I hadn’t been to Spaghettini for many years but it was close to friends Julie and Stan who I invited to join me in celebrating my brother’s birthday. It’s been in this location in Seal Beach for a long time so they must be doing something right.

The place was busy so quite noisy, but we had a nice table for four in the main dining room. I was surprised that David wasn’t quite as surprised as I thought he would be. But no matter, we had a great time, and the conversation flowed. Our server, Cat, was very attentive, knew the menu and gave helpful suggestions.

I was introduced to a red wine that I thought quite pleasant – nice smooth taste in my humble opinion. A toast to the birthday boy, then our first course of Red Oak And Bibb Lettuce Salad with Reggiano, cabernet tomatoes and creamy parmesan dressing.

Main course for Stan was Seven Layer Lasagna with spinach pasta, bolognese, béchamel sauce, ricotta, marinara, parmigiano-reggiano. He said it had an even amount of cheese and sauce so it was a perfect blend of flavors. Julie said her Pasta Primavera with linguini, roasted fall vegetables, and shaved Reggiano was delicious. The birthday boy chose the Seafood Pasta. He was quite pleased with the amount and size of the seafood – lobster, shrimp, jumbo lump crab, parmesan cream, rustic bread crumbs. My Wild Mushroom & Chicken with penne pasta and roasted garlic sauce was loaded with flavor, which shows what a really good chef can create with so few ingredients.

The special dessert of the day was Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting and vanilla ice cream. This was the birthday cake presented to David which was obviously too good for him to share (lol). The rest of us shared the Tiramasu – espresso, ladyfingers, rum, and mascarpone.

The Other Thing – This birthday lunch was the perfect example of a pleasant atmosphere, good food, great company and accommodating waitstaff. Long live Spaghettini!