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Negative reviews because of 'presentation' and 'bad service'?' No way....Pinguini is a breath of fresh air and it's one of my favorite Italian restaurants in LA.
I grew up in an Italian, food-obsessed family, have eaten lunch/dinner at Pinguini about 6 times, and would urge everyone to disregard the negative reviews of this place as rantings of people who just don't recognize good, authentic, FRESH italian food. The owners are from Rome and they've made a point to showing me/my friends friendly and attentive service every time. Caprese and Prociutto apps, Lentil or white bean soups, and their thin-crust pizzas are all wonderful and FRESH. And the prices are well-within the norm for the westside -- you will not find a better Italian meal or ambiance anywhere on the beach.
If you're looking for giagantic, oversauced dishes, Pinguini is not for you, just go to C&O or Olive Garden.
The food was not that great and the prices were expensive. It also took our waiter 10 mins to bring back our check after we gave him our credit card. Take a 5 min drive down Jefferson towards Culver City and try Polentoni instead (see my review).
The service was not good at all. Went with my boyfriend on a Friday night. Waited for the wait staff to take our drink orders, then dinner orders. AFTER our orders are given, we waited some more for bread. Once the food arrived, it WAS good--but overpriced. Had the filet with port sauce, and the chicken with the light artichoke sauce--and of course, bread and sparkling water--for about $70 for the both of us.
After dinner, we waited for the check for a very long time. It seemed that most of the other customers were being served, so maybe we just got an inattentive waiter--but it does feel kind of crummy waiting to get the bill when you see the same waiter waiting on his other tables. After the check was brought, and I had already paid, someone ran over with dessert menus, as almost an afterthought.
Still divided on whether I would give it another shot. The food was okay, but I think they can do better on value and service. If I'm going to pay a little bit more, I expect a little more (or heck, a nice vista?) in return.
What a nice escape from a stuffy restaurant. an outside cafe feeling. Ok the food was good, not out of this world, but the service and atmosphere was great. Parking is tough/ limited but just valet - - - get there a little early if you don't want a wait. I will definitely go again and tell others to try this place.
The FOOD is not BAD, but not really GREAT either...
Parking is SUCK and waitting time is so LONG...
Almost 45 minutes for the first time after we ordered...
and, it Kind of PRICEY for $ 50 for 2 !!!
Not WORTH it ...
But, the STAFFS there are really FRIENDLY and HELPFUL ...
This is the place to come when you are in the mood to be served by authentic Italian waiters for ok Italian food. Their pasta fagiole soup is really good, but the minestrone needs major help in the flavor department. I pride myself at being a pretty good cook so I added some lemon juice, salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and viola, a descent minestrone.
Their pastas are pretty descent too and they take special requests with stride. The location is the real star of this place.
My party and I stumbled into Cafe Pinguini after are original plans to have the dinner at the Del restaurant didn't pan out due to the latter's closing.
We immediately were seated in a charming little patio and brought out delicious warm bread. I noticed the menu to be slightly on the pricey side, but thought perhaps the portions would make up for it. Now normally, Im not one who obsesses about portion size because I understand the value of ingredients and flavor and presentation.
I ordered the Spicy Arribiatta Penne Pasta and my friend got the Pasta Special that was a Cream Penne Pasta with Salmon. We also ordered a ZInfandel off their wine menu. The wine menu was kind of disorganized but it offered a couple good bottles at reasonable prices.
When the food came, the first thing I noticed was the lack of any kind of presentation. I know a couple other reviewers had made note of this, but this jumped out at me. Also, I was dissapointed by the size as Pasta is so inexpensive to prepare, its typically not a huge stretch to offer a little more. As for the taste, my Arribiatta was pretty good, but not amazing. It came with sauteed eggplant and bell peppers and I enjoyed it but I've had better in a lot of other neighborhood Italian joints.
The salmon pasta was also presented a little underwhelmingly. My friend enjoyed it to a degree but when I tried it, I thought it was a bit to fishy and the cream sauce overwhelmed the entire dish. Overall, a dissapointment for the $20 price tag that came with it. By the end of the night, the tab (minus the wine we got) was $50 with tip.
