This was absolutely the best experience I have had during DineLA. The food was outstanding and the service was so attentive, thoughtful, and pleasant. I came for DineLA, but they've now won me over as a spot I'd likely to regularly return to! read more

That Lady and I decided on trying something new and decided to try Charcoal in Marina Del Rey. Parking is challenging but with some luck we found some street parking. If you come on the first few hours the noise level is high. Seek a table far from the bar, if you wish conversation. Trust me when I say the food is more than worth it. The offerings stagger the mind and flavors stagger the plate. Rely on your server for guidance. Luckily we had Erika. This is the way food is supposed to taste. The appetizers taunt you, the salads open new vistas, the meats and sides seduce you with flavors and pleasure. The level of service is wonderful. Little things are noticed like cutlery rests, plate changes, plus a playing card used to redeem your doggie bag upon leaving. Solid wine list. Expert bartenders that bring artistry to cocktails. Try the Berkshire pork chop, the filets, their baked potato or their beet and mushroom appetizer - unbelievable. This is a restaurant that others should be judged by. read more

I can't say enough good things about Jessica! From the moment I sat down at the bar, she made me feel welcome with her warm smile and great energy. She's the perfect combination of professional and personable--attentive without being overbearing, quick with recommendations, and incredibly knowledgeable about the menu and cocktails. What really stood out was how effortlessly she balanced a packed bar while still making every guest feel like they were her priority. Drinks came out fast, perfectly made, and with a genuine enthusiasm that made the whole experience that much better. Jessica has a natural talent for creating an atmosphere where you want to stay, relax, and enjoy yourself. It's rare to find service this exceptional, and Jessica set the bar high. If you're visiting this restaurant, do yourself a favor and grab a seat at her bar--you won't be disappointed. Also the lamb chops were phenomenal! read more

Host issues. I discovered this place through Eater Magazine and had high hopes based on the journalist's recommendation. When I arrived, I asked the hostess (black hair tied back, white sleeveless top) if I could order food from the happy hour menu at the bar. She pointed at the bar, and I walked over. There were no open seats. Okay, I guess I'll just awkwardly stand in the middle of this sit-down restaurant while I wait for a chair to open up. This system is fine, I suppose, but I would have preferred if guests at least got to sit in a waiting area until a spot became available. It would have been different if the bar was its own separate area where there was room to casually mill about, but I did not enjoy standing in the walkway waiting for a seat and getting in the way of servers hurrying between the dining room and kitchen. Additionally, I understand that these technicalities may be caused by the restaurant currently being under construction, but it was not good hospitality that the hostess did not explain to me how the bar seating worked. I also understand everyone has bad days, but the host was not amiable. I work in the restaurant industry; if I talked to customers they way she talked to me, my manager would tell me to change my tone. On the bright side, my server/bartender (dark hair in a top bun, arm tattoos, heavier makeup) was perfect. She was welcoming, attentive, and timely. The food was tasty and fairly priced. However, even when construction is completed, I'll be taking my business to an establishment with better customer service. I wouldn't recommend Charcoal Venice. read more

We went for Happy Hour and it was amazing. Happy Hour is from 5:30-7. You need to be there at 5:30 to score a spot at on of the high tables in the front of the restaurant. Cocktails are $12. The Midnight Margarita is always a favorite. Food is yummy - we had Oysters, grilled calamari, fish and chicken skewers. Our favorite was the cabbage toast. Portions are small so if you're making dinner of it, you need to order a bunch. Service was friendly and attentive and the vibe is very chill. We'll be back! read more

Wow! Wow! Wow! Is all I can really say. Charcoal is an amazing restaurant owned by the amazing chef Josiah Citrin. If you are not familiar with him, you are missing out! The restaurant serves comfort foods in a family-style way. The ambiance and vibe are very relaxing and chill. The waitstaff is very quick, efficient, and extremely friendly. Hubby and I went here because we saw it on one of our favorite shows, Insecure. We love steak so we were excited to finally make it here. We had a dinner reservation and when we arrived, we were sat right away. For starters, we had oysters and drinks. For our main, hubby went for the 48oz certified angus beef porterhouse and I went with prime skirt steak. In addition, we got sides for the table. Our food arrived hot and ready. Every bite was amazingly delicious. Both hubby and I could not put our forks down. We enjoyed every single bite! After dinner, I had to order dessert and a cappuccino. We went with Yuzu Curd. I have to be honest, I really had no idea what it was but I ordered it anyways. Haha. I'm glad I did because it was scrumptious! Even hubby got into it! Hubby and I had a fantastic experience here at Charcoal in Venice. We were so happy with everything and we look forward to bringing our friends to share the experience. Thank You Charcoal for such a memorable wondrous food adventure. Until next time.... read more

