5730 N 1st Street, #103
(559) 446-0881
Hours: Monday – Wednesday / 11 AM – 9 PM
Thursday – Sunday / 8 AM – 9 PM

by Jessi Hafer

I heard from some vegetarian friends of mine that Luigi's Italian restaurant had some good vegetarian options. By the time I got over there to try it out, I had little time to appreciate their recommendation, as we were informed by the staff that the restaurant was closing. Happily, Reyna's Restaurant recently took its place on the south east corner of First and Bullard.

This new Italian restaurant has a handful of vegetarian options on its lunch and dinner menus. As wonderful as some of these dishes are, the best thing about Reyna's, I think, is that we would ask head chef Luis Capria (formerly of Chukchansi Casino's restaurant and the Ritz Carlton Hotel and Eos restaurants in San Francisco) if he would just make us something vegan, some pasta with some vegetables and some tomato sauce, perhaps, and he agreed without hesitation and with great results.

While I encourage this trusting sense of adventure at Reyna's, I also have to strongly recommend the vegetarian calzone, if it happens to be one of the day's lunch specials. The dough and the homemade tomato sauce are truly among the best I've ever had, and it was filled with a wonderful blend of vegetables (including cauliflower, broccoli, and mushrooms). It was also huge and very filling. Vegans should remember to ask for it without cheese, and your non-vegetarian friends may be interested in the meat calzone, also one of the lunch specials.

The lunch menu also features sandwiches, burgers, and pastas, including fettucini alfredo, penne in a white wine sauce, angel hair, and spaghetti (and you can just ask for whatever vegetarian pasta you want, and they'd probably make it for you). The pasta comes with a couple slices of delightful, homemade rosemary focaccia bread. We also tried the veggie sandwich, which had grilled zucchini, roasted red bell pepper, tomatoes, lettuce, and onion (vegans should request no mayo or aoli) and it came with some lovely fries.

Everything on the lunch menu is very reasonably priced ($3.99 - $6.99 for vegetarian options). While the dinner menu is a little pricier than places I normally frequent for dinner (there are vegetarian pasta options between $12.99 - $14.99), the high quality and generous portion size dissolved my stinginess. I very much enjoyed my “Reyna's Fettucini” with bell peppers, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms (a surprising and excellent addition), olive oil, and white wine. Angel hair al basilico features fresh tomatoes, mixed vegetables, and basil sauce. Non-vegan vegetarians might be interested in the cheese ravioli or the lasagna (which has cheese). You'd do well to start with some bruschetta and close the meal with a wonderful and delicate dessert of poached pear.

I was very happy with the lightness and freshness of everything we tried, and the restaurant's décor mirrors this lightness. Those of the omnivore/carnivore persuasion are sure to find interesting meat and seafood options, and Reyna's also serves breakfast Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. I wonder if I could order that calzone for breakfast...