Incontro Ristorante, Danville CANew to Danville but no  newcomer to the local restaurant scene, Incontro established itself in San Ramon as one of the best Italian restaurants in the area. They recently took the brave step (in this economy!) of moving to Danville. It was time to see if it had paid off.

Sylvia and I visited early on a mild Friday evening and having parked in their private lot at the back of the building, walked through the bustling outdoor patio to the front of the attractive building that Incontro has made its own. This was previously a quite run-down place housing a Mexican restaurant, but the owners of Incontro have completely gutted it and transformed it inside and out, into a gorgeous restaurant, the likes of which Danville has never seen.

As soon as you enter, you know that this is a success. The attractive bar at the front was packed and despite having plenty of tables, the restaurant area was almost full. This was shortly after 6pm on a Friday. Don’t even think of going without a reservation.

Incontro is made up of a number of separate rooms, giving it the feel of a house. The décor is warm and inviting with extensive use of wood paneling, attractive art works and other décor items and the lighting has been designed to perfection. It looks like no expense has been spared and yet it is a restaurant that immediately makes you feel at home and relaxed.

Thankfully, the menu appears to have changed little with the move. There are relatively few choices but what they do, they do well. We skipped the appetizers and Sylvia opted for the Angus New York steak with a tarragon and wine sauce, while I had the pan-seared duck breast. Both typical dishes that you might find on an Italian restaurant menu but rarely cooked and presented as well as at Incontro.

We followed our main course with a shared Pannacotta and you can see this traditional Italian dessert on their web site at incontrodanville.com. This is a dish I rarely see on menus and Incontro prepared it to perfection.

We accompanied our meal with a pleasant bottle of Carneros Chardonnay that we brought with us. I should mention that they have a good selection of wines by the glass and the bottle but they are predominately (should I say, authentically) Italian and our palates lean towards California varietals.

So in summary, this is a great move for Incontro and also for Danville. Their risk has paid off and they are now established as one of Danville’s premier fine dining restaurants.