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Mon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Fri-Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 p.m.
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Went here last weekend before catching a movie next door and it was good. A lil pricey ~$20/person but the food was yummie. I had some pasta and it was piping hot (I love that...so by the time I'm done chit chatting away..at least my food has not gone brick cold).
They asked if we wanted the pasta spicy? Is it me - because I've never been to an Italian place has ever asked me me that....i felt like maybe i was at a Thai place where they ask: mild? medium? spicy?
The pasta with arribiata sauce is awesome!!! with extra cheese...just what we ladies need!!! *wink wink*
The service was slow---we asked for water a couple times before they actually got it. I would go here again...because afterwards I can walk off all those carbs with the shopping!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
I'm a santa monica resident, and have eaten there more times than I would like to admit, mostly because I end up having a lunch meeting or I'm going to see a show (like I did last night) in the upstairs room.
the food is is way to overpriced for the quality they give you. They charged $9.0 for a large sparkling water!. My girlfriend and I spent $82 on very average food. I understand it's the promenade, but seriously, drop the prices, or make better food.
This is one of those places that looks trendy from the outside, but simply because it's on the Promenade doesn't make it trendy.
Came here on a beautiful Sunday for brunch. We were seated outside on the patio which was a perfect place to people watch. We were witin ear shot of three separate mucial acts going on on the Promenade.
The food was average. I got the breakfast burrito. It was presented nicely but had too much salsa for my liking. A coupe people I was with got salads and it looked like something I got at Costco.
The service was okay. We had to ask several times for more napkins and the server seemed to be balancing tables inside and out, making his journey long and spreading him too thin. Next time I'll try a different place.
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I ate here on 8/23/09. After searching (albeit aimlessly) for a breakfast/brunch place in Santa Monica that was moderately priced, we stopped here because the menu looked decent and people were filling the tables outside. Appearances can be deceiving.
The best part about the experience was the coffee I received. The bread is also pretty good, and it comes out quickly. However, I ordered a breakfast burrito (per my waiter's rec) and was SORELY disappointed. There was no guacamole on this burrito, even after they assured me that it was 'in there' I had to ask for extra. My boyfriend ordered the turkey club, and it took 25 minutes to bring out a sandwich I could have made for myself.
If you do decide to go here, get the eggs benedict, it looked like everyone else was ordering it.
Don't expect innovation here. What it says on the menu is what you're getting, in the most mundane way possible. Much better places to eat in Santa Monica.
We dined here 10/05/09
We had some great GNOCCHI there ! Very light and fluffy, not heavy at all. The ravioli were excellent too, and the tomato sauce was very good as well. Bread should have been toasted, or at least warmed. Creme brule was not warm at all !
A bit expensive, but the food and service were good except where noted. Waiter was very nice.
I would eat there again
I went here for lunch since i was going to the Apple store to drop off a computer. I decided to try this place out instead of the other one directly next to it since the Lunch Special seemed better. I had the Carrot Soup with Pasta & Chicken sausage in tomato cream. The outdoor patio eating area is nice for people watching while eating. Its great in the summer with all the pretty ladies wearing little (LOVE SUMMER!).
The Carrot soup was a bit bland. I was expecting a bit stronger punch i had to add salt and pepper to add more flavor. The portions were decent.
The Pasta was good. The Chicken sausages were good but at first I thought it was cheese. I havent seen chicken shaped like fresh cheese. BUT it was good.
The take out stuff is ECO friendlys since they package it in an all recycled box.
Id probably come here again but i would try something else. Service was timely.
Very good!
It had been already a long day at 11:00am on a Saturday morning and my friends and I were super hungry and were looking for a good place to fill our bellies with brunch so we took a walk along the 3rd street promenade.
We went from place to place checking out menus and when we reached Bravo Cucina the menu looked tasty so we gave it a try. By this time we were so hungry that we didn't go for the brunch option and ordered lunch instead.
I ordered the house ravioli with spinach and ricotta, which was covered in tomato sauce - excellent! The ravioli were super fresh! I opted for fresh Parmesan cheese to be grated over the top of my dish. I devoured my food even after eating 5 pieces of focaccia bread drizzled with olive oil.
My friend ordered the steak sandwich and fries and really liked both. My other friend ordered mushroom pasta with chicken, which was yummy as well.
