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Started with the Sprazzo salad, which was huge, fresh & crisp with deliciously ripe tomatoes. The fiance had the zucchini soup which was cream-based and also pretty tasty.
The gnocchi funghi was delicious; the tomato sauce was very flavorful (though not at all spicy, like the description suggested) and the gnocchi itself was amazing. I got the appetizer-sized portion which was PLENTY especially since I had the salad. The fiance liked his pasta quattro funghi as well. The wine sauce was pretty sweet (like, sugary sweet not like "yeahhh man sweeeeet") but good. To top it off, the service was amazing. The guys working there are very friendly. Delicious food and service with a smile; that's why I go out to eat!
We will definitely be back!
Absolute best meat sauce in Los Angeles. If you are in the mood for good old fashioned comfort Italian, this is the place for your next meal. This last week we had our party of nine meet up at Sprazzo's and every single friend said they would be back on their own.
Although I have yet to try anything I didn't like, their pasta bolognese, pasta quattro funghi, arugula salad, and gnocchi of any kind are spectacular. We always order one of their salads to split between multiple people and it works out perfectly. Oh! And the tapenade and balsamic vinegar for the homemade bread are to die for. We've been looking for their sweet, thick balsamic vinegar since we started eating here without any luck.
I'm not a drinker, so I can't say much about the wine. But the creme brulee was only pretty good. Oddly a little too liquidy to top my charts, but still great as creme brulee goes.
Service was really sweet and all the staff ate dinner while they waited our late party out after closing. Love this place and would highly recommend.
I've been here a few times as my office is just around the corner. I love that this little place is tucked away (and next to another popular Italian joint), but once you're inside the atmosphere is warm and elegant. Their gnocchi is excellent, and the eggplant spread that accompanies the bread is to die for. Their prices are pretty reasonable for the quality of food and service they provide.
This is a great place for a date, or any kind of special occasion!
This place seems to have a good following being as it was almost filled early on a Thursday night. My wife and I went to Pomodoro not too long ago so I feel that I have to compare the two, being as they are two doors down from each other. They had some good looking specials and being autumn we could not pass up the pumpkin ravioli and a Risotto that had scallops and was filled with an assortment of veggies. The glass of chianti was far better then Pomodoro (Their one bad thing when we went) and the food was excellent, albeit a little pricier. The pumpkin ravioli was amazing, but the risotto was not as exciting as I thought it would be. Bill for an app, 2 mains, and a glass of vino came to $68 before the KCRW Fringe Benefits card was whipped out. Great service and food. I think I will have to flip a coin in order to decide between them and their close Italian neighbor.
I'm not much of a raver, but I will RAVE about the food at Sprazzo. I tried a few bites of their in house made gnocchi (awesome) but the hand made ravioli (I had the portabello) was a divine gift. The have a decent amount on their wine list (I had a pretty good Shiraz there). The seating is quaint and cozy and it's a great date place for someone who wants to impress without being obnoxious or gaudy about it.
Go there, now. Why are you sitting around still reading this review?
We decided to give Sprazzo a shot since our local favorite, Pomodoro, is closed on Sundays. When it comes to Italian, I tend to go for the "authentic" (whatever the flap that means), independent places that aren't overly glammed out. And of course, each bite has to nudge a gleam into my eyes; unfortunately, Sprazzo doesn't really live up to that.
The good:
- The bread: totally ideal in every way and accompanied with an olive tapenade that redefines what tapenade is capable of. Sprinkle a bit of their homemade balsamic (insanely great!) with some olive oil, too, for a dip that will leave you weak in the knees (unless they're mechanical and/or robotic in nature).
- The service/atmosphere. Warm, friendly, and comfortable. It feels like you've stumbled upon an old world gem that only you know about, and the service lives up to that.
The average:
- Gnocchi with meat sauce. The test of an Italian situation is the basic meat sauce, which did not rise to the occasion here; merely average and a bit bland. The gnocchi was great, however: perfect fluffy texture and shape, and fanfrigganistic taste.
The bad:
- Pumpkin Ravioli. There was such an overwhelming sweet almond/vanilla syrup taste to this dish that it killed any possible enjoyment of it. We re-ordered:
- Pasta with Pesto (no cream) and Chicken: missing that vague thing known as "taste". The pesto was very watered down and it felt like something you might get at a cheaper chain restaurant, which shall remain nameless.
Perhaps some of the other dishes would fare better? Perhaps Orange County will banish its strip malls and build at least one unique house? We can only hope. According to some of the other reviews, Sprazzo is very dish-dependent; I might give it another shot one day, if only to devour the divine bread, balsamic, and tapenade.
