by doing some volunteer work with some friends; the owner asked them to come in and try a whole sampling of their desserts because he wanted feedback. That policy continues, the owner is usually there, wanting genuine feedback on the food. Not just superficially asking, but actually having made changes based off feedback we’ve given him. 

And following with the friendly owner theme, I think good deeds shouldn’t go unnoticed. When we were getting married we picked up pizzas from Cafe Mediterraneo one night after the rehearsal and he gave us a very generous discount as a wedding gift, despite the fact that we hadn’t been able to eat there much because of budgeting for a wedding.

I will say that it is hard to get a quality pizza in this country, especially because I’m picky about my pizza. Pizza is one of my favorite foods, one time in the US I ate at 6 different pizza joints in a week, so I know pizza. That said, Cafe Mediterraneo makes good brick oven pizza. I took a New Yorker there who refused to believe that there could be good pizza outside of NY and even he had to admit that he found it very tasty.

You can see the drive for quality in the details. They make their own pasta in house. Another example is that most pizza places will put out “Parmesan” cheese (aka cheese flavored saw dust from a shaker bottle). Cafe Mediterraneo uses the real stuff, parmigiano reggiano from Italy that they freshly grate. I’ve seen the prices of that cheese in the supermarkets here. The owner wasn’t kidding when he said it was an expensive choice, but he feels that quality is of the highest importance.

One house specialty is their Alfredo pizza made with Alfredo sauce instead of tomatoes; it is similar to a white pizza, but with their own twist. While I usually would recommend a nice cold beer with pizza, get their Basil Lemonade instead. I’ve tried for months to match the flavor of their Basil Lemonade…I’m getting close, but theirs is quality stuff.

Cafe Mediterraneo is easy to find. On the road heading out of Fortuna towards El Salto continue past the Rosvil grocery store and it will be on your left after about three blocks. Tell them you saw the sidebar ad here on CRTraveling and get 10% off your meal!