The dessert menu looked awesome but we were too full to try anything.
Great service, great food and ideal location. We will definitely be coming back to try other dishes and also for dessert!
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I.am.a.fan.
I went there for dinner on a Friday night and sat upstairs next to a window overlooking the different ppl and acts (for ppl-watchers like me, it was perfect). It kinda sucked that the act we happened to be overlooking was an overweight, over-makeuped clown making balloon animals, but you get the point.
Food - I highly recommend the Rigatoni Farma, their signuature dish. It is delicious. I took two bites before I realized my boyfriend wasn't touching his plate. He ordered the Penne Sapori with Chicken. ugh. In an effort to make him happy, I offered to trade entrees since I'm not a picky eater. BAD IDEA! I regretted the decision after the first bite of his pathetic dish. Think of a pasta that has chunks of tomato (one of which still had the top on it), over chewy pieces of eggplant, flooded with melted mozzarella that tasted and smelled like a sweaty armpit, topped with a diluted tomato sauce). This dish was worst than the dishes I screw up in my own kitchen (and, I assure you, the only thing I make in the ktichen is a mess). For the first time in my life I didn't really touch my dinner. So, my friends, be careful what you order... the Rigatoni Farma is a safe choice.
Service - It would've been helpful if our server spoke English, but oh well, we got a free tiramisu outta it! QUE BUENO! We ordered one tiramisu and two cappuccinos; we received two tiramisus and one cappaccino. But, it worked out in our favor, cuz the tiramisu was damn good. I finished the entire thing and half of my boyfriend's. DAMN GOOD. wow. Light, creamy, delicious...I guess you get the point. I would go there just to have that again. (and, of course, request the same waiter!). The beauty of it all is that we were handed a free dessert coupon as soon as we walked into the place. I typically never order dessert, but who can turn down a free dessert? not meeee! DAMN GOOD.
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I've eaten here a few times. I think it is decent for the promenade--which is not the best place for eats.
The dessert was amazing!
Good pesto slow service
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Went here one day after me & the bf hit up the beaches of malibu & decided to grab a late lunch..had the best stuffed calzone ever!!! the amount of cheese in that thing was unbelievable...my boyfriend had the ravioli & those were bomb too...coming back summer 09* watch out!
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My friend had the salmon salad and really liked it. I had the potato soup, and chicken sausage penne. They were both very good. If I was rating food it would be five stars. If I was rating service it would be one star. We saw the waiter when he took the order, brought the food, removed the plates when we were finished and brought the check. He never came back to fill our water glasses or check and see if everything was ok. We waited a long time for our food to be served, and my soup was served a few minutes before my main course. Service is a key ingredient when I dine out. I won't go back.
Pitiful. We ordered orange juices at brunch and when we later had to ask FOUR TIMES for water. Our orders took close to half an hour - this is breakfast we're talking about. Absolutely ridiculous.
The service was atrocious. When we finally got our food, it was boring and bland. This place was so bad that I did something that I hardly ever do - left an embarassingly small tip.
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So after hanging out around the promenade and picking up some new gear we got hungry and started looking around for a place to eat.
We noticed many of the restaurants around the area were very quiet and almost empty but this one was kinda packed with some peeps, so we decided to give it a shot.
The host seated us right away inside and gave all of us menus.
They even gave us coupons for free dessert for each plate we ordered (is def a gimmick). Make sure you grab the tiramisu because everything else isn't so great.
The time it took the food to come out was typical with other restaurant.
We order a plate of grilled salmon salad, halibut, ravioli, and a couple other things.
Quality here is quite decent but nothing extravagant. I thought the portions were ok and not so big in size for each plate, only enough to somewhat satisfy you.
Service is quite ok, we asked for our free dessert a couple times and they kept forgetting so I had to mention it to them when we finished all our food just to remind em.
Pricing is reasonable for a sit-in restaurant but you can be a bit more satisfied going else where for the same type of food.
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I'm stuck between two stars and three for this place because it really wasn't that bad, but it's not that great either. I like me some Italian food, and it's been a long time since my childhood days of ordering Fetticini Alfredo, so I was eager for something good and fattening and tasty. Plus, I was right in the throws of a mean hunger rooted in illness. Nevermind that after not having eaten for 5 hours and you've been shopping with an idecisive worry wort about Christmas gifts, you want something good, and you want it NOW.
