We made a reservation for 7pm to sit outside. We got there and the VERY priggish hostess told us it would be a half an hour wait and that just because we made a reservation doesn't mean we get to sit wherever we like. She also snottily informed that EVERYONE there has a reservation. Well we would have waited thirty minutes if she had been at all cordial or apologetic, but her huffiness made us bolt for the door. The food has been pretty good in the past, but they need to work on their service. If you accept reservations outside for a certain time then be able to accommodate those who made the reservation. I was also here with my parents who are seniors with physical disabilities, so to not be able to provide the table that they reserved was not cool. read more

Booked Nocciola for a party of 13 for a Very special family event. could not be more pleased with the food, the ambience, the service. Jerry at restaurant was very helpful in setting everything up including to choose excellent wines from an excellent list. The execution, I can enthusiastically say - Was flawless. I've been in some great restaurants in places around the World and I can't think of one that produced a better experience, and for my family - a better memory. Thank you 'Nocciola' for your attention to everything and your wonderful food-- read more

Hard to find this location. Should make more visible signs and more lights outside AND inside. I can't read the menu under a overly energy saving or so called romantic enviroment? Parking is limited too. We'll see the food, the most expensive restaurant in Ojai. read more

Nocciola - Italian Near Me - Ojai, California

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What a little gem. the outdoor seating was so romantic, perfect for the summer nights. The food was above and beyond. We had champs scallops and carpaccio for an appetizer the presentations was beautiful. And for the main my husband and I split the beef tenderloin and kale ravioli and the mushroom pasta. read more

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The five course chef selection was amazing. Service was fantastic. We will definitely go again!

EXCELLENT FOOD! I had oxtail ravioli and hubby had lamb shank. Both were delicious and even the veggies were delicately cooked with just enough flavoring but not over powered with salt like many restaurants tend to do. Different people served us throughout the night so it was nice not to wait much before someone was there to help. Nice ambiance although it was a bit loud in the main room. Too bad there isn't a way to muffle noise better but we had a pleasant dining experience for our visit to Ojai. Just wish I had taken pictures of the food! read more

Excellent dinner at Nocciola. Romantic location and delicious food. They were very accomadating with my food allergy too (tree nuts). read more

Nocciola - Italian Near Me - Ojai, California

A M A Z I N G Had chefs 5 course "u get what he cooks you" dinner. Wow!!! I have spent over 14 weeks in Italy, this place is soooooo good. read more

We went there for our anniversary...I had high expectations based on the reviews about this place, but was not pleased at all! The food was not good...I ordered the arugula salad & the fish of the day (salmon)! My husband got the NY steak. The staff was just ok, not so friendly! I would not recommend this place or go back! read more

I liked it almost too much to write about it. Food was great. Atmosphere great. Service great. Patio and the sunset view lowered my blood pressure. Everything we had was delicious. I love when I can taste the ingredients as well as the overall flavor of the food. Beautifully presented. Attentive but not fussy. Thoughtful but not pretentious. My friend asked for and received a substitute vegetable. Only wish we had room for dessert. Definitely going back. Would give it a four and a half if Yelp allowed. read more

food here is really good. we came pretty late on sat night, and we had a reservation. dinner was lovely, but service was a bit slow. i started w/ a cocktail w/ mezcal and grapefruit juice, and it was delicious. we were super hungry, and 4 of us shared 5 apps. the scallops and watercress salad were my faves. for my entree, i had the squid ink pasta w/ dungeness crab, and the noodles were perfectly al dente. for dessert, we shared the pineapple w/ coconut sorbet and the panna cotta. the restaurant is really cute and is in an old house in a neighborhood just off the main road. it's a nice place to come for a girls dinner or a romantic dinner for 2. read more

Such a cool house from outside and a cozy restaurant inside. The ambiance was good and so quiet but the food's portion was a joke. Good for kids not definitely me and taking forever to bring thefood. I would say try it out just once not more if you are living or hanging out in that neighborhood. read more

Excellent dinning experience. Pea soup. Scallops with truffles and bechemel was divine. Boar parpadel. Elderflower drink. Ambiance is very cool converted old home. Staff was great. Totally a spot to dine when in town. read more

Nocciola - Italian Near Me - Ojai, California

The food at Nocciola is the best Italian food you will ever try in So. Cal. I ordered "Garganelli" and by far it is one of the best dishes I've tried read more

Great ambiance, a little toasty inside since they weren't runnimg the air condotioner despite the warm weather, but the food and the wine were excellent. read more

