We had a birthday dinner to celebrate and chose LA Puglia based on the beautiful food images and…read morethe restaurant did not disappoint! Delicious menu, drinks, great service, and super cute yet comfortable ambiance. What a great way to end a night!

Somehow, this eatery reminds me of the small local restaurants in the city of Perugia in the Umbria…read moreregion of Italy. Its underrated elegance is relaxing and welcoming. There's a good selection on the menu, but we saw the three course lunch for $28 on their website so we decided to give it a try since it's such a great deal. And it didn't disappoint! For the first course, one of us chose the salad, another one chose the focaccia bread, and the other one chose the cauliflower. They were all good! For the second course, all of us chose the pasta with beef Ragu, and it was wonderful! The pasta was cooked out Dante and the sauce was very tasty. For the last item, we all ordered coffee and added a tiramisu to share. The tiramisu was very small, so it was a little disappointing, albeit very tasty. There are many great restaurants in Santa Monica, so it's hard to choose... but to me parking can be a big hassle so I like this one because they have a small parking lot in the back, not big, but if you're lucky enough to get one a spot, it's super convenient! There are street parking, but this is a very crowded area so street parking is often hard to find. A couple of blocks away there is a vans and they have a large parking lot in the back so that might be a choice if you happen to need to do some grocery shopping at the same time.

Best focaccia sandwich I've had and the lasagna was great as well. Excellent service. Definitely…read morewill be coming back.

Love the food, decor, design, and ambiance! Been here 5+ times and the food is so consistently…read moredelicious. And with the vibes of the outdoor patio and inside market, feels like Italy! Happy hour is a nice bonus to make M-F 3-6p!

Always Amazing!! These guys have been cooing me filet mignon in mushroom sauce since the 90s! I…read morehighly suggest the CAESAR and the clam pasta!!!

My wife and I are foodies, and we eat out at least twice a week--often more. We enjoy trying…read moredifferent restaurants and don't mind paying for pricey dinners if they're worth it. I usually don't leave reviews unless we've had either a great experience or a very bad one. Peppone falls into the latter--honestly, it was horrible. Where should I start? The place feels extremely outdated. The furniture looks like it's 40 years old--no exaggeration--with old, unattractive fake flowers on each table. The service was mediocre at best. The bathroom was very dirty and outdated, with mismatched tiles, clutter, and a general lack of cleanliness. I don't mind a vintage look or older restaurants--if the food is good. Unfortunately, the food was terrible. I ordered chicken piccata, my wife had a Bolognese pasta and an espresso martini, and our friend ordered a martini and linguine. My dish was undercooked, cold, and completely tasteless. My wife's food was also bland and unremarkable, and our friend had the same disappointing experience. The worst part was the price--the bill came to $448. This restaurant should seriously consider closing down.

I've been going to Rosti Tuscan Kitchen for over 30 years…read more There were several of these restaurants all in strategic areas that got the most traffic. Tonight, my dear friend and myself settled into an outside table on this beautiful night in Santa Monica. This Rosti's was packed to the gills early on a Friday night. We both ordered a nice Chianti, that could have had a bit more chill, but it still worked. I had turkey meatballs and spaghetti with a very rich red sauce and a lovely Caesar salad. Both were delicious. My friend also had a Caesar and a lovely spinach ravioli pasta in pesto sauce which he really liked. The service was very good and the ambiance, well just being on Montana Avenue here in Santa Monica was wonderful!

We eat here often because its an easy place to be with kids, and the menu is extensive , with…read moresomething for everyone, including pastas, salads, vegan offerings, etc. The food is okay; some items can be quite good, though not reliably so. For example a certain item might be great one time, and not very good at all the next. One thing you can count on though, is pretty mixed up servers. There's a lot of dysfunction between servers and kitchen, things come out slowly, sometimes not at all, and quite often we get served the wrong thing. A salad never comes, a vegan vegetable sandwich arrives in the form of a chicken sandwich. Unfortunately it happens almost every time with a certain server. We know as soon as we are seated that she will get things wrong and she never disappoints. But it's not just her. Last night even though the place was mostly empty, a man waiting for a pick up order to be ready was pacing in the front for a very long time. The kitchen might be understaffed, the manager is clearly not up to the job. It's too bad because w3've been good customers over the years and its becoming more and more obvious that with prices what they are, it's just not worth the aggravation.