There aren't a big selection of tables in this place, so if you've got issues about space, leave it at the curb. We were seated by the kitchen, but our options were limited. It wasn't too bad. You either get a great view of the entire tiny restaurant or the flames going up in the kitchen.
The bread - tasty, but may I suggest heating it up? It would just be better I think. It's light and airy, and I prefer mine a little doughier, but still not too bad. Our Chianti was good... but it was also $32 a bottle. Oh Santa Monica, how I love your greedy little fingers. My confidants' dish was enjoyable per him... something "del mar". Pasta with seafood in it. Looked good. $21. My fetticini... utter and dull disappointment. For $19 I got bland noodles. Add chicken or shrimp if you like, but I say don't bother ordering it. Blugh.
Upon our reading the menu to find the "del mar" dish outside we were given a coupon for a free dessert or coffee or soda. That came in handy considering how pricey everything else is. We both enjoyed the Chocolate Ganache which wasn't too bad, though I'd have much more enjoyed a softer cake. The chocolate mousse layers ALMOST made up for it.
The staff is friendly and attentive, and don't bother you much while you're eating, so that makes the whole thing far more enjoyable. But, overall, for Italian, I've had better.
This was the first restaurant we tried when we first moved to LA. After a long day of moving, I don't remember how we ended up on third street, but we did, and a tradition began.
This place is tiny. Nestled in between two other restaurants, it can be a little hard to find. They do have a large sign above the restaurant that says BRAVO, but the actual entrance nitch blends into the other restaurants when you are underneath the tarp.
The food here is awesome. The first time we went, I was with my two best friends and all three of us got AMAZING meals. They are still my 3 top favorite dishes to order and I always recommend them to anyone new. They are:
- Mushroom Ravioli
- Salmon Salad
- Cappelinni with Tiger Shrimp
Last night, we had a birthday group of 15, and so I got to taste a bit of everything. Everything was good and everyone finished their plate but not what I would order next time. We got the gnocci, the chicken marsala, the fettucine and pesto, and the house ravioli. I still stand by my mushroom ravioli. It's so rich and tasty, but yet light enough so I can finish the whole plate. The mushrooms are sauteed to perfection and stuff in the ravioli.
The service was also good yesterday and the bill plit between 15 people was easy to handle. They took cards from everyone, and it was an overall very fun dinner.
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My coworkers and I came here for lunch. Ok, let's get straight to it. It's expensive for lunch, the food is bad, the service is terrible, and the decor is ugly.
I ordered the lunch special. There's nothing special about paying $10 for lunch. Yeah, I know I'm in Santa Monica so it's pretty much average but there are better places you can go for cheaper. The lunch special is served with a choice of soup or salad and pasta of the day. I got the salad which was average and the pasta (penne in pomodoro sauce) which was bland and one dimensional.
There're a few tables outside and a handful inside and they have a room upstairs. I had this huge non rotating fan blowing on me throughout my entire meal. The kitchen is in the back of the restaurant with no walls separating it so all the smoke from the food they were cooking was just circulating in the restaurant. Maybe they'd have better circulation if they let that fan rotate instead of POINTING IT AT ONE PERSON.
The stupid "waiter", turned our lunch into almost over a 1.5 hour ordeal. We saw our waiter once when he was late coming by to take our order which took him 15 minutes. Our food was slow to come out. Our whole table of 6 ran out of drinks and had to ask the bus boy each time for refills because our waiter disappeared. We even had to ask the bus boy for the check too.
My coworkers come here a lot more frequently than I do and pointed out that there's always a strange mix of people here. Also, I've never had it but they all swear by the blue cheese burger. The reason this place is still in business is because they're so conveniently located on the promenade and I'm sure they get a ton of walk-ins. They definitely have nothing else going for them.
People thought this was:
Very uneventful, overpriced Italian food.
Appetizers: garlic bread and pomme frites. Both sucked
Entrees: Chicken madeira sucked. Fra diavolo sucked. del mare sucked.
Service: they sat us down as soon as possible to commit us to this place, then made us wait almost an hour to get us our food.
Overall: sucked, don't bother
Note: My stomach now hurts... stupid food
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There needs to be a "half star" option on here... Because this place IMO deserves a little better than 3 stars but not quite 4.
