Farfalla Trattoria Inc
1978 Hillhurst Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027 (323) 661-7365
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
16 reviews
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
"This has to be one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants, when it comes to good, authentic, south american food. Food is delicious,…" read more »
73 Reviews for Farfalla Trattoria Inc
What better place for an excellent Italian restaurant than in the trendy Los Feliz area. It is so hip that you might find a celebrity sitting across from your table. I can think of at least two in the years that I've been going here. Being an Angelino, you won't be startled to find a movie star waiting to use the restroom after you. Nah, you are too cool. You know where you are at.
This location is a huge favorite with the Trustees at my previous job. Me, being the elbow rubber that I am, hitched along for a few free meals before I was totally sold on this place. Thereafter, my friends have made the arduous trek to Los Angeles for a quiet meal here. There is nothing worth skipping on the menu.
Eh. Meh. It's OK.
The decor does remind me of a New York City trattoria, it's true. Unfortunately, it reminds me of a mid-80's version of an NYC trattoria. I get that it has a "vibe" but it feels like its time has passed. I'm not sure if there are actually pastel paintings adorning the exposed brick walls, but isn't it enough that I FEEL like there are?
That said, the gnocchi is lovely, I must say. Not too firm, not too bready....I'm a gnocchi connoisseur and I give the pasta itself a hearty thumbs up. The pesto it comes with is tasty, albeit very greasy...but sometimes a lady needs a little grease, no?
Delivery is prompt (very much so). Prices are a smidge on the expensive side for what you get, but not outrageous. The bread is painfully delicious, and if I could order it as an entree, I would.
I would never hold this up as "great" Italian, or even "very good", but it is the definition of solid. Filling, mostly pleasing to the palate and convenient. A-OK.
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I'm not convinced that this is the best Italian I'll find in the area.
I feel the need to keep searching.
Don't get me wrong, the food was delicious, the menu and wine list extensive.
Service was slightly schizophrenic, though.
But definitely seems like a good fallback plan if you are craving comforting, homey Italian and are too lazy to boil pasta at home.
Excellent italian food in the Los Feliz region.
I have gone so many times, I think I have had the whole menu a few times over.
When they are slammed, service can be shitty.
Try the mushroom pasta, it's bonkers good.
They also opened a good little wine bar down the street where you can start drinking if there is a wait.
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I used to go to Coccia's other restaurant in Pasadena, a Brazilian-Italian fusion place whose name I forget, so I was happy to go on a date at Farfalla.
I devoured the calamari, and had enough room for the gnocchi pesto. The gnocchi displayed that the chefs here take their time to make good, slow food. They obviously made the gnocchi in-house, delicately soft and in small chunks, not the premade golf balls served elsewhere. The pesto, too, was obviously freshly made, more like a broth than sauce, but still thick in flavor.
I'd go back!
NAME: Farfalla Trattoria
TYPE OF CUISINE: Exquisite Italian cuisine, no holds barred!
ADDRESS: 1978 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
PHONE: 323-661-7365
WEBSITE: http://www.farfallatra...
RESERVATIONS: Very good idea
GENERAL LOCATION: On Hillhurst on the southeast corner of Hillhurst and Finley
HOURS: M-F 11:30 am-11 pm; St noon-11 pm; Sn 4-1o:30 pm
DELIVERY SERVICE: Yes
BANQUET FACILITIES: Yes
CATERING: Yes
TAKEOUT: Yes
NOISE FACTOR: It gets buzzy, but in a good way. You can carry on a conversation
VEGGIE FACTOR: Absolutely!
AMBIANCE/ATMOSPHERE: This place is the crown jewel of Hillhurst Avenue, if not of all the Italian eateries in the city. Very wonderful vibe in there: rich dark woods, linen on the tables, a very comfortable feel. You feel like you've stepped in off the dirty streets into a wonderful private comfortable new world -- an Italian world! You're glad to be there!
FOOD: This food is unsurpassed, and as soon as you walk in, the kitchen smells knock you down and win you over!