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First impression: 4 stars Parking: 5 stars , plenty of street parking Ambience: 3.5 stars , the bar is right next to the dining area, so it can be loud during bar happy hour Service: 4 stars Food: 4.5 stars, good solid food. Last impression: 4.5 stars Surprisingly good find. Will bookmark and be back. Thank you for a pleasant experience. read more

Shout out to Chuy! He is one of the managers there and came over to our table because he recognized someone at our table from a DIFFERENT restaurant he worked at YEARS AGO. It was so crazy!! He really remembers faces. Anyway, the food was all excellent. I would recommend the cabbage starter, broccolini, skirt steak, chicken wings. Honestly the thing that blew me away the most was the SALAD! The arugula and Asian pear salad was incredible!!! You can't go wrong. Excellent service too! And make sure you try all the condiments they are genuinely all delicious. I couldn't decide which one was best. read more

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Overall: 3.8/5 (dine in) Half Dozen Oysters ($20): I didn't eat any since it looked very wet & slimy. My husband said he had better so you can skip the oysters here. Smoked Lamb Ribs (4 for $19.25): Lamb is really hard to cook. Unfortunately, Charcoal didn't execute as well as we hoped. The flavors were okay and didn't hid the lamb gamey taste well. Another dish to skip. Grilled Bacon ($8): We got the thick bacon hoping it will be juicier than the thin bacon. We got two burnt pieces of bacon that were overcooked and hard. Such a waste of money. DineLA Lunch ($35): The real reason why we came here. - Charcoal Crab Benedict: I was craving egg Benedict and this place had a black hollandaise sauce so I had to try it. You don't really taste the charcoal so it's mostly for looks. The crab was really fresh so eat it right away and don't let it get cold. - Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuit: Wow, this is way better than KFC's biscuits! The biscuit is warm, fresh, crispy on the outside, & soft on the inside. It melts once it hits your mouth and can be eaten alone or with a bit of butter. The pepper honey glaze threw me off a bit but it works & gives you a nice subtle flavor. - Smokey Grilled Chicken Wings: This came with 2 wings. They were dry and kinda tasteless. The oregano, chili, vinegar marinade didn't come through but you do get some of the smokiness. Midnight Margarita ($16): This was beautiful presented. She came out in all black with a black salt rim. The tequila based drink was really strong & good but funny enough, it didn't get me buzzed. Smoke & Fire ($16): This is Mescal based. It was also pretty good and just as strong as the midnight margarita. There wasn't a strong kick from the chili though. Kitchen Appreciation (2.5%): Interesting that they add this on but note you can have it removed upon request. But really are you going to remove it & risk looking like a cheapo? Pretty smart move to me. Overall, Charcoal delivers on incorporating charcoal into their food/drinks but fails in the cooking on charcoal part. read more

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Thanksgiving Dinner review: - the starters were the better part of the meal. Cabbage was nice, but did not "wow" me as it had no texture with cream sauce. - Mains were mediocre, I expected more smokey taste. Nothing special. - Sides were terrible. They were all too sweet, and they didnt give us the whipped potatoes. After paying and leaving the restaurant, I noticed that whipped potatoes were missing as I was walking out of the restaurant and seeing potatoes on other tables. I addressed it to the hostess as I was picking up my to-go leftovers and she told me "well thats something that you should have let your server know." This response was unacceptable. How am I supposed to know that a side was missing from my dinner. They should have offered to pack it up for me instead. This place is not worth your money. Go to another streakhouse. read more