Really - AS GOOD AS IT GETS! We were excited a reservation for the same day was still possible. Upon leaving a voice mail, our call was promptly returned and we had a table at 7:30 on one of the two outdoor patios. Wonderful evening atmosphere, Ojai sunset, an understated / clean table setting and very friendly staff. Drinks to start with, as appetizers grilled octopus, arugula salad... our entree roasted duck breast and a porcini risotto. Everything was prepared to perfection and very nicely plated. Shaved fennel in the salad very nice, finely chopped asparagus in the risotto gave a wonderful crunch. A fantastic wine from Southern Tirol, Espresso and ice cream with ameretti to finish of a wonderful dinner. After chatting about Italy for a few minutes, one of the waiters served an ice cold limoncello just before desert... very attentive! Not many restaurants like this in the area, make sure to try Nocciola! read more

Beautiful place but will not work with you on food. Not a huge selection. I am actually allergic to dairy and the waiter first said all pasta has cheese in the noodles. Then came back saying I had two options but I couldn't add protein. So NO substitutions, which an add on would have sufficed. Needless to say if a kitchen can't improvise and accommodate they get 1 from me. I don't like quail and prefer other cell cuts than New York. But if you have broad taste and zero allergies probably fine. read more

If hostile service is your idea of a good time, then this restaurant is for you. We went at 7 pm on a Saturday night and our very surly waiter informed us that the kitchen was out of virtually everything we selected from the menu... and I am not just talking about a particular cut of meat, a particular pasta dish or a particular fish (all three) but also that the chef refused to serve a side of potatoes unless it came with the original dish. Correct: You may not order and pay for a side of potatoes. You may not substitute your side that you do not like for anything else. The food that we were finally served was a C minus. One member of our party had halibut that was cold in the middle and uncooked... not sushi grade... not sushi... just undercooked fish. I will spare you the dessert debacle. I would gladly have paid twice as much for the same dinner with just indifferent service... it is difficult to sit through a meal when your server is truly hostile. It is hard to know if the waiter was just miserable because the chef was being horrible but the result was the same. Perhaps it was just a bad night... I will not be back to find out. read more

Unfortunately it was 118 degrees in Ojai that day and there is no air conditioning at this restaurant. The heat was oppressive so I can only imagine how bad it was in the kitchen! Our appetizers were very good but it went downhill very quickly. All our pasta dishes were dry, meats overcooked and they ran out of some of the salads. I doubt we will go back however the place is pretty and maybe in cooler climate the patio might be the way to go? As it gets very warm in that area they need to have AC installed or at the very least some really good ceiling fans. read more

I don't usually take the time to write bad reviews. I would rather spread the love for businesses I think deserve it. But I feel like others should be aware.... My husband and I chose Nocciola based on the reviews we quickly skimmed and the ambiance it had vs other Italian spots in Ojai. It definitely has the environment down, but that's about it. From the bread they brought out to begin with, to salads, to our main courses...we couldn't have more than a couple bites of each. We aren't picky eaters by any means - but we both looked at each other and asked "Why are we forcing this? It's not good." The bread was overly, overly salty and the other dishes lacked flavor. They sound and look fancy, but don't live up to the hype. My husband ordered their "most popular" meat pasta dish and I tried their mushroom tagliatelle and walnut/gorgonzola salad - and we can both say it's some of the most underwhelming food we've had in a long, long time. We asked for the check within minutes of receiving our entrees and the waiter failed to even ask if everything was okay - as our plates were moved to the other side of the table and had only a couple bites out of each. $80 wasted. Ditch the ambiance for better food and service. read more

Baffled by these reviews. My husband call it Ojai Stockholm Syndrome, in a town of lackluster dinner options you're so grateful for something resembling an inspired meal that you overrate out of sheer delirium. This was our second visit to this place and I'll give them credit for location and a great patio on a warm summer evening but the food is hardly worth mentioning. Nothing tastes as interesting as it sounds, execution is amateur at best, and the service feels awkward. I had the beet salad: cold bland chopped beets, hazelnuts, some sprigs of watercress and a slice of floppy anchovy. Husband had the boar ravioli: bland, boring, in dire need of cracked pepper or a bright herb. C'mon Ojai, you're surrounded by fields of gorgeous vegetables and this is the best you can muster? So get that third glass of wine and enjoy a pink moment, maybe it'll help you forget about the meal. read more

Great night and amazing food! Would come back here in a heart beat. The chef owner and entire staff were all 5 stars.

