This is the Sacramento region’s most underrated Italian restaurant, readers say

By Benjy Egel

Updated September 9, 2024 9:17 AM

Inside Look is a Sacramento Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories.

After 671 votes, Sacramento-area readers have made it clear: Ippolito’s Trattoria is the region’s most underrated Italian restaurant.

Nickolas and Sabrina Ippolito’s restaurant was a runaway winner in The Sacramento Bee’s recent poll, amassing 58.3% of the vote despite sharing the ballot with 10 other Italian favorites previously nominated by readers.

Nickolas and Sabrina Ippolito, owners of Ippolito’s Trattoria, stand in front of a mural at the Rosemont restaurant earlier this month. Bee readers voted the trattoria the region’s most underrated Italian restaurant. José Luis Villegas jvillegas@sacbee.com

The Ippolitos opened their namesake restaurant in December 2022 at 9500 Micron Ave. in Rosemont’s Bradshaw Square shopping center. It’s garnered a loyal crowd of regulars thanks to housemade pasta such as lobster ravioli and four-layer lasagna, in addition to hearty main dishes like salmon Livornese and filet mignon.

Sabrina Ippolito said that a family tragedy — the loss of her son two years ago — inspired the creation of the family-oriented restaurant.

“My older son loved to cook, and we had already talked about going into businesses together,” she said. “I wanted to give the rest of my kids, his brothers and sister, something.”

The family used a lump-sum payment from her son’s death to fund the start-up costs after visiting a scratch-made restaurant on a Florida trip related to his passing.

“It’s kind of how I dealt with the grief,” she said. “We made something we wanted to share with the rest of the world.”

Sabrina said the restaurant makes 90% of its dishes from scratch, including its own pasta and bread.

Another family-owned restaurant, Adamo’s, finished a distant second with 8.9%. The cozy midtown Sacramento joint offers pasta-making classes in addition to seasonal antipasti and entrees, and will open a second location in Mitchell, South Dakota, next year.

Taste of Tuscany (7.2%), Cacio (5.7%) and Mattone Ristorante (4.5%) rounded out the top-five nominees, representing northern Sacramento County, the Pocket and East Sacramento.