Giuseppe's Pastacaffee - Shreveport

This is where you get the best pasta in town! The restaurant is exceptionally clean, fast friendly service, and great wine and coffee too. This is truly a great concept- fine dining quality food in a casual atmosphere (so you don't feel obligated to get dressed up). Almost every time my husband and I visit, no matter what time of day, the restaurant is busy, which tells us we are not alone in our love of this establishment.

Fresh Made Pasta made daily with exceptional service! Great neighborhood caffe. Casual setting with great ambiance.  Perfect place for quick bite or even date night. Their Happy Hour is the best deal in town.  All of their wines by the glass are $5. Pair that with their antipasta board, and you are in for a treat.

This fairly new restaurant has quickly established itself as a winner in the Shreveport food scene. Their pastas are made fresh daily and you can even buy fresh pasta to take home for your own culinary creations. They offer pastas, salads, a daily soup and paninis as well as an anti pasta board. Shrimp, chicken, spinach or a meatball can be added to any of the pastas. Dessert options are tiramisu, Nutella panino or Pernigotti chocolate snacks. They also offer a kid's menu. The space is relatively small but is clean, bright and airy with a very simple black and white decor. It is open for lunch and dinner. <br/ <br/ I recently had lunch here, my first visit, and was sad I had waited so long because it exceeded my expectations. The meal was delicious and dessert just as good. My friend and I both got something different so we could sample each other's dish and I'm glad we did. I chose the Bucatini Amatriciana which includes guanciale, Calabrian chiles, onion, pecorino and the best pomodoro sauce I've ever had. The chiles give this dish a subtle heat which balances well with the tomato sauce. The only issue I had was figuring out how best to eat the pasta since bucatini doesn't twirl as easily as spaghetti. My friend chose the special, corkscrew pasta with asparagus and cheese in a lemon alfredo pesto sauce and she added chicken. This dish was equally as delicious as mine even though it was much lighter tasting. We indulged in cappuccinos and dessert and I'm glad we did. The cappuccino was an excellent pairing with tiramisu and a Nutella panino. We split the sweet treats as well and both had to take home our half of the panino for later because we were so full, but not before having a bite. Who knew that Nutella and warm pressed bread tasted so good? The tiramisu is definitely in the top 2 that I've ever tasted. The ladyfingers were soaked just the right amount without being soggy and the cream filling was the perfect sweetness to balance the dessert. <br/ <br/ Needless to say I'm ready for my next visit to the hip new cafe so I can try something different.

Didn't even have time to start missing Giuseppe's when the Pastacaffe showed up seemingly out of the blue. If you liked Giuseppe's you will like this new version. Far more casual with a walk-up counter (I really dislike those) and self serve drink station, this is a completely different experience from the old restaurant. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. They have kept their focus on wine and have a happy hour too. I questioned the location having just seen it fail as an Asian restaurant but on the day I visited it was packed for lunch and not even at noon! The bread and pasta are fresh, the meats cooked well and the service prompt. I have always found there to be something missing in the taste, sure it's authentic enough just not bursting with the kind of flavors that the Italian places I grew up with had. The prices are better than the old restaurant but for a place in an office park with a walk-up counter maybe a bit high.<br <br As a side note. One thing that bothers me about the Shreveport Bossier food scene is this constant recycling of the same menu, same ideas, same families producing the same results. One place closes and another pops up with nothing new to offer except the atmosphere and address. Thankfully I did find a new place with new owners doing something new this past week. If Zomato ever lets the page go live I'll gladly tell everyone about it!

This is not some fake Italian eatery. This is the real deal. The food is fresh, pasta made from scratch, sauces that stretch the palette. Tradition and love is what makes this place and their food something my family and I will always come back for.