First look: See inside midtown Sacramento’s new Italian bistro with New York roots

Brianna Taylor
·3 min read

After months of delays, Pazze Notte has finally opened the doors to its midtown Sacramento location.

The New York City-based Italian restaurant and bistro features an open kitchen concept, U-shaped bar and vintage black-and-white photographs of Hollywood stars. The space at 1801 L St., Suite 10 is nearly 3,000 square feet but was designed to make customers feel cozy, with draping plants and a newly-constructed patio.

Pazza Notte, a New York City-based Italian restaurant and bistro that features an open kitchen concept and a U-shaped bar up front, hosts its first lunch on Wednesday.
Pazza Notte, a New York City-based Italian restaurant and bistro that features an open kitchen concept and a U-shaped bar up front, hosts its first lunch on Wednesday.

Pazza Notte is bringing its New York motto — under-promise and over-deliver — to the capital region. Prices are expected to be moderate for a fusion of Italian and American comfort food and drinks.

Menu items range from a $5 side of grilled garlic bread to a $29 plate of seafood risotto topped with lobster, shrimp and crab. The seven different types of thin-crust pizzas cost between $22 and $27 with toppings such as white truffle oil, portobello mushrooms, lobster and smoked Gouda.

Pazza Notte’s drink list is extensive, too, with choices of wines, beer, Champagne and a martini-focused cocktail bar with a happy hour menu. Costs are comparable to the original location more than 3,000 miles away near Manhattan’s Central Park, where prices range from a $10 side of fries to a $31 plate of pasta.

Part of the city of Sacramento’s new Al Fresco Dining Program, the outdoor space features 50 seats underneath sparkling fairy lights as well as a “Jumanji jungle” planter wall and handmade tiles.

“This patio is our baby,” owner Tove Nord, a Sacramento native, wrote in an email to The Sacramento Bee. “We have visualized her for over a year and it is so gratifying to see it all coming together.”

Back inside, customers are greeted with a mosaic entrance that spells Pazza Notte (“crazy night” in Italian), a resident DJ and an imported brick oven named Lolita.

The mosaic entrance to Pazza Notte Restaurant at 1801 L St., Sacramento. The New York City Italian bistro and bar is slated to open its doors to midtown in late September, owner Tove Nord confirmed in an email to The Sacramento Bee.
The mosaic entrance to Pazza Notte Restaurant at 1801 L St., Sacramento. The New York City Italian bistro and bar is slated to open its doors to midtown in late September, owner Tove Nord confirmed in an email to The Sacramento Bee.

The red-tiled pizza oven ran for five days straight and is now cured and ready to “turn out some fabulous pies,” Nord wrote in an email.

The official opening comes more than a year after the New York City Italian bistro and bar announced its West Coast spring 2023 expansion. The Sacramento restaurant was originally slated to open in March.

The oven added months to the permitting process, and the business wasn’t approved to be part of the city’s outdoor dining program until early June. Now, as Pazza Notte opens its doors to Sacramento, Nord said the vision promised to area residents more than a year ago remains the same.

Pazza Notte, midtown Sacramento’s new Italian restaurant at 1801 L Street, opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.
Pazza Notte, midtown Sacramento’s new Italian restaurant at 1801 L Street, opened its doors to the public on Wednesday.

PLAN ON VISITING PAZZA NOTTE?

The best way to reserve a table at Pazze Notte is through Resy’s website.

Nord said the restaurant will keep roughly 1/3 of its seating for those without reservations. The bar will also accommodate a full dining experience because she “personally love(s) to eat at a nice bar.”

The outdoor patio opens on Friday.

Vintage black-and-white photographs of Hollywood stars line the walls of the main dining area of Pazza Notte on Wednesday, the Italian bistro’s opening day in midtown Sacramento.
Vintage black-and-white photographs of Hollywood stars line the walls of the main dining area of Pazza Notte on Wednesday, the Italian bistro’s opening day in midtown Sacramento.

Pazza Notte opens in Sacramento

Location: 1801 L St., Suite 10, Sacramento

Phone: (916) 376-7195

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Tuesday; 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Wednesday through Thursday; 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday through Saturday

The restaurant will be closed on Mondays for the first three weeks after its opening, Nord said.

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