FOOD PRESENTATION: Done with a flourish. Well arranged on the plate.
DRINKS: They specialize in a very large collection of fine wines, but sparkling water is available also, along with coffee and tea.
SERVICE: The wait staff seems to be proud of what they're serving.
PRICE RANGE: A bit pricey, but well worth it.
PAYMENT: Cash, CC
PARKING SITUATION: Lousy as always on Hillhurst, but Farfalla makes it worth it!
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Wow! I had dinner here again last night and the pasta was really good. I went with my 2 nieces. One niece ordered rigatoni with 3 types of mushrooms and my other niece ordered bow-tie pasta with salmon. The rigatoni with mushrooms was incredible! It reminded me of the time I was in Rome and had a pasta dish with the most amazing sauce. The rigatoni sauce was creamy but not overwhelmingly so. It almost tasted healthy because the cream was so light.
The bow-tie pasta with salmon was almost as good but still delicious. The salmon taste was mild which I prefer and the cream sauce was also light.
I ordered a margherita pizza. It was average - a little too much cheese. I would definitely go back every day if I could and try out all their pasta dishes.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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07/19/2008
I was not craving Italian food when my coworker said that she wanted to go to this restaurant.
So we… Read more »
Order the insalata farfalle and the gnocchi di patate and you'll thank me later.
Also? Insanely speedy take-out.
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Ah a place in L.A. that reminds me of Boston's North End, if only because the tables are grouped so close together that you can hear every word the couple next to you is saying....but perhaps this is "the" standard of good Italian place, tight quarters?
At any rate this place is a charming and cozy but still feels upscale without being overly pricey. An excellent place for a date if you can handle everyone hearing what you are saying. Probably not the best for a large group during a busy time however, hard to get a table.
Of course there is bread served at the beginning with a very tasty olive oil dipping sauce. As usual at these places it was a challenge not to overfill on bread before the actual food came. They do keep it coming...
For real food I ended up with that night's fish special, the Chilean sea bass. Oh man. GOOD CHOICE. I think I found a new favorite fish. It was cooked extremely well, very moist and flavorful. I don't actually remember what came with it, all I remember is that fish. My date had gnocchi in a cream sauce. That was also great. Perfect sauce and the gnocchi were also cooked well. There was no room for dessert unfortunately...it was that much food!
This may become my go-to Italian place in L.A.
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Really good Italian food. was never disappointed. The service needs to be worked on a bit. Other wise,,
Ten Thumbs Up.
Pretty decent Italian food. I've come here a few times for lunch and dinner. It definitely gets crowded and I'm not sure if they take reservations. The bread is delicious and you can't go wrong with the pasta dishes (especially the seafood ones). It is very small inside so I would not recommend coming in with a group but I think it's a good place to take a date or a friend for a quiet place to chat.
I haven't had bad food here the years I have been going (13) and still love this neighborhood joint. Fantastic stone oven cooked pizzas. Try the Capricciosa with the Insalata Farfalla. It's always good! I like the diversity of their daily specials and it's always good to venture out of your comfort zone here. Weekends get busy so plan ahead. If you ever get stuck, you can head down the block to their affiliate restaurant and wine bar 2 doors down.
My parents and I have been going here since I was a baby. It has remained one of our favorite restaurants to go to for any occasion, birthday, graduation, a nice night out. We always know we will love the food and the atmosphere and it won't cost an arm and a leg. The owner is very welcoming and remembers us when we come by. I go here for their insalata farfalla and the pasta...their vodka sauce is amazing!
I just went there tonight, and noticed their new(ish) wine bar located 2 stores down. It looks really cute inside and I'm definitely going to come back with some friends and sample some of their delicious wines.
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Farfalla never disappoints. The neighborhood Italian trattoria is always packed, but for good reason. The bread and roasted garlic olive oil is so good, but you have to restrain so that you can enjoy the pasta, chicken and seafood. The atmosphere has a nice vibe, buzzing but not frantic, cozy but not too small.