Charcoal... Very different type of place. I was greeted by a sweet girl with two ponytails, her counterpart, a red headed woman just stared, she didnt greet at all. They didnt have any table available for one person, so I went to the bar. The place has a earthy laid back vibe. The menu was quite posh. I wanted a drink and some food to nibble on but their options are more like if you have a date or are out at a dinner party. I ordered the chopped salad and there are no substitutions but they will remove an ingredient for you. It had all the menu ingredients plus some extra veggies: green beans, okra and cucumber. I cant stand okra so it was not a pleasant surprise butttt the restaurant should list all ingredients in their dishes. . . The bartender was nice, he had a pony tail and made a delicious gin with Cucumber and lime ... it was $17 though‍ All that to say, I visited, I tasted and thats all folks! read more

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Charcoal Venice is a neighborhood restaurant. What a delicious surprise! After a super long walk on a Girls Day Adventure on Wednesday, my friend suggested we meet up again & walk over when it opened for dinner! Yellowfin Tuna Tartare: Took me a while to look through the menu and decide. She had ordered & wanted me to take a bite of this very dish and I was immediately in love and had to order it for myself! The citrus vinaigrette truly set it off, loved it! It's incredible, mouthwatering delicious and with the cute almost thin-as-air-like sweet potato tasting chips to go alongside & use to dip, it was a full on taste buds adventure and I was happy to be on the ride! Haha! Dessert/Yuzu Curd/Shared: Had a couple of small bites, love fruit; yum! Drinks: Midnight Margarita/Tasted: Took a sip of her charcoal drink, which actually had charcoal on the glass & seemed a bit wild. Absolutely surprised, as it was full of flavor, light and absolutely delicious! Imagine that! Tainted Love/My Drink: Loved my refreshing watermelon drink & I would order it again! Gin Fizz/Tasted: Took a sip of her drink, not for me. Realized I'm not into drinks with egg whites. Secret Hideaway: While I had only ordered to go once, today, she took me to a part of the restaurant that I had no idea about. After going through a bit of a maze, it seemed it we had arrived in Narnia; a whole new world! Haha! We had a great table & the location was a beautiful breath of fresh air! Customer Service: Super friendly! Everyone we interacted with was so nice! To our surprise, every few sips of our water, a gentleman would magically appear and fill it back up to the top, but he would show up out of nowhere, so it felt pretty magical and pretty cool, as we were constantly hydrated! Overall: Great experience with surprising flavor combinations & I already want to return & order the yellowfin tuna tartare once again, it's mind-blowing! Absolutely grateful that it's only a very short walk away!! read more

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Minus one star because of a narcissistic patron that ruined our night. I wanted to write a review because I witnessed a disturbing event tonight and then saw the patron next to me writing a yelp review about it. I've been coming here for years and so have the patrons at the bar, and the person who claims the bartender was making everyone uncomfortable was not only lying, but she was making a scene at the bar and making everyone uncountable. The bartender simply told her she couldn't save seats at the bar during happy hour and she was just doing her job, and the woman had a conniption fit. The patron seemed intoxicated or on something stronger, and was trying to get the bar to gang up on the bartender. The people next to me even pulled the manager aside to say this woman was being insane. She's completely fabricated the story and is quite obviously trying to cause harm by slandering charcoal's general manager, food quality and bar staff just because she didn't get what she wanted. Typical LA entitled. Such a shame people have so little going on in their lives the feel the need to attempt to ruin someone else's, or act like they're above the rules and feel the need to ruin half the bar's night. read more

I enjoyed my brunch here! I got the Charcoal benedict, which is indeed covered in a black hollandaise -- kind of freaky. I also got the Blueberry Dutch Baby, which was amazing, and the Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits with pepper honey, which came highly recommended by my server -- and I could see why. They were delicious! read more