I came here for what we ended up calling a "Plan B" date. But let me explain. I originally was going to take her to Amandine kind of sort of near Westwood because I had been there before (see review below) and she had heard it was good and I knew she would like it. But as we pull up to the parking lot in the back, we don't see any cars but instead some guy shoveling a pile of dirt. I'm like "oh please don't tell me they're closed... let's pull up around front and see". So we get back onto Wilshire and there's NO ONE inside. WTF?!?! I think I'm going to call them in a couple days, not to complain, but find out why they were closed.
Anywho, we end up cruising down Wilshire towards Santa Monica while trying to figure out where else we can go. We finally make our way to 3rd Street Promenade and we eventually gave in and decided to find place along the walk.
So we parked in the same structure that I parked in when I went to Acadie (see review below) with my sister in law, and make our way down 3rd St toward Santa Monica Blvd. We almost immediately come across this place and right next to it, George Bistro. We peek at the menu they have out front before saying to the host "We'll be back", but he was a sneaky SOB and handed me a card for a free dessert. Whatta way to plant a seed in the patron's head to come back.
Well, it worked. We walked to the end of the block before just giving up and decided to go back to Bravo because we were both getting hungry.
The place itself is quite quaint. Say that 5 times fast. The restaurant was long and narrow, on one side was the kitchen and a large mirror, to give the illusion that the place is bigger, and on the other side, brick. The ceiling was painted a very nice burgundy color, but one thing we found weird was the phrase "Forgiveness is Greater" painted across the ceiling.
Onto the food. They serve brunch until 4, so if you're there mid afternoon but still feel like breakfast, that's available. I ended up getting the sirloin steak sandwich (sammich as she would call it). Good and well seasoned, but nothing to rave about. Roma tomato slices, lettuce, caramelized onions (not caramelized enough), and plain mayo on a baguette. It came with thick steak fries. Those were good. Nice and crispy, not soggy like at Red Robin.
She got the lunch special. Soup or salad with pasta of the day. She got salad and the pasta of the day was spaghetti alla rustica. She said it was good. I didn't try it though she offered. I should have taken a bite in the middle of my sandwich. Oh well...
We ended up using the card for the free dessert. We ordered the tiramisu. Came drizzled with a chocolate sauce, which I think helped. It was good, but nothing to rave about. And that's not me being over-critical because I'm a pastry chef.
Overall satisfied and pleased with the meal. So anyway, to continue the "Plan B" date story. We originally were gonna head over to the Getty Garden, but the weather was weird and overcast, so we opted to drive back to Pasadena and go to Yardhouse for happy hour. Told you, plan B.
Holy beJesus... this was a long review.... and after I just razzed her about writing a long review about Mesa Grill in Vegas, hahaha.
My date is also a yelper, so I'm curious as to her reaction when she reads this. But it's not like there isn't anything here that she doesn't know about
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I know some of their items are mediocre, but I give this place 5 stars b/c they have my most favorite pasta! It really depends on what you order. I've been ordering the same 2 things ever since I've first set foot in the restaurant (back in '04). I order their Rigatoni Farma (their specialty) and their Happy Cathy Salad.
I usually split the pasta and salad between two people b/c their portions are pretty big. Price is good as well.
I also love that they have an open kitchen and that their restaurant is small and nonpretentious.
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Eeew...
You know how you walk down the promenade over and over again and see the same restaurants but never go in? Well, this time I did... and... BLECH!
- Waiter gave me 'tude when I asked what he'd recommend more... "the Steak Salad or Salmon Salad... " Like, why-the-eff-am-I-asking-any-questions kinda attitude...
- I ordered the Salmon Salad with lemon balsamic dressing... and the salmon was cold... meaning, not freshly cooked... and it was shredded throughout... not whole. And it was a whopping $14! And it was small and only had like 2 olives and 1 tomato cut in pieces.
- The balsamic vinegar for the bread was so tart that I had to add more oil and salt to it so my jaw didn't hurt... you know that feeling when you eat something too sour? Yeah... like that.
- The waiters kept dropping sh*t all night... and our waiter was setting another table in front of me and accidentally dropped a fork on the dirty ground... he wiped it on his apron and put it on the table anyway! YUCK! I pity the fool who sits there next... I pity the fool!