Crowded! But inoffensively so, surprisingly. We got a table pretty quickly, but they don't take reservations.
Odd.
Anyway the bread was fantastic..a really garlickly dipping sauce that would've been problematic on an evening out except I'm easy and so was my dining companion so we decided to not worry about it. Ahhh, who doesn't enjoy a "sure thing"!
Everything was surprisingly fresh and in-season with a lot of flavor without resorting to heaviness. Side veg was roasted beets which I normally despise, but these were delish. The plate was a little too carby, but if they're doing in-season produce it makes sense.
Let them pick the wine for me for a dry red...and it was fine. Didn't bowl me over, but it was a safe choice on their part. I couldn't see the by-the-glass menu from where I was sitting, as it was on a chalkboard. A little annoying, but whatever.
I might go back if I was in the neighborhood. The food was certainly delicious...just didn't really knock me out with the overall experience. Just a nice place for a good meal.
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I've been coming to Farfalla since it opened way way way too long ago (dating myself), and I've never had a bad or even slightly unsatisfying meal.
Fresh Italian fare, good specials, lovely wines.
A lively yet cozy atmosphere, and truly one of the more impressive Italian spots in LA without any pretense, or the price that comes with it.
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This is a nice and cozy Italian restaurant a few feet away from Tropicalia. It gets very crowded. I don't know if I would wait for a table because it isn't THAT great; however, the food is good, prices fair, and they have a great wine list.
Parking can be a challenge in this neighborhood...
I wanted to like this place. It has nice atmosphere and is in a charming neighborhood, but I don't think I would likely return by choice.
I came with a large party of 12. Word to the wise, this is not a particularly good place for big parties. Not because they weren't able to accommodate us, but because the restaurant staff was transparently eager for us to leave and was giving us the "um...don't let the door hit ya where the dog shoulda bit ya" kind of looks toward the tail end of the evening. And because the space was a little cramped I also got to enjoy the pleasure of getting bumped in the head by the waiter's behind several times throughout the evening.
Food was mediocre at best. I had unfortunately eaten more than I intended to that afternoon and there wasn't any comfortable room left in my stomach next to the nachos. So I decided to order a salad, thinking I would take home leftovers. Leftovers? Ha! $12 bought me a bread plate with a tiny little pile of arugala. And when I read the menu, I thought it was an arugala salad with sliced steak on it, but it came with these paper thin slices of some kind of raw/cured beef. Blech. I didn't eat any of it (other than my handful of weeds). Oh - and don't order the Prosecco. Mine was completely flat. Double blech.
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This is a tough one, because the food here is actually pretty good, but unfortunately Farfalla can lick my ass, and here's why:
The first time I went there they fucked up my order and I let it slide because I am a kind and forgiving soul who (although it is rare) makes a mistake from time to time.
Anyway, I decided to give them a second chance on my Wife's birthday, so I bought a bottle of champagne and made a reservation. We show up and I ask for an ice bucket, which they assure me is coming right up, about 20 minutes later they finally bring one out, after me reminding her twice.
I order the fish special, I am served a flank steak. I explain to her that this is not what I ordered, and she insists that I did indeed order the flank steak.
She finally admits that she got me confused with the neighboring table, I tell her it's fine, I'll eat it, as long as nobody else is waiting on it. She says she can't take it to the other table now that she's served it, so I eat it because I had already waited too long for our food.
The bill comes, and I'm charged for the flank steak which is more expensive than the fish I originally ordered. They didn't even waive the cork fee. I decided not to make a scene on my Wife's birthday and we left.
So fuck Farfalla.
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Really , really love this place and it's always the first on me and my lady's list of places to go out to eat when we want to splurge a little bit. The pasta is so fresh and the atmosphere is great, moody and intimate.
Their wine list is award-winning (they're always on Wine Spectator's list) and they offer a great variety, from inexpensive(ish) to very pricey indeed. Lots of variety, and the staff is always ready and willing to suggest a good bottle if you're in the mood to venture out.
