Old world flavors at Petaluma’s Volpi’s

There is something comforting about the feeling of a historic Italian restaurant. When you walk through the swinging screen doors, and your feet touch the old-style wood floors, the smell of Italian food cooking and the laughter from the backroom bar all contribute to that old country sense of well-being.

That backroom bar, by the way, was a historic speakeasy, and shouldn’t be missed for a drink before or after your meal. If you are lucky, John Volpi will serenade you on the accordion. The ceiling and walls are covered with conversation starters, so it’s easy to have conversation with the regulars.

There is nothing cutting edge or modern about Volpi’s. You are going to find meatballs. The lasagna will be heavy with cheese. There will be fresh clams. The bread will come automatically, and yes, the butter will be in little foil wrappers. There is house-made minestrone. It is all part of the experience.

At Volpi’s all the entrées can be ordered family-style, or you can order a la carte. Family style includes house-made minestrone soup and a garden salad with dressings made right there, the pasta of the day, an entrée, and your vegetable and side dish, plus coffee and ice cream. On our recent visit, we ordered one meal family-style to see just what that felt like.

For appetizers we tried the deep-fried calamari ($12.95) which was served with house-made cocktail and tartar sauces, the gnocchi with Bolognese sauce ($7.95), and the steamed clams ($14.95), a full pound of tiny Manila clams with butter, tomato and garlic broth. Shared among our party of six, they were all tasty and disappeared quite quickly despite the large portions. The clams would make a lovely meal all by themselves, with great broth to be sopped up by the sourdough bread.

From the daily specials menu we ordered the braised lamb shank ($21.95 a la carte), deliciously tender and huge, it was served with creamy polenta and fresh green beans. Another special, John Volpi’s tripe and polenta ($27.90 family-style) was also delicious, and enough for two meals.

The minestrone, salad and pasta of the day that came with the family-style dinner were all lovely, and I could seriously have made a meal out of just that. The Spumoni ice cream that was part of the meal was enjoyed by all of us. We would have ordered more but no one had any room.

Rounding out the entrée orders we enjoyed were the house-made beef lasagna ($15.95), heavy with cheeses, sauce and beef; the veal Marsala ($18.95) with sautéed shallots, mushrooms and Marsala demi-glace; and the lobster ravioli ($23.95) topped with dungeness crab and served in a red pepper cream sauce.

The service was excellent, the food came out at a good pace, and the server and busser were great about checking on us.

Volpi’s has a brief wine list, a full bar and a selection of beers. The wines seemed to be a bit on the pricey side. The glasses were the small so the pour was relatively small. I think that they could upgrade their glassware and their wine program, and not lose the historic ambiance of this great family-run restaurant.

On the positive side, the liquor pours were very generous, and the pricing of those and beer was quite reasonable. So this is where you will want to put your wine order aside and go for a whiskey or beer instead.

We did not find the restrooms to be accessible, so if you have a wheelchair or other mobility device, check before you go to find out if there is another restroom we did not see.

This is a restaurant that does not have its own website, so finding the information you might want to locate online is not easy.

Volpi’s is popular and they do take reservations. They are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, open for lunch Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and for dinner Wednesday through Sunday from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., staying open 30 minutes later on Saturday evening.