- My friend ordered the Caprese Salad - with supposed fresh, homemade mozzarella... and it was hard. Yes, hard. And dry. With diced tomatoes... not even roma tomatoes... just regular diced tomatoes. She had to drizzle olive oil from the table so she could even swallow it! I could have made a better one at home.
- AND I almost forgot to mention that Lovey no feel so good the next day. : (
Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time or money on this place. It's horrible!
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NO GRAZIE
It's what you'd expect on the Promenade. Overpriced, mediocre fare that never really gets better because there's always a fresh stream of tourists to stop by.
The dinner started off with an order of stuffed mushrooms which were good, although I felt totally ripped off that they only gave us 4 pieces. What a SCAM! The seafood in my cioppino was fresh, but the broth was bland and I kept getting distracted by the these little flies that kept buzzing around my food. The only highlight of the meal was the bite I had of my friend's gnocchi with pesto which was good, but not good enough for me to give this place another chance.
People thought this was:
Four stars for friendly service, three stars for food, which was average. The host outside talked us into coming here, but when we said we were going to look at other restaurants first, he offered us free dessert if we chose this place. In the end, we got two free desserts! Stick with the tiramisu, it's better than the chocolate cake.
The meal wasn't memorable, but it wasn't bad. Two weeks later, I just don't remember anything we ordered besides the martini and the dessert!
My boyfriend took me here a couple of months ago, so I may not remember all the details.. but I definitely remember leaving happy and full!
We went there on a Saturday night, around 7-ish, and while the place was indeed full, we didn't have to wait for a table. We chose to be seated upstairs, and wow, how beautiful. Big solid wooden staircase, wood floors, and brick walls--very rustic looking.
The only thing unappealing I saw was that there was this counter/bar type of thing that looked like it was never in use, and there were a bunch of boxes behind it.. maybe they should find a better place for their inventory? And there were a couple giant clear bins on a table filled with ice, which is apparently what they were filling our cups with. Yeeaahh.. a little odd.
Onto the food: I ordered the homemade lasagna. Wow. Just wow. It does taste very homemade, the sauce was delicious and cheese was oozing from everywhere. And the portion was big enough for me to take home left overs (and I eat a lot.) Now was it worth $15? That's highly subjective. I don't think ANY lasagna is worth $15.
My boyfriend ordered the Pasta Arrabiata, and devoured it all. His was only $11, so not bad as far as price is concerned.
The hostess/owner (I couldn't tell what she was) walked around and was asking everyone how they liked their meal so far, which I found really sweet and humble. It's good to know they really do care about their customers happiness, just like a family.
Our waiter really didn't wait on us. He wrote down our order, served us our alcoholic drinks... bbuuttt didn't serve us our food, nor our waters.. so when we tipped, we really wanted to tip the other guy who was doing all of the real work.
Will we go back? Definitely.
Will we recommend it to friends? Absolutely.
Anytime soon? Probably not. I'm sure there are more awsome Italian restaurants to venture to. :)
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I had the pleasure of visiting my friend at his work in Santa Monica (Lucky bastard!). We went for a late lunch and stopped in Bravo Cucina.
Side note: I am so jealous! He goes for a walk and see hot people. I go for a walk and see old people. Nice.
Zero wait time. It was pretty empty for a Saturday afternoon (around 1 pm) but I happen to like it that way. Actually wait.. I remember people kept emerging from the back so this place is way bigger than I thought.
I ordered the Pesto Fettuccine and my friend ordered the Panini. We split a house salad that was more than enough for both of us. It was delicious. The greens were tender and the dressing was light and it had yummy bell peppers and pine nuts. The food arrived fairly quickly and it was piping hot. The fries that came with the panini was good and plentiful. The pasta was amazingly good and I had plenty of leftovers which my sister devoured.
Our waiter(s) were very attentive - refilling our water and bringing condiments without our asking.
Check out their menu before you go for the prices. I thought it was a little pricey in general but average for Santa Monica.
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Without planning, I found myself in Santa Monica looking for a spot to lunch with a friend who was in town that I hadn't seen in nearly 6 years. Nothing had really caught our eyes and in a last minute decision we decided on Bravo Cucina.
There weren't many people in the restaurant at the time so it was very quiet, perfect for our 6 year catch-up conversation. I had the Fettucini Alfredo, which I had no complaints about. She had some sort of chicken sandwich that looked incredible (as she said it tasted as well).