Love the pumpkin ravioli, penne arrabiatta, caprese and fresh bufalo mozzarella salads when then have them, great tiramisu, great everything. One of my favorite restaurants in LA and I'm so glad it's so close!
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If you dig the cramped, dining table ambiance with fresh Italian cuisine, go to Farfalla. Sure you'll get bumped here and there by the party to either side of you, but it doesn't take away from the food that yumminess you'll sure to crave long after leaving. Farfalla definitely rings with a neighborhood feel with its establishment.
I've had their mushroom risotto which was cooked perfectly and melted in your mouth, an eggplant dish that I'm still craving and I'm not a big eggplant fan and various of their noodle dishes that always taste homemade. Unfortunately I haven't been able to pair any of my dishes with vino (how many more months do I have to go?), but their wine list seems decent.
Definitely make reservations, this place fills up quickly!
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Just to clarify the rating, general food is 3 out of 5 but service was a 1 of 5.
So this is a place you would likely see on Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares". Formerly a wonderful addition to the neighborhood with high quality Italian -particularly the pasta- with good wine and good service in the mid 1990's. However now, on my return last week, its clear with the with new chefs and amateur waiting staff, it has fallen in quality.
FOOD:
We had a large table with diverse orders from the menu.
1. The sever helped me select a white wine that was excellent. Our individual glasses were also delicious.
2. Their salads didn't seem balanced for acid (little harsh), nor were they particularly creative.
3. The pasta served was ample in quantity, flavorful and nicely al dente. They do a really nice "light pink sauce" to look out for on the menu. The ingredients in the pasta dishes were cooked well and paired well.
4. The meat and fish dishes were not as well done. Veal scallopini was just ok, the white fish special was decent but too smothered in sauce, while the salmon was desperately overcooked and was never properly corrected.
5. We didn't stay for dessert.
SERVICE:
1. Initially, well done. Our main server was professional, kind, and good-humored. However serious mistakes and customer service blunders were made from multiple staff that wrecked the experience.
2. The staff ignored a serious food allergy we alerted them to in our group and repeatedly brought out dishes ignoring this warning. We shouldn't have had the go through the effort on a common request.
3. Additionally, they really overcooked a salmon dish mentioned above. Upon alerting them, they brought the dish back to inform us we were wrong about the preparation (wow), despite its obvious dry, compromised state (we are no novices to fish). Then, they brought back the dish, redone and nearly raw(!) when the rest of the table had finished the meal.
4. The bill was miscalculated consciously, and clearly so given their reactions to our questions about it.
5. While our issue was escalated to management, we had no real sign that they were willing to amend for their mistakes and attitude. Nothing was comped, no sincere apologies delivered.
6. Overall, the the dismissive and arrogant attitudes of the staff ruined the most pleasing parts of the meal they had to offer at Farfalla.
Again the general impression is of a place that was once great and still rides on that reputation, while not being so good now. They should reconsider their preparations of the non-pasta dishes, hold some training on problem management for their staff, and bring back the "neighborhood restaurant" feeling for their customers - even if its just a facade. It would deliver more smiles!
-S
Good Italian food. Calamari and vegetable pizza were great~ lol
I have to say, at my experience at Farfalla was both good and bad.
The Pros: We were seated immediately.
My Pumpkin Ravioli was simply amazing.
The Iced tea is a tropical blend tea, so it's pretty yummy.
The Cons: Our waitress seemed to cool to smile, be polite, or refill or drinks.
I like Italian places that serve many dishes with an entree, like a salad or soup. At Farfalla, you get some Italian bread with an unattractive soup cup full of Olive oil (with red peppers, rosemary and garlic) to dip said bread in.
The servings were rather small for the price. My boyfriend got 6 raviolis for $13.
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I've been here three times. The first two times, the food was excellent, but on this last visit I was a little disappointed. The gnocchi, although very tasty, was so unbelievably oily and my stomach did not appreciate it.