At the end of the night, I just felt like the meal was missing something. Everything was serviceable, but it lacked anything that would really make me come back. Its got a phenomenal little patio and if your in Playa Del Rey, its not a terrible option, but for the price I think its worth travelling a couple miles further down the beach to Mama D's in Manhattan Beach
Italian restaurants are a real challenge for those on a gluten-free diet -- your choices are typically very limited. Caffe Pinguini offers a variety of risottos (rice pasta), though, giving me a few options. Risotto is difficult to do well (I've had many a bad restaurant experience with it), but the dish here is perfection on a plate -- not too rich, not too al dente, not too overburdened by the additional vegetables and meats in the dish. A good risotto results from attention to detail -- and that's something that had obviously been applied to the rest of the restaurant as well, from serving staff (who were great, aside from filling water glasses) to decor. It wasn't the most welcoming environment I'd ever dined in, nor was it the most overtly friendly staff I'd ever encountered, but I certainly felt both comfortable and taken care of. And with a sense of satisfaction from the atmosphere and a belly full of laudable risotto, can one really ask for much more?
One of my favorite Italian restaurants in L.A. Parking is a challenge some nights, but worth it.
Authentic and good Northern Italian (not the heavy sauce heavy cheese sourthern variety). Good wine, grappa, food, desert - about all you can ask. I'll definitely be back.
We went two nights in a row because our Dutch parents liked the food, wine and service. Friday and Saturday nights. Very busy but not a problem since we had made reservations in advance (day of). Service was quick. Staff was tentative.
The food was rich. They used lots of butter in the Swordfish and Halibut. If you are not worried about fat, it's delicious. Vegetables were cooked to perfection. Good portion sizes.
Our waiter reminded me of a caricature of an Italian, although he was very Italian. His presentation made me laugh.
Cute little place for an afternoon delight on the patio. Well, that is what I had today. My friend and I tried out this place for lunch. The weather was so perfect for a nice leisure lunch. Wait staff was prompt and nice.
We both did a soup and salad combo. I had the white bean soup. Not much pasta in the soup. The special salad was yummy, but too much red cabbage chopped up. We both enjoyed it as a light lunch. To end it we shared a lemoncilla gelato. YUMMY!!!!
A little pricey....but not break your bank pricey.
Good but not yet great. Caffe Pinguini is a restaurant with lots of promise. The small, cozy Italian restaurant is all-ambiance, but not always "all that" when it comes to the food. BUT WAIT--before you erase this fine restorante from your list you need to give it a few shots, because its food is either brilliant or a bust, and unfortunately, largely dependent upon their seasonal menus and specials du jour. The specials and weekend menu items will compell you to forever forsake any Atkins or low-carb diets, in favor of one that is all-pasta (from Pinguini), all-the-time.
Four out of five stars, but with great food quality consistency and its a six!
I live right down the street from this place, so every time I mention that to someone, they always respond, "oh you live by that cute little restaurant with the penguin outside!" Unfortunately, while this place is OK, the penguin is the best thing it has going for it.
Food is just OK, at least for the price. I can't say the food is anything special. I don't dislike the place, I am simply ambivalent. I have a feeling that if the name were changed to something less cute, and the penguin were removed from the sign on the outside, that this place would suffer a one star reduction on average. A testament to the power of "curb appeal."
I'm surprised to read the negative reviews - I've been here twice and have been really impressed with the food.
The caprese appetizer had some of the best fresh mozzarella I've ever had and both times I've had pasta dishes that were equally phenomenal. Good wine selection, too.
The service seems to be hit and miss, but when the food is this good, I tend to overlook service. Definitely a good place for a date or small group outing.
the secret is out! what a pleasant little italian joint for when i'm sick of the commercialized c&o/il fornaio's of the world.
their smoked mozzerella/shiitake is so decadent. i didn't think the two would go well together but i was pleasantly surprised. i'm not big on seafood but chilean sea bass always manages to steal my heart. the salmon pasta was also delish, with that oh-so-tasty cream sauce.
our server was pleasant and jovial, and service was about right for the atmosphere. plus you can't beat the location, smell that great sea-salt air!