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My 12 year old (mini foodie) and I were staying in Venice for a fall break vacay and decided to try out Charcoal for dinner. Obviously the concept here is most everything is grilled or cooked in coals. It smelled delicious when we walked in! We sat in the dining room because it was a little cool outside. We loved the décor (trendy) and also the music (lots of 90s hip hop - thought it was unexpected, but liked it!). I had made a reservation online so we were seated immediately, but at 9pm on a Saturday night it wasn't too busy anyway. Our server, Pedro, was awesome! He gave us all the history about the chef and and the restaurant, and gave us recommendations on what and how to order, and how much (and he was correct!) The food came out quickly and we had everything we needed throughout our meal. Everything is served family style so prepare to share! We started with the cabbage, which was so good! Soft, flavorful and it came with a yogurt sauce that was so good we were just eating it on its own. We also started with the arugula salad that had grilled peaches. The sweet peaches were such a nice offset to the earthy arugula. Loved it! We then got the main course - rib eye, carrots, and a potato. The rib eye were ordered medium and it came out perfect - nice and pink, almost red in the center. It was so soft you could cut it with a fork. There are several yummy condiments on the table (chimichurri, BBQ and steak sauces) but we didn't need them - the rib eye was so good as it was. The roasted carrots were also so good. Sweet and had ricotta cheese on them. Yum! The potato was the only thing that wasn't perfect. I think because it was the end of the night maybe it had cooked to long in the coals and the skin was charred all the way through so it was inedible. But the inside of the potato was scrumptious! So many toppings you got so much flavor in every bite. I would probably try the potato again, if I was there earlier in the day. All in all a worthwhile experience! I would definitely come back were I visiting again. (And try the collard greens, elote, mushrooms, and maybe the duck!) read more

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Love love charcoal happy hour or otherwise. Mario and Jessica are the best - quality cocktails and great vibes.

Highly enjoyed my dinner here. I sat at the bar and was provided excellent service from the bartender Mario. He was attentive from the beginning to the end of the my dining experience. He made me a delicious cocktail after hearing my preferred spirit. I had the seasonal tagliatelle pesto pasta, delicious!! Everyone that works here is very accommodating and quick to be of wonderful service. Would highly recommend! read more

Very tasty small plates and a solid happy hour menu. Bartenders are good and drinks are well made. Prices are typical of west side bars and eateries. Good atmosphere, a little loud but that adds to the vibe. read more

We came towards closing time, but service was still great. Alex was our server and took the time to explain the menu and their sauces to us. Has the Wagyu Sirloin, medium rare and it was delicious! Wife had the gem salad and devoured it. The Old Fashion was also well made. read more

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I come in alone and sit at the bar just to be told I have to be at a table to order from dinela... not a problem, I'll just order from the menu... just for them not to have any wagyu left.... *sigh* I order the skirt steak and it was delicious... Okay, hear me out... someone comes up to me explaining to me numbers... and I'm thoroughly confused, yet I arise to conclusion... and believe me, i verified! if I came back tomorrow, and sat at the bar, on 4/5, because of Semantics... I would be able to order from the dinela menu? Make it make sense.... I will return bc of Brian, the bartender.... He was great.... I'd return for the food, it was great... but the business is a bit confusing... Word on the street(Brian) the chef is Michelin rated... no wonder the food so good!! read more

Charcoal Venice - New American Near Me - Venice, California

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Took my wife on a date night here. We've lived in the Marina for over 5 years and I'm so bummed we just tried Charcoal for the first time. The food was delicious & the drinks were great too! Service was awesome. We are already planning our next dinner back. A must try in MDR! read more

I feel the need to update after that horrific brunch and everything witnessed. AMEX opened an investigation. I was accused of stealing a "salad" after paying my $400 bill and exiting with the young couple undoubtedly harassed. Mgmt has never reached out and shows zero commitment to retrain or resolve and they owe that couple a lot more than a free meal. read more

Food: Excellent! Every dish we ordered was delicious. I didn't get a picture of the Cabbage "Baked in the embers" and the grilled calamari which were both very tasty. The calamari was very flavorful. Salmon was soft and buttery. Duck was perfectly cooked with some Peking duck influence. Skirt steak delish and had a nice charcoal flavor to it, not too much. You also get lots of sauces in the side that you can add to whatever dish you get. Service: really good!!! Ambiance: great for date, bar, group. It feels trendy casual if you know what I mean read more

Charcoal Venice - Salmon with Chile-shiso sauce, duck, yukon Yukon Gold Potato "Baked in the Coals", French Steak Fries - New American Near Me - Venice, California

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Good for happy hour food reasonably priced and drink specials also. Service was solid.