An Italian place in the heart of LA, the staff was almost getting ready to close up for their own lunch but was kind-hearted enough to do ours first as we arrived decently late for lunch. The Entertainment Book does have a nice coupon in there.
The homemade gnocchi w/mushroom sauce - excellent. The cream wasn't too heavy, and the mushrooms were thick and well-cooked. The bread there was excellent, too, fresh and hot out of the kitchen, couldn't get enough of it. Almost like a soft, puffy pillow that was edible. Balsamic vinegar is definitely thick and sweet and syrupy.
Salads here are tremendous, easily sized for one big appetite and happily engaged in the rigors of eating -- waiter recommended one of the spinach/argula combinations with chicken, and it was better than normal with a house-made vinagrette.
Service was good, food wasn't bad at all. For Italian food far away from the bastion of NY/NJ where I normally get Italian, it's not bad. They can't quite replicate the atmosphere (still Cali-like), but overall a solid option if you're missing Italian food.
Sprazzo Cucina Italiana sounds really fancy right? Even looks really fancy too. So if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck well, well it must be a duck. Well this duck maybe a little decieving.
The atmosphere is great, really nice looking restuarant from the outside. The service was excellent and very friendly. Overall this restaurant has got the warm and inviting feeling going for them. They also have one of the best wine lists at this place. Try the Terolodelgo Italy, great red wine.
Now I can't say this place is bad but personally I wouldn't come back. The food is good but not at that price. It seemed very expensive for what I ordered. It was like $17 for two crab cakes and whole lot of Arugula. My date's pasta was pretty bland and generic (The Sprazzo Penne) and my veal was a little soggy and chewy.
Pretty much this restaurant did not impress me and it did not leave an impression on me. Great service and Amazing wine selection. On the other side not enough BANG for the buck.
Got my 2009 Entertainment Book. Time for 2 for 1 restaurant deal! The first restaurant to try from the new book is Sprazzo Cucina Italiana in Westwood.
The restaurant looks charming and cozy from the outside. Inside the restaurant, lights were dim and with the candle light on the table, it felt romantic. Definitely a good spot for a date.
The waiter brought a basket of Italian flat bread with chickpea dip. The dip didn't have much flavor. I prefer dipping my bread in their olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Their balsamic vinegar is on the sweeter side and I like it a lot.
Since it was our first time at this restaurant, we asked for the waiter's recommendation. We narrowed down our choices to 3 pasta dishes and the waiter said "definitely the Rigatoni Di Lombardy". The tube pasta was cooked with Italian chicken sausage, peas and mushrooms in a pink sauce. This was a hearty dish. The chicken sausage had a rich flavor.
I wanted gnocchi and mushroom but couldn't decide if I want red sauce or white sauce. The waiter recommended the spicy tomato sauce. The gnocchi was made with spicy tomato sauce, fresh mushrooms and garlic. Their gnocchi is very very good. It was soft, airy and light. I had a really bad experience with gnocchi at Mi Piaci in Pasadena once. The gnocchi tasted like old bubble gum, hard and chewy. But at Sprazzo, I could taste the freshness of the homemade gnocchi. Great dish!
Saved $15 and found a great new Italian restaurant. Entertainment Book is truly great!
I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could. I don't mind rounding down because I do not think their clientele looks at Yelp -- most people here were Boomers or older. We did not really like the Parpadelle pasta dish, but my portobello ravioli was fairly good. The owner was very friendly, the waiter was a bit flustered with too many tables, but the service was good overall. Probably wouldn't come back, but is pretty decent if you are in the neighborhood.
I started to give this 5 stars because they always remember us and remember what we like. After writing this, I decided to change it to a 4 because I remembered the wine/dessert. The food is mostly good - although some items are better than others. Our favorite is the Penne Sprazzo. They have a very large wine selection but I think some of it is a bit overpriced. The desserts are good too, especially the Creme Brulee. I would not recommend the "Homemade" Peach Cobbler though. It tasted like it was straight out of a can. You can definitely get good service here though and they seem to really care about you enjoying the food. If you sign up to get e-mails on their website they usually send you a buy one get one free coupon like every other week.
Ok. This food was pretty terrible.
I order delivery Italian a lot. And honestly, I know it's probably a bad idea to order delivery Italian, since al dente pasta quickly gets soggy, steaming away in its aluminum foil-cardbord wrapping in the back of a delivery van.
But the crappiness of this food was inexcusable.