Decent, but not really somewhere I would set aside time for.
The food was a bit underwhelmingly average and simplistic. Presentation is not the best either.
Caprese was good; fresh mozzarella and tomato, and add the fresh ground pepper. It was quite tasty.
We had to ask for the balsamic vinegar to go with the olive oil, but the bread was warm and soft and delicious.
The pastas on the other hand, were not that great. I could have been ordering the wrong things the last two times.. But the sauce was too strong, the noodles/penne a bit undercooked. Pretty simple and average tasting- I expected better than what I got. If I end up there again, will have to try something else. I heard the sea bass special is good.
Recently tried the halibut special (tomato sauce with olives and capers over grilled halibut), and was not impressed yet again. Presentation on this was godawful. It looks like they threw a bunch of chopped tomatoes/ cooked broccoli/ some carrot slices on a plate, pushed them into their respective corners, dropped the halibut, and poured/slathered the sauce. Ick. And the sauce was very strong, it was overpowering everything else. I had to eat the bland steamed broccoli (only got 4 sad little pieces too) to balance out the extreme caper-ish saucy taste. But the halibut was cooked nicely.
I wouldn't come here if I had to pay for myself. I'm honestly not surprised that the place was near empty during lunch time.
I haven't had dinner here, but went with a friend for some dessert and wine. Some restaurants frown at the idea of sitting down just for dessert, but they didn't seem to mind at all. Instead, the server was very kind and helpful selecting a dessert wine to go with our tiramisu. We sat there for almost 3 hours, too! I'd go back again for the service and to try some gnocci that looked really good when the guy next to us ate it all in like 5 min...
This place is awful. When we saw him,(which wasn't often) the waiter was a total idiot. He sounded like a Spanish guy trying to pull off an Italian accent. The menu is completly uninspired and overpriced. I tried a fettucine salmone and it tasted like someone dumped together store-bought Alfredo and lox pieces from the seafood counter. It gets 1/4 star for the ambiance, 1/4 star for the bread (even though we had to ask for balsamic vinegar to go with our olive oil for dipping), 1/4 star for the champagne (surprisingly a perfect balance of sweet and dry, good combo for any dish, wish I could remember the name of it) and 1/4 star for the caesar - and that's only because I was really craving an oily dressing caesar. It didn't even have proper parmesan cheese.
I feel awful for my date even having to pay anything at all for such an awful meal, bless his heart he gets five stars for sucking it up, I know he didn't enjoy his spaghetti bolognese either.
Go for a drink at the bar (the good champagne was actually the cheaper one), maybe an appetizer, but spend your money elsewhere.
Surprisingly average Italian joint that's both overpriced and understaffed. I've only been here once, but as an Italian who lives in the neighborhood, I can't help but be disappointed. The veal scallopine I had was dry; the sauce was tasty, but the meat was the consistency of shoe leather (my friend's sea bass was good, though). Surprised that they didn't have a full bar. Bread is good and ambiance is decent, but I came away thoroughly underwhelmed. It's too bad-- I had really high hopes for this place, but I can't see ponying up the cash or the time to go back.
Very happy with pinguini's! Beautiful location. The waiter and servers perfectly timed everything. Perfect spot for a romatic date. Outdoor seating is super cute. Must try the shitake smoked mozzarella, and pistacio gelato. Food was absolutely delicious. Very good experience and good memories! Will go back again!
I'm giving Pinguini 3.5 stars, because I think it's a little pricey. I've been here twice for lunch, and both times the food was very nice. Most recently, I spent $50 on lunch for two. Soup and salad for both of us, an appetizer and one limoncello ice. Good - but maybe not $50 worth.
Nonetheless, I love the atmosphere. Sitting outside on their beautiful patio makes me feel like I am miles away from my real life. Very charming.
The service is about 3.5 stars, too. Overly attentive, then nowhere to be found.
Neighborhood: Playa Del Rey
Category: Italian
Playa del Rey, CA
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Neighborhood: Playa Del Rey
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