Many of us remember Clemente's selling malfatti and ravioli from La Val's liquor store downtown, or the Napa Depot before that. It was the local or insider's secret for Italian food. They have finally closed permanently after bouncing to different locations in recent years. They struggled to stay in business after Clemente himself retired.
I remember Clemente Cittoni taking my first orders at the counter himself. Always efficient and speaking with a thick Italian accent. You could tell he enjoyed his work and the customers he served.
Sadly, I stopped going about 10 years ago when his daughter took over. Her behavior was unbelievable until I read dozens of reviews matching my own experience. The first time she served me, she demanded I order meatballs despite I didn't want any. She just kept shouting how many meatballs I wanted.
The second time the daughter took my order, she was shouting on the phone with a customer, while taking the order from a guy ahead of me and myself at the same time. None of us knew who she was talking to, it was comical. She again demanded I tell her how meatballs I wanted when I didn't order any. I asked if they came with the spaghetti and she just glared at me, then added five to my order. She also wouldn't let me order half a loaf of bread as usual, and she demanded I put $5 in the tip jar. I hadn't received anything, so asked why did she want $5 up front? She shouted it was for the bread. I told her I didn't have change, so would tip after I paid the La Val's cashier. The cashier showed me the $5 bread was on the bill. But when I picked up my food, the daughter still demanding I put $5 in the tip jar for bread. It made absolutely no sense, but she was about to lose her sh*t. Finally, she dumped all the ravioli, malfatti and spaghetti into a big tin tray. These were for three different people, so I said we preferred separate containers as normal. She shouted it was all the same and handed me the leaking tray covered in plastic wrap. It leaked tomato sauce all the way home and was the last time I ever went to Clemente's.
There are so many bonker stories about the daughter, it's sad she ran that place into the ground.