I love the sun-dried tomatoes and garlic in olive oil that they give you with bread. Perfect.
The atmosphere is great and the location is great. Farfalla is a good special occasion restaurant, however, I would recommend going here for lunch -- dinner can be too busy and so loud.
So I park at the Albertsons stupid market up the block to avoid the vulturesque parking situation that is Hillhurst's bane. Backfire; it's cold these days and I'm sniffling by the time I get to Farfalla's front door. Ahh, but when I walk in...
The air is full of olive oil and garlic, it's warm, cozy and inviting. The heat is created by blue gas flames that waver and wait under boiling saucepans seizing each chance to leap and creep up and over their sides. Once the dish is perfectly cooked the pan is yanked away leaving the flames momentarily free to madly lash upward into full a solar flare. The still boiling contents of the pan are then emptied into an awaiting bowl, plate or in my case a foil to-go container. Next order up and the flare is once again contained.
The stovetop is barely two arm lengths away from the front door. One could pitch a penny with dead accuracy into someones Capellini alla Checca, please though, not mine. I get mesmerized every time I come in here to pick up an order. I really just want to pull up a chair and watch them create these magic boiling dishes all day long.
There is always hustle bustle here. If you are eating in the restaurant proper, you will need to squeeze past the front vestibule, no easy task, but once done you will find a fairly small front room full of booths and some larger tables in the center. The place is dark and romantic in a European kind of way and is always full of excited talk and laughter. The service is usually pretty quick. I have never had a bad pasta dish here but I warn heavily against the pizza.
I know nothing about wine except that they have lots of it, mostly lined up on shelves by the back kitchen entrance. Their sister wine bar next door has a huge selection from which I imagine they tap.
I suggest trying the Tres Fungi, the Capellini Checca, or the Ravioli dish, all of which are tried and true and consistently good. You might want to make reservations if it's a weekend as the place gets pretty jammed.
But now that you know how I roll, look for me next time you go. I'll be the guy up front in the portable folding chair dreamily staring at the shifting saucepans on that busy stovetop.
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How do you say "uber-nummy" in Italian? My friend, whose family has been coming here for eons, talked me into trying the joint after our Morrissey concert was canceled, and I'm almost glad I missed out on another live performance of "Every Day Is Like Sunday" to try the wonder that is the soft pillows of ravioli, possibly the best I've tried in years.
Start off with a cozy, wine-cellar-like atmosphere, throw in a ridiculously hot waiter, then add warm bread with sun-dried-tomato olive oil for dipping and you've already got me hooked. For an appetizer, my Moz-loving compatriot and I ordered the arugula salad with mushrooms, which I may have to get for my very own next time. Since there were too many delicious-sounding items on the menu, I asked Camarero Uber-Hottie to recommend his fave, and when he didn't hesitate to say the raviolis in mascarpone and sage sauce, I took his word for it. I was not disappointed.
Also love the fact that the trattoria changes up its wine-by-the-glass on a regular basis. Almost deducted a star because the website is currently not letting me click on any part of the menu in Firefox. (Note to owners: Make sure your webmaster checks the design of the site in all browsers, not just the one made by crappy ol' Microsoft.)
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I don't eat Italian out much. And I'll tell you why. It always seems overpriced. I eat at Fabiolus for lunch but I get the sandwiches. Pasta is so cheap--how come Italian places charge so much for it. Now, give me a nice Florentine Bisteca and I'll shell out $30 but I can't seem to find that in LA.
I digress. I met Joy P here for a lovely little dinner. I'd only been to the old location on La Brea (does it exist anymore?). I wasn't impressed over there. Now, this location. Very cute and quaint and neighborhoody. Lovely. It reminded me a lot of something that would be in NYC. Tables close together, dimly lit, good but transparent service.
I had a delicious Italian Pinot Noir. Recommended by my server and worth the $12. The artichoke and shrimp pasta did not disappoint. Joy's mushroom risotto looked really tasty too.