By far one of my favorite dining experiences. Food was incredible, ambiance was sweet and comfortable and not pretentious - even though the quality of food was outstanding. Do the tasting menu - it's the only way to go. Enjoy! read more

Favoloso! The five course tasting menu is out of this world - love the ambiance; great service. Heavenly pastas.... loved the quail as well as the tuna tartare starters.... Best of Ojai for sure! read more

Home converted to restaurant. Cool atmosphere. Authentic Italian recipes. Good wine. Recommend the oxtail ravioli.

Tonight was a disaster ! My husband and I decided to spend our 27 year anniversary out which is rare these days as he is in his 60's and is recovering from throat cancer. Feeling rushed we asked and then we were informed about 55 min into our celebration that there was a 90 min max to dine we had no idea as there was no signs & no one had alerted us while making the reservation. But both of us thought that was ok because they probably were trying to serve more people due to having less tables during the pandemic. I looked around when I got there and we were the last table to be sat in our small patio of 4 tables. So we would be the last to leave our section, no one else had left yet. We were getting close to our 90 min slot and they had finally brought my husbands glass of wine with like 5 min left to down it at $19 a glass... while we were trying to hurry and no other tables had left. That's when a very loud aggressive woman approach our table and informed us that the owner said this was to her table and he said it was OK to tell us it was time to leave. It was her time now? We technically still had a few minutes left!! She yelled and screamed at us that it was her 15 anniversary and we should leave right now !!!I Its was so shocking and awful. The staff just let it happen we were targeted it seemed by the owner to give her permission to do so even with other costomers there clearly longer than us ?. We then swiftly got up and left while the other tables wished us happy anniversary and apologized for what happened and were also appalled by the scene. I then called the owner at 91 minutes after our 5:30 - 7:01 reservation to ask him why he allowed the customer to accost us and "He said , "I can't deal with this" and hung up on me! " Very shocking experience and I will mention the food was only OK , but after that it just seemed very awful. We decided we would do a redo at one of our solid Ojai favorites like Hakane or OBC read more

Save your money. They should be embarrassed with the level of food coming out of their kitchen. They seem to have completely given up hope on even a mediocre level of food standards. The quantity of five star reviews makes me question the human race as a whole. read more

What a hidden gem! Some locals recommended we try this restaurant, and boy are we are glad we did. The atmosphere is great, the manager and owner were super helpful and hospitable and the food was fabulous. You have to try their homemade raviolis and pasta, they are out of this world. We ended up eating here two nights in a row the food is so good and will be back the next time we are in town! read more

Overall, pretty solid. Great atmosphere, and most of the food we had was pretty good. A bit over-the-top hipster vibe (with the waiters wearing full length Hedley and Bennett aprons, waiter with a man-bun, and so on), but a very nice setting, and definitely much better cooking than when we went to Ranch House. I would have been a bit happier if there was an option for a vegetarian tasting menu, or if the chef was willing to make a vegetarian main course, though there were at least a few decent vegetarian options. Tagliolini with porcini was delicious and surprisingly filling. The pasta was a bit "dry" feeling, almost seemed like Chinese egg noodles, not sure if that's intentional or typical of this style, but definitely different from other flat fresh noodles I've had. Bread didn't have a great taste / crumb structure, and the focaccia (or similar bread) had the wrong texture IMHO. My wife thought her (massive) lamb shank was (way) underseasoned, though she did like the house-cured duck breast. But a very pleasant meal overall, well thought out wine list and cocktails. read more

Great service and delicious food! The atmosphere was also beautiful. Will be back the next time we travel to Ojai! read more

Nocciola - Italian Near Me - Ojai, California

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Such a beautiful restaurant. It appears to be in a converted home off the main strip in Ojai. The interior looks beautiful and homey; since I went in July, we had the treat of sitting out on the wrap-around porch in the back, with a beautiful view of the trees, Topa Mountains, and the sunset. If the ambiance were not enough to make this place worth 5 stars, the food was also beautifully presented, a unique combination of flavors (e.g., I had beet ravioli in a brown butter poppyseed sauce), and delicious (e.g., we were talking about the amaretto cookie ice cream for the entire next day). read more

I dined alone. I came early with a reservation so it was quiet. The atmosphere is as you expect in Ojai. My server was attentive and helpful. I ordered what he suggested which was the soup of the day and the risotto. It was all just top notch. When I return to Ojai, which is a lovely town to visit, I'll definitely come back to this restaurant. The food is THAT good. read more