This is a lovely space. It's associated with the Hammer museum at UCLA. It's in the courtyard…read morewith an outdoor seating area, as well as indoor seating. There is jazzy latin tinged music playing and it's just beautiful. So that's a winner. This place was inspired by Alice Waters, who was a main force in the California Cuisine farm to table movement. Her restaurant in Berkeley, Chez Panisse, was the most amazing restaurant in the East Bay when I went to Cal. This place is far different. But it's great on its own terms. The menu tonight is themed with a movie playing at the Hammer. So it's not the normal fare. But from what I understand, they do a different prix fix menu every night, in addition to their normal offerings. This meal was wonderful. The first course was a poblano chile filled with a walnut based stuffing. It was delicate and brilliant. It was also a dish from the movie that was served at a wedding and everyone fell in love. The main was a medley of different seafoods (scallops, shrimp, clams, and tilefish) with vegetables (hominy, garlic, avocado, onion, and chile) and a lovely broth that was deconstructed and wonderful. The dessert was just enough too. It seemed to be inspired by the wedding cake from an early scene in the movie. Really great. The service is perfect. The waitperson was friendly and helpful. The food was served well timed and the plates cleared efficiently, never rushed. It was a great meal. I loved this place and I'd come again. This series is movies about food. Like Water for Chocolate is a movie I saw when I was in law school, and 29 (young). I loved this movie 33 years ago. I loved it again. The meal at LULU truly accented the film. Thank you LULU!

Great food; simply presented, not over seasoned. Great…read moreservice; never had to ask for more water, wine, etc. Great venue; covered/outdoor options in a beautiful courtyard. The menu changes almost daily depending on what is freshly available. And, not expensive. So, we can go back again. Special thanks to Patti and the rest of the staff.

I'll tell you what this place was much better than I expected. I was a bit nervous. But I was ready…read moreto explore and experiment with my pallet. I love the idea of it being fun to table. So let's start the very beginning. It's Santa Monica and parking does suck. I'm just gonna say that flat out. It's hard to find parking. There's no parking structure or valet that's near. It is pretty loud at this restaurant. However, the food is divine. My favorite thing was the royal oysters, I could eat a dozen! My second favorite would have to be the Japanese sweet potato flautas. We were a group before, and we sampled each other's dishes. So we had the flautas the roasted chicken and the pork shoulder. we also had the bluefin tuna ceviche with blood orange not my favorite, but not terrible either a little bit too sweet for my liking. We also had the honey ice cream. And I had the espresso martini which was delicious. Now I know the menu changes regarding the season, but overall, I would definitely return. I love experimenting with my palette and I'm such a foodie so I'm glad it was worth it lol. Mara and Randal were great!

The good: food is 5 stars, creative, delicious. Our busy server was a delight as well. I would…read moreabsolutely return except... The horrid: the noise level is unconscionable. I would've left--earplugs are necessary if you don't want to lose your hearing, it's truly that loud--if it weren't for our delightful server. She apologized, said our table is particularly bad given placement of the speakers. She said that she and her colleagues know how bad it is, they get lots of complaints and agree themselves. "But as the night wears on and managers drink more, they like a party atmosphere and so turn it up. My fellow servers and I will try to turn it down when they aren't looking." And to her credit, she did just that. A few minutes later, my table was able to talk and think and not lose our hearing again. I was poised to give Rustic Canyon a 5-start review until some presumably drunk manager turned it up again. Fortunately by that time, we were soon to leave anyway. We are ages 16, 29, 40, 53, 62, and 64. All of us agreed in the car that our ears can't go back until the sound level changes. Truly too bad. Because I really liked it otherwise.

Yes - we loved this place. The vibe on a Friday at about 5.30pm was warm and welcoming, there was a…read moreTV showing silently a baseball game, but everywhere there was a buzz of friends jibber jabbering and having fun in groups inside and outside m, at tables and at the bar. A few Irish accents completed the mood. Our server (who was very busy) was another highlight of fun and great service. NOTE the service is crazy quick. So if you want to order drinks and appetizer as we did - don't order your mains at the same time!! Wait until you have enjoyed your appetizers and then order your mains!! The food (especially the fried chicken appetizers with whisky aioli) was good. The cod and chips was acceptable but (having just returned from the UK) we would pick something else next time. Also parking is tough to find - BUT allow me to suggest about 0.2 miles down the street there is a large multi level shopping complex with stores like Fat Burger and Total Wine and many more - LOTS of parking - and it is free!!!

Oh, what a "hidden spot" we found while waiting for passports today. We decided to grab a bite, and…read moreI honestly think this is the coolest bar I have been to in all of Los Angeles. Between the service, ambiance, and food, you really have to see it for yourself. My dad had the lamb stew, which tasted just like how we make it at home. I would give this place 200 stars if I could.

Fun place to go with a group of kids. We had adults in one booth and kids in a second…read more Solid onion rings. The pizzas were good. They take a bit of time if you do a whole pie, but it hits the spot when they come out.

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