The "ember fired cabbage" was boiled. Wayyyyy overboiled. Grey like your grandmother's cabbage from the 50s with the outer leaves burnt. How a chef could be proud to send this out I have no idea. Cabbage done right can be a startling piece de resistance, look only at how Francis Mallman does his cabbage over the open flame. Good cabbage requires TIME, and all the corners were cut here to devastating effect. In fact, I came here years ago when Charcoal first opened and the cabbage was fantastic, how this place has degraded over the years. Yogurt sauce was fine. The burger was mid. Too much acidity, nothing terribly special about it. You can get a better burger at Brizio at this price point, and a comparable or marginally better burger at Hinano's down the street for half the price. Got the Peach and blueberry crumble for dessert. Both fruits were out of season, and delivered nothing beyond the taste of the spices involved. Largely a disappointment. Drinks were good. Music playlist was great. read more

First time visiting and already planning for the next! This was the best dining experience I've had so far in LA. The staff made us feel so welcome from the moment we arrived on Saturday evening. The servers were very knowledgeable and offered to tell us all about the menu. But not only that, the food was top notch. We ordered beef tartare to start which was incredible with the toasted bread it came with. Our entrees that we shared were the seasonal halibut and the ribeye. My eyes rolled back in my head when I had my first bite of our steak. Absolutely perfect. The potato was so decadent and creamy. We ended our meal with the apple crumble and espresso martinis. My only wish was that the crumble came with two scoops of ice cream rather than one. We dined in the back patio which is a relaxed vibe. I want to dine in the restaurant next time - the ambiance was so romantic and lively. read more

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Do not go here! They are ripping people off and their food is nasty and not fresh. They will suspect you of stealing and charge you for it. Stay away! read more

We came for happy hour on Friday - people line up about 20 minutes before and when doors open the bar fills up quickly. I would recommend getting here before they open to ensure you get a spot at the bar. All of the happy hour bites were small but tasty! Would recommend - the cabbage was fabulous. read more

This time for the first time we had our late lunch at the patio. The weather was lovely and we had a corner more quiet table. The service was exceptional. The wine choices are great. The duck and the freshest salad were excellently prepared - as always. read more

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Top notch food, a little pricey though. Great service. I, of course, ordered the Charcoal Margarita with my meal. My fellow foodie and a shared our meal family style.we ordered: Roasted Carrots with Sheep's Milk Ricotta, Broccolini with Smoked Fingerling Potatoes, Chicken Salsa Verde, and Grilled Lamb Chop with Eggplant Puree. It was all fab! Nice service too. Lucky for us, we didn't have to valet and found parking on the street. read more

Charcoal Venice - Lamb Chop Starter! - New American Near Me - Venice, California

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We made the trek from the valley to Venice to try out this restaurant for Dine LA. This was our bad - but we assumed, like most restaurant offerings, that we could opt out of the meat items in the menu or at least sub it out for pescatarian/veggie alternatives. But nope. But that was fine. We didn't mind ordering from the main menu. So this review is solely for the dishes we ordered from the main menu that were all underwhelming and tasted too "oily": - Cabbage baked in embers: This was the best, had balanced flavors, but still underwhelming - Grilled calamari: Tasted acidic, that was it - Grilled salmon in charred anaheim chile-shiso sauce: That sauce made us hope that the flavor packed a punch, but it quite bland - Summer squash side dish: this was incredibly oily - Cobbler dessert: a HARD PASS Nothing was "bad" - but everything was not "good/great" either. Especially for the hefty price tag, we expected so much more. Will not be back. read more

Grilled to perfection. Everything here is pretty much grilled, hence the name. I even ordered the charcoal margarita just to stay in theme. It was very good. Ordered the rib eye which comes with (4) dipping sauces, side of mushrooms, calamari salad, and veal bolognese. Everything tasted fresh and the ingredients were top quality. In terms of flavor the one dish that stood out the most was the grilled octopus salad. Had a great pop of flavor and the grilled calamari was prefect. I really enjoyed the dish! read more