Great spot in ojai. Staff was passionate and informed and engaged and aware. Not that common these days. Food was pretty darn good with pastas the best. Sit outside in summer. I would imagine winter inside. read more

I have never yelped before. Nocciola however deserves to be my first. The staff is always professional and polite. I've tried several different appetizers and entrees and have really enjoyed everything. I know people don't always believe reviews but this is sincere. Hope you give them a try and enjoy the restaurant as much as my wife and I do. Happy dinning Sincerely, Mike from NB read more

I hate to give this place 3 stars because the food was great- but the service was OFF. We never knew who our server was because it kept changing. It was difficult to get anyone's attention. No one offered us more drinks. And it was our anniversary which they knew and it wasn't ever acknowledged- it was an odd experience. Not sure id return. read more

It's great unless your goal is to feel full after eating. The food is nice but it's hipster portions and they are smaller than a man bun!

Let me first say, I wanted to love this place. I was raised in Ojai and still frequently visit home. The high quality dining experiences in town are good but, I have experienced them too many times. So, seeing a new place open up made me excited. Instead of writing a novel about my bummer of an experience at this place, I will break it down by bullet point: 1. Staff ALL dressed like low-brow baristas in torn jeans, flannels, converse, with visible tattoos, mediocre personal hygiene and exposed bra straps. Don't get me wrong, I have no issues with dressing casually, but if I am paying $300 for I dinner I expect the staff to reflect that level of professionalism. 2. The soup special was billed as "vegan" asparagus soup with a quail egg... okay, so I guess that means, if you ask to skip the quail egg it is vegan. No! wrong, that soup came with scallops in it :(. So gross, not to mention dangerous for a lot of people. 3. Shameless covert up-selling of appetizers that are not included with entrees " I will have the pasta" "and which appetizer would you like with that?" "is that included with the entree?" "no" 4. Food was mediocre at best. If I made the dishes at home I'd be thinking of ways to make them better next time by adding some flavor. And yes, that goes for the $45 truffle raviolis. Underwhelming at best. 5. Our reservation was made requesting outdoor seating on the patio, yet they placed us in the dining room. In fact, everyone was placed in the dining room until it was full and then they let people sit outside. Nice shameless attempt to look packed guys. 6. Music way too loud, asked for it to be turn down, pretty sure it went louder... 7. If you have good company, which we certainly did, enjoy laughing at the situation if you must try this place. Otherwise you will be pissed you spent so much to wish you went to Suzanne's. 8. Just for reference we stopped by Vons after and bought Haagen Daas bars to avoid the creepy sounding deserts on the menu... Overall, we aren't snobs, we enjoy any hole in the wall that has good food. But here is the bottom line, do not try to mascarade as the bell of the ball when you can't even come close to competing with a straight face. read more

The primary reason I'm leaving this review is because of how split some of the existing reviews on this place are. In particular, there are some absolutely vicious remarks about their service and I was expecting the worst. Like maybe Weiner Circle style in Chicago where it's their schtick. To hit my punch line up front, everyone we interacted with was delightful, helpful, attentive and accommodating. The food was also quite good. My wife and I went for our anniversary. We had the tomato and burrata caprese salad and the salad with the artichoke hearts. Both were very tasty. For entrees I had the boar pappardelle and my wife had the rigatoni sausage and peas. Again, pretty tasty. Our waitress was terrific the whole way through, always checking in, offering advice, accommodating pregnancy related food and drink questions masterfully. A smile on her face the entire time. The only reason I'm giving 4 stars and not 5 is because, for the $120 or so we spent before tip, I wasn't completely blown away with the food. It was very good but maybe not at that price level. read more

Started out excellent....ended as a failure. Taking orders, getting drinks, and getting our food the wait staff was attentive and friendly(food was a bit pricey but good). Only once after delivering entre's did a waitress check on us. We waited for a while then finally had to ask for someone to please package our leftovers. Then waited longer then had to ask to see a waitress so we could order coffee. Then again never saw anyone ...and I wanted a fill up on my coffee. It was like let's get all the "$" orders, the $110 worth of alcohol orders, get them their food then disappear and move on. We have eaten here multiple times and never have we experienced this type of service. read more

We heard raves about this place and tried it on our last visit but were unimpressed. The kitchen screwed up three of our orders (out of six) and the preparation was underwhelming. On the pricey side, too. A lovely patio and very nice ambiance inside didn't make up for the $20 corkage fees (it's a pet peeve of mine - we eat at plenty of great places that have a $10 or less fee) or the completely unmemorable entrees. Others may find it nice for various reasons but I won't return. read more