The lunch was too pricey as far as I'm concerned and like I said, it was quiet enough to talk without needing to yell over loud music. (Speaking of the music, I was very happy with the selection including a bit of Coltrane and a bit of Thelonious Monk. )
Overall, good experience. Check it.
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My friends claim this is one of the best eats on the Promenade. I was satisfied with my meal but would like to give it a few more tries before I join the fan club.
The staff was very friendly and quickly re-arranged the tables to accommodate our http://ThursdayLunch.com party of 10.
For a nice restaurant, I probably didn't give Bravo Cucina the best chance to impress me since I only ordered a burger. It was, I will say, a very good burger with a huge patty, the perfect amount of blue cheese and grilled onions and a nice thin bun that held together. It was almost at the level of the burger at Lago up the block and that's saying a lot.
Next time, I plan to try the salmon or perhaps the gnocci.
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I am totally blown away by Bravo Cucina! In my experience they offer the finest amd freshest Italian fare to be had in L.A. I'm an out-of-town regular. Their homemade ravioli are absolutely unparalleled! As a second-decade vegetarian, I can't vouch for their meaty dishes.
this wasn't the first time i came here I've been going to Bravo Cucina since i was five.
the last couple of months i noticed that the service is becoming markedly better the server was very nice and attentive
my favorite dish was the farma very delicious I always get it!
I recommend this place to anyone who loves Italian food!
We were looking for a place where the gals could talk and catch up. It was lunchtime and I was spending time with friends that had come out of town for the celebration. So I had the company ... did we have a good meal. Yes. We each got a salad ... I got the Cobb, but wished I had gotten the Happy Cathy (or is it Kathy). It looked very good. The woman at the next table got a hamburger, it looked good but it was big. Definitely a meal that would provide leftovers for me.
One $30 lunch later, and all I can say is - Meh.
We were Christmas shopping on the Promenade and decided to stop in and grab some lunch. The place was nearly deserted on a Saturday afternoon, but our food (two sandwiches) took 20+ minutes. Overall, service was slow and the staff seemed to feel very put-upon. The food was okay, but nothing special at all. We won't be stopping back.
Not bad. They are members of the American Airlines dining program, so it's good it you need a few hundred miles for a ticket to Hawaii.
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A family runned business! A small indoor oudoor seating w/ the best pasta I have ever had. You must try the mushroom ravioli! it's not like most tasting pastas. It's cut up mushrooms in a light marsala cream sauce, w/ cheese stuffed ravioli (and it's not any old type of cheese, haha not sure what kind but it's darn good!) I always seem to get the same thing there b/c it's so good. They have a good ceaser salad as well. The place is located in a great spot on third street where there are tons of other restaurants as well as tons of shopping. Though b/c the place is on third st. it's kind of small, but the food is great. Not only do they serve lunch and dinner but they also serve brunch (french toast and all). It can be pricey compared to some places but for santa monica it's actually not it can be priced from $6-18. You just have to go for the mushroom pasta!
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My best friend's birthday dinner was tonight. We didn't know where specifically we wanted to eat, but we decided 3rd Street would offer enough options to satisfy any craving. It was late for a Sunday by the time we got there, around 9 and so our options were limited. Bravo Cucina looked adequate so we got a table for five.
Although place settings were promptly placed in front of us, it took way too long for the waiter to get our order. I was thirsty and I wanted my ice tea while I decided what I was going to eat. By the time the waiter showed up at our table we had already gone through the entire menu and decided on our order. Nothing really screamed "eat me" from the menu. A huge disappointment for my friend was no pizza. Um, isn't this an Italian restaurant? We ordered a caprese and calamari for the table. I got the soup of the day - butternut squash - and the basic pasta and tomato sauce.
The appetizers came out in a reasonable amount of time. The calamari was sizable, but the caprese was non-existent. It was the weirdest caprese I've ever seen. Instead of the nice thick slices of tomato and fresh basil that usually come with a caprese, the equivalent of a half of tomato cubed and one basil leaf thinly sliced were plopped on top of four thick hunks of fresh mozzarella. I don't eat meat/sea food, but I heard that the calamari was nothing to write home about.