The whole experience was rather romantic. Well, as romantic as it can be when you are with your friend and not your lover. You know?
PS: No place to wait for tables except outside so if it's cold, bring a jacket.
I felt the need for some Italian and with my favorite place being closed temporarily and my man notsomuch wanting to come to the Valley, (fair enough, he had a long day of driving) I tried to find something good and mid-way for us. Bless Yelp, as always, I just typed in a few keywords and had a few different choices.
I walked in with the sis and was assaulted in the nose with amazing smells of garlic, chicken and various other unknowns. Yum. The decor was nice. Dark, exposed brick, windows to look out on the street, and a wine rack up the back wall. It was a bit loud in there, but hey, it was a Friday night and we got a table immediately, without a reservation, so I am not one to complain -- besides, if a place is that busy it raises my expectations, seems like it would mean it's good, no?
Sister and I were hun-ga-ry so we ordered a calamari appetizer right away and I took the waitresses suggestion and had a glass of "Suave" white wine - no kidding, that's what it was called, apparently an italian wine. It was full-bodied and sweet, akin to a Riesling, of which they were out. Unfortunately it was a little too sweet for a first glass of wine IMHO. My second glass, the house Pinot Grigio, was much better.
While we waited we munched on the fresh bread and their version of olive oil dip -- a little weird looking with the tomatoes and whole garlic floating in what was essentially a cup of soup portion of olive oil. Interesting. Then, the calamari arrived and it was amazing! Light, fluffy, fresh, and the marinara that came with had a nice peppery quality to it. We destroyed a good portion of that but wanted to save room for dinner which ended up being a pumpkin ravioli with cream sauce and walnuts for me, sis had linguine with shrimp, olive oil, garlic and zucchini and my man had an organic special salad of the day which consisted of greens, tomatoes, oil vinaigrette, and shaved Parmesan. I think his salad was my favorite dish, the tomatoes were out of this world.
All in all I have to say it's a good place to go and I would go again, but it's not up there with my favorites.
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Now this, is a romantical spot! And what a fine dining time we had here on Saturday night :) Good wine, good food and even better company and of course people to talk about and make fun of. What more do you need in a good meal? ;)
As for what we ate and liked. The first was this tomato, olive oil and garlic thing that comes with the bread. It was very tasty, but the presentation is a bit off as it looks like a swamp or something. We then ordered a bottle of the BV Rutherford Cab and that was, well, yummy. It's BV, what's not to love. We then ordered the chicken gnocchi and the fussili with the mushrooms and the truffle oil. That is the only dish I ever order at Farfalla and it blows me away that it has no meat in it and I still love it. So vegetarians, I'll give it to you on this dish!
The gnocchi was very yummy and very comfort foody. I would put it on par with a deelish mac n cheese and it would be great if you were sick as it tastes like a big warm edible hug. Yum :)
As for the rest, our server was a very nice gal and we had a great time chatting and grapin it up.
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I've been to Farfalla twice now, and frankly I'm just not impressed. The restaurant is cute, and has a nice neighborhood vibe to it. However, the food is horribly mediocre. Everything from the appetizers, to the pasta and main courses is just OK. The entire menu has an unrefined taste to it, and everything except the gnocchi fails to impress. To top it off, the desert I had the first time was horrible. They clearly buy their deserts from elsewhere, which is acceptable if you buy GOOD deserts, but rather they are bringing in mediocre deserts! If my friends ever insist on going here again (and I'll beg not to go...) I'll get the gnocchi. Stear clear of everything else.
Why bother? Il Capriccio is much better than Farfalla especially in the pasta department. Food at Farfalla is pretty bland. Tables are very small. The place is cramped. Why squeeze so many tables into such a tiny place? Why don't we let people sit in one big table if you going have everyone so close to each other? I ordered a shrimp pasta zucchini dish for $17. There were five tiny shrimps and tasted like you poured olive oil in a bowl of pasta. There were no taste!. My friend order t-bone steak, it was all fat! Starters are decent, but the main courses are nothing to speak about. If I have to spend the money I would go to Il Capriccio. There are other Italian places that are better in this neighborhood.