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I felt compelled to apologize to my fiance for taking him here cause I expected sooo much more from a Citrin-founded restaurant. Maybe it's because it was during Dine LA week, but nothing hit except for the fish. THE FISH. That wasn't even a specialty dish here. The famous blackened cabbage was subpar, a piece of the chicken wing wasn't fully cooked and my fiance had to abandon it, the salads were meh, the steak was hard, and the cobbler dessert was fruit jam with dried oatmeal on top. Our cocktails weren't that good either and we ended up ordering only one each. I also put in my reservation that it was my fiance's birthday but there wasn't a mention of his birthday at all or even a candle with the dessert. I also requested a spot with more privacy but we were stuck in a tiny table amongst other couples and tiny tables. The server was nice and animated and seemed to take pride in his job, but the kitchen needs to step it up! read more

This place is true to its name. Everything g had a nice char to it for the most part. I went for dine la, and the cabbage was good, New York strip was nice, broccolini was good. I loved the radicchio "Caesar" salad and the chicken wings. The apple cobbler/crisp was a let down. Even the McConnells ice cream couldn't save it. I don't think I'd come back anytime soon. Weird set up, you have to go through the kitchen to get to the patio. They also have this service island in the middle of the dining room. So at done people you better be ready with a "yes, chef", "behind", "corner" like you're in the show The Bear. read more

Loved the collard greens salad, the grilled cabbage was delish, I enjoyed the lamb ribs and the grilled chicken wings. I'll enjoyed the evening and the service was excellent. I will definitely go back read more

The skirt steak was amazing... but that was the only dish that was good. We tried to order salmon but they ran out and the server was nice enough to offer another type of fish that wasn't on the menu (rock fish) and man that was the worst fish I had my entire life. The fish was super fishy and the smell was almost like it was rotten. I normally don't like to complain about food but thinking about how I spent $45 on that dish where my partner and I couldn't finish upsets me a little. We both took a few bites of the fish and we both tried to force ourselves to eat it but ultimately could not, we just ended up throwing it away. We also ordered the eggplant dish and all I could say was it tasted interesting, not my cup of tea and I love anything eggplant. The food took a hot minute to come but the skirt steak was worth the wait. read more

Charcoal doesn't miss ever! I'm a huge fan of the oysters, the kabobs and everything happy hour. The drink menu is also very yummy with many unique choices. The service is also phenomenal. Jess is my favorite bartender as she is quick, efficient, friendly and makes the best drink and food suggestions. Go check her out during happy hour! I know I'll be back again and again! read more

I came here for a little work team gathering and it was the perfect place for good conversation and good food! The portions were perfect for sharing and the drinks were also delicious. The waiters were all very friendly and quick. My favorite was the yellowfin tuna tartare, the aged duck and the apple pie. read more

Charcoal Venice - Prime Skirt Steak - New American Near Me - Venice, California

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We have been patrons of this neighborhood restaurant for years. We spend $300-$400 each time we dine. There are times where everything goes well, most of the time, here is the usual. 1. We always come at opening, 5:30 pm. All attention goes to happy hour bar people, we have reservations, they "try" to put us in a booth. 2. Once they give us a booth, no one else is there, it takes 20-30 minutes to get a drink, our appetizer often gets to us before a drink, or a bottle of wine. 3. Then, we wait for our dinner. Alex is an excellent waiter. He tries to make our dinner better. Tonight, we had a reservation at 6:00 pm. There were 8 booths without anyone in them. When we asked for a booth, they refused. In an hour they needed all those booths and didn't want to rush us, so we looked at each other and decided to go down the street where an amazing Italian restaurant who knows us and placed us, without a reservation, in a wonderful table and immediately brought us the bottle of wine we always order and had a great evening. Never will be back again, this is how this restaurant is, they have no clue about who and what business people bring to their restaurant. No clue, so ridiculous, bye bye!! read more

DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY HERE. GO ANYWHERE ELSE!!! The service was not just inadequate, the wait-staff and manager were rude and even nasty, after the 1 hr wait to get our order in, then another to get 1 steak ( shared by 2) then FORGETTING the other 2 orders - at a special birthday dinner! We saw other people were also waiting hours for their food. read more