The soup came out almost the same time. It was barely seasoned. I hate salt and never, ever add it to a dish. That is, never, ever until tonight. Once I added the salt, it was O...K... I've had better soup from a carton at the supermarket. The pasta came soon after. $16 for pasta that I could easily make at home with the nicer sauce in the refrigerated section of Ralph's. It didn't have a nice homemade taste that I expect when I am ordering basic pasta at a restaurant.
The extra star is because we all got free desert. Sure that was because my friend is hot and one of the waiters gave her five free desert coupons. The tiramisu was really good, as was the chocolate ganache cake. The waiters also sang happy birthday to my friends great embarrassment.
I know that there is somewhere better to eat on 3rd Street. My search will continue to find it.
Sub-par service, not a very big menu. Not impressed with the quality of the food - had the spaghetti carbonara and fettucine pesto. The waiter forgot to have the carbonara made w/ fettucine pasta instead, and there were no peas in the carbonara (Uh, isn't that one of the essences of carbonara?) The pesto was pretty good, but a little bit heavy on the basil... it definitely wasn't one of those subtle pestos. Both dishes needed salt to taste better. Portions were not huge, which is a good thing. However, I only went here b/c it was on the kcrw fringe benefits program, and will not be back.
The calamari is good. The salads are so so. The only pasta here that I think is pretty good is the farma. The lasagna is very salty. My baby had the tomato sauce penne which she liked and the fries are ok too. I think the place is pricey for what you get.
Ate here last night with the Gentleman Friend. We went to see a movie on 3rd Street, and he was hungry. We're a lazy people and try to not walk or go outside more often than necessary. This place is right by the movie theater.
Firstly, the place wasn't very busy. There seemed to be an equal number of waiters to customers, but service was still a little slow and their priorities seemed a little out of order. When we were in need of refills, I saw our server notice and then bus a nearby table first. Not a huge deal, but in a small and non-busy place, service should be exceptional.
The food--- Our server started us out with a bread basket with oil and vinegar. The bread was cold... not even pretending to be fresh and warmed up... and yet, slightly overcooked to near burnt. Funny how that works. I wasn't that hungry so I ordered a breaded mozerella appetizer thingy that oddly enough came with french fries. Good fries, boring cheese. The dish was pretty flavorless and not very interesting. I dipped most of it in Gentleman Friend's pasta sauce and that perked it up. He ordered the cheese ravioli that were actually quite good. Ravioli is a simple dish, so screwing that up is pretty unforgiveable. Fortunately, they were tasty.
Overall, the place was decent, fine, okay... whatever. But, out of all the other options on 3rd Street, we'll pick something else next time.
People thought this was:
this place has a pretty sweet spot on the "downtown" area of santa monica, i recommend sitting outside to watch the street performers do their thing, they got heat lamps in case it gets chilly, pretty standard italian food, no real surprises on the menu and the restaurant had some decent flow; i ordered scampi shrimp on spaghetti which was tossed in olive oil, capers, herbs while the shrimp was grilled up; meal was pretty good and filling for about 20 bucks an entree; pricey for what it was; food came out so fast too, but its a good place for a night out cause there is tons of stuff to do once you are in the area; every restaurant basically has a hostess acting like a used car salesman to get you in there so dont be fooled
6.5 out of 10
People thought this was:
The grilled salmon salad was excellent with a huge portion of fish chunks mixed into a very tasty salad with olives, capers and romain. The portion was easily meal size and more for only 13 dollars. The cioppino at 18 dollars was disappointing. The soup base tasted like it was made from Campbells tomato soup, way too sweet. The shrimp were overcooked and thus a bit tough. The squid pieces were done just right. The scallops were tiny but tasty. Pasta is a specialty here and it looks great, but I am not a pasta fan and didnt order any. Atmosphere is nice but those dozens of oil filled candles on the wall just sitting unrestrained on brick shelves, are going to cause an inferno if an earthquake hits, possibly drenching patrons seated below with flaming oil. The service was excellent, attentive and friendly. I'd go back for sure. Great location on 3d St Promenade.
People thought this was:
ate at BC for a last minute valentine's day '07 dinner. there's a nice lofted seating area where you can look out over the entire restaurant, i would request a table over there if you're making rezzies.
we ordered from a prix fixe menu and though the staff was friendly and courteous, the food was overpriced, over-salted, greasy, and just plain unappetizing (purple quinoa!).
People thought this was:
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Neighborhood: Hollywood
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Santa Monica
Category: Italian
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