Fantastic if slightly overpriced. (The $15 prosciutto, mozzarella and arugula appetizer features only a single slice of meat. Grrr.) And the voluminous wine list is a bit on the steep side--not many in the under $30 range.
The pasta with leek/shitake/ricotta dish is choice (good vegetarian option). Can also speak highly of the bowties with smoked salmon in a cream sauce.
The dining room has an apres ski vibe about it after dusk. The crowd on weekends is an even heterogeneous mix of hipsters, married yuppies, underfed would-be models, the middle-aged, and Industry riff-raff.
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great food.
prices could definitely be better, as could seating situation. too many tables running down the middle of the restaurant like an airplane with an overabundance of middle seats.... simultaneously curious and unfortunate.
really really good food though. lasagna is superbo.
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Since moving to Silver Lake several people have suggested Farfalla....Glad I went....I had absolutely delicious pumpkin ravioli from here on Friday.....it was so good.....i loved it so much, i want to go back and eat it every day for like a year..........yummmmm.....paul got the spaghetti all'amatriciana and he really liked it...we also got the rustica which was ok....the whole sliced tomatoes kind of threw me off but it was quite good once you got used to that. We got take out, I had heard it gets quite busy there but when I went to pick it up it didn't seem too bad. Street parking but I was able to find a close spot right away.
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Farfalla Trattoria is not one of the largest Italian places, it doesn't even have the best service. However, its the food that unites the crowd here and consistently brings patrons back for the intimate experience with food so rich and so reasonable in price, you'd think it was like a home cooked meal.
My party of 8 was seated after a semi-long wait but it was impressive they were able to find space for us given how scrunched up the tables were. The menu was elegant, the music playing in the background set the mood well, and the food was awesome. The wait to get a table for a large group was long even on a Wednesday night and parking is limited.
A slight bonus was meeting a couple of the writers from Family Guy there -- they were an absolute riot.
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I heart Farfalla. I don't know why. Maybe it's the wine. Maybe it's the ambiance. Maybe it's the wonderful bread. Just something about this place keeps me coming back. And, for some reason, I ALWAYS seem to get into "heavy" conversation while I'm there. I'm sure it's the wine. I love the wine.
This is a great place to go on a 3rd date.
Oh, and FYI, they actually DO deliver!!!! (within 7 miles)
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You can't fault this place. Great wine selection to accompany great food.
I had an amazing lamb dish which just melted in my mouth. My sister had the yummy T Bone steak with Gorgonzola and my boyfriend had the Osso Bucco. All were cooked to perfection with an array of flavours that danced on our tongues. I wish I didn't eat so much of the delicious bread and tomato garlic olive oil bites to begin with so I could have tried the Tirimasu. Next time.....
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We were pretty lucky to get seated right away. I had no idea how popular this place would be.
I started with the pasta e fagioli soup. While I appreciated the giant bowl of soup, it could have used slightly more flavor. Which is odd since I could sense the smoked meat in the soup base but it didn't actually come through in terms of taste.
My pasta bolognese was extremely fresh- great pasta, great sauce. Too bad I couldn't tell if the meat was actually veal or not.
I absolutely I would go back. I like the neighborhood, the service and the artsy vibe of the place. It's laid back enough that people don't care you're dining alone and working on your laptop as I saw some people do.
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this is my favorite dinner date restaurant. i love everything i've ever eaten here. first was the pasta with eggplant and cheese. it was like eggplant parm in a pasta. i actually had the eggplant parm sat night and it was delish. the pumpkin ravioli is the best i've ever had... it's really a special dish. the pasta with the salmon and the peas, whatever that is called is the best pasta dish i've ever tasted. i'm rambling about this now, i'm tired from all the wine i drank this weekend. this place is incredible. just wanted to say that.