Faccia Luna - State College, PA

Date of dining experience: January 26, 2018

Place: Faccia Luna Pizzeria

Location: 1229 S. Atherton St. in State College, PA

Appetizer: Fresh Baked Garlic Breadsticks - Fresh dough is baked in a zesty butter blend and baked golden brown, served with their own marinara sauce. These were the best breadsticks I have ever eaten! The best part was that none of them were exactly the same size or shape, letting you know that they were made by hand. The marinara was not the best, but the breadsticks were so good I will be having them again!

Salad: Caesar Salad - Fresh romaine lettuce and radicchio tossed in a homemade Caesar dressing, topped with Roma tomatoes, croutons, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. I chose to upgrade the Caesar salad as the starter for my entree because this place uses anchovies in their dressing. It is hard to find an authentic Caesar dressing with anchovies in it. To make things better, when I told the waitress I wanted it because of the anchovies, she asked if I wanted extra whole anchovies on top! I could not believe my ears! This place is amazing and truly knows how to prepare a real Caesar salad! I will definitely be coming back, even if only for another Caesar salad!

Entree: Vodka Sauce - A blend of vodka, fresh garlic, heavy cream, cayenne pepper, Parmesan cheese, and their marinara. The sauce was delicious, but the best part was the pasta. I chose the garlic-basil linguine and I was not disappointed! All of the pastas are homemade and prepared perfectly. They are thick noodles with just the right amount of chewiness. I will be back to try more of their other types of pasta.

Wine: A very nice half carafe of the house Chianti, a wine that goes very well with any Italian dish you can order. This was a decent wine, but nothing to write home about.

Desserts: Tiramisu and Cannoli - Audry and I decided to split two desserts. Both were very good, but neither was amazing. The tiramisu had a great flavor, but was contained to a small bowl instead of coming out in the usual cake-like fashion. It also had an adequate amount of alcohol and they did not ruin it by putting chocolate sauce on it. The cannoli was very good with a very flavorful filling. My only complaint is that the filling contained  chocolate chips. Some people like it that way, but I prefer it without them.

I love Faccia Luna! Everything about the food is wonderful and I will definitely try one of their wood oven pizzas on my next trip! Seriously, if you have not tried a real Caesar salad with anchovies on it, you should. My only complaint at all is that they do not accept reservations, but probably because they are so popular that they do not need to. Try this place out for yourself and let me know what you think. Enjoy!