Want to dine out in Silicon Valley? There are lots of great restaurants in Los Gatos, too many to list, really -  most in downtown Los Gatos, but Crimson and Viva over on "The Boulevard". There are a few places on our list of "want to try" but haven't gotten to yet, including Forbes Mill Steakhouse, Manresa and Restaurant James Randall.

We happen to live on the east end of town and some of the local haunts we enjoy include Los Gatos Pizza and the Tea Garden Chinese Kitchen (really for take-out, both are at Harwood and Blossom Hill Roads in east Los Gatos). Tonight, Jim wanted to take me out for supper since I'd worked many many hours today (showing a lot of short sales). By the time I got in from work, it was too late to make reservations for a place in downtown L.G., so we decided to dine at Gallo's at the Walgreen's Shopping Center at Blossom Hill and Harwood (14180 Blossom Hill Rd), which is close to where we live in Belwood. We both love Italian food, and sometimes there's a lot to be said for simiplicity: show up and eat rather than plan it all out ahead of time.

We arrived at around 7:15 or 7:30 and were seated immediately. The booths are comfy and it's a place without airs. Half the patrons seemed to be wearing sweat shirts - so the environment would have to be called casual, though not loud or overly bright. Our waiter was fairly attentive, though he never came back to ask if everything was ok.

But how was the food? A bit salty. Jim ordered the calamari dinner and it was fine. I ordered a dish called Chicken Oscar that was advertised as being chicken with asparagus and crab.

Let me tell you, that crab was no crab.

It was so clearly NOT crab that (to Jim's embarassment) I asked our young waiter if it was "fake crab" (the texture and flavor was not like the real thing). "What is fake crab?" he replied. We explained that it's usually pollack, or another cheap fish, infused with crab flavoring. He'd never heard of it!

A few minutes later, he returned and confessed that the owner and chef admitted that the dish really had "mostly fake crab" and said something about veal. Veal instead of chicken? I don't even want to ask - I do not order veal due to the way the animals area treated! (And apologetically, he said that they would be changing their menu soon - as if the age of the menu had anything to do with the fact that it misrepresented what was served.)

Does this remind you of Bella Mia in downtown San Jose? If not, it should. That's the restaurant that advertised veal dishes but in fact was serving pork - to the horror of many patrons who abstain from pork.  

As for our neighborhood eatery, Gallo's, I'm disappointed. We have been there every so often and usually found it too expenive for what we got, but never  before thought we ordered something that we did not get. But tonight, that's what happened. I ordered a chicken and crab dish and got chicken and imitation crab. And something about veal. AAUGH. What's up with that???

I was not just disappointed, I was angry.

We have been there many times because it's so very close and convenient. But being lied to on the menu was the last straw. I do not intend to go back. Goodness knows, there are lots of great restaurants in Los Gatos, and many of them serve Italian food. But I would not endorse Gallo's as one of them.