I ordered the Farfalle Matriciana, because the homey ingredients (bacon, onion, basil, red sauce) reminded me of Rome and made me smile. But when I opened up the steaming box and dug in, shoveling a forkful of bowtie pasta and bacon into my mouth, I felt a gristly crunch that just shouldn't have been there. The bacon was thick, impossible to chew, tough, and fatty - like the last gristly, gross piece of ham that gets cold on the Thanksgiving platter because no one wants it. Also, the bowtie pasta was mushy. :(
On to the salad. Thank goodness I had saved it to eat after my pasta, because my friend shoved his own sad, wilted salad in my face. But not just wilted - in his words, he had opened up the salad container to the pungent scent of ROTTING greens. When he poked the greens to confirm the rotting, yep, they were slimy. And when he tilted the takeout box, he saw "rotting salad juice on the bottom." "I've never been served such a gross salad," he said indignantly.
And hopefully, we never will again. I promptly tossed my salad in the trash can, and that's the end of my Sprazzo experience.
God must really love me or something because I've had a REALLY good run of restaurant-going for the past 2 weeks (Sushi Masu, Soleil, among others).
Sprazzo is great!! SOOOO much better than Mio Babbo's in the village (yes, I've pretty much given up on Westwood Village as a dinner area). It's the type of casual upscale restaurant that makes dining such an enjoyable experience. There's the dim lighting and candles-on-the-table thing going on but at the same time, it's completely unintimidating (I don't believe in restaurants that make you as if you'd be judged for eternity if you make some sort of dining faux pas).
I took on Sarah G's recommendation and tried their gnocchi. I got the Gnocchi da Vinci ($14.95). Soft, pillowy, like a cloud...a VERY tasty cloud. I could go on and on about how great it was; about how the sauce was amazing, bla bla bla...but you should try it for yourself. I won't be able to do it justice. All I can say is this: I was so sad when I finished my gnocchi...sigh*, if only it could've have been the never-ending plate of gnocchi!!
For dessert, I got the Dulce Cheesecake ($8.00). It was really good, but not AMAZING. But really, the gnocchi was a tough act to follow so I'm not surprised that I wasn't blown away by the dessert. My friends got the tiramisu and the panna cotta and they both seemed more than content with their choices. I can't wait to go back and try their other (i.e. ALL) their desserts.
Everything together, for me, was $30. Are you willing to pay $30 for a night of complete satisfaction?? I AM!!!
My boyfriend and I went here a couple weeks ago for an anniversary dinner. I live in Westwood, so I was excited to try some decent Italian in the area. I was not disappointed.
We reserved a table and we were seated immediately. We brought our own wine. I've never done this before, so I was nervous that we'd get an attitude for this. We didn't. Our waiter was very nice. He recommend ravioli or gnocchi because they are both homemade.
Gnocchi with vodka sauce was excellent. Great consistency.
I wasn't that into the mushroom ravioli. It was a little heavy for me, but it may be because my dish was so different. My boyfriend really enjoyed it, though.
I will definitely come back here for more of that gnocchi!
I had the chance to dine at both Sprazzo and its next-door neighbor Pomodoro recently. The characters of each restaurant differ. I found Pomodoro to be more cozy, while Sprazzo had a little more elegance. Prices are similar with Sprazzo costing slightly more.
I think Sprazzo would be the more suitable date place while Pomodoro would be better for a close-knit group of friends or family. The food quality is comparable. IMO it really comes down to the ambiance, which you'd be paying a little more for at Sprazzo.
The food here is good and they have a voluminous wine list. Our waiter was friendly and generally made good suggestions for the group. We shared the Panna Cotta for dessert which was well-made. It's a pretty big one for eating alone, so keep that in mind.
Link to Pomodoro: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
I love this restaurant!
I've been there several times, and it has become my boyfriend and mine's favorite date spot. It's very small and intimate, the food is amazing, and the service is very good.
I highly recommend the mushroom ravioli--it's obvious the raviolis and the pasta itself are handmade, and the mushrooms are very fresh. The lasagna is also very good, as is pretty much anything with the "pink" sauce. For dessert, the creme brulee is excellent.
As for service, if you look like you're going to tip well, the server (or at least the one that we got) will be all over you, and not in a good way. However, when we and my boyfriend go (looking like college students) we are left pretty much alone except to check on us occasionally and give us our food. Overall though, this place is amazing! One of my favorite restaurants in West LA.
The food was good. I thought my Penne Sprazzo was decent. My friend seems to like his Linguine Diavolo (or something like that; it's seafood). The portions are good. I have a small appetite but I was able to finish it. Their bread is pretty good; the dip not so much. We weren't able to get dessert because I was pretty full. I guess I shouldn't have tried to finish it and save room for dessert. Overall, it's a pretty nice place. My friend said it will be on his list of where to take his dates. =) I guess it's a nice place to take a date.
I love sprazzo, but you really have to know what to order. I always get some gnocchi or meat dish. Their gnocchi is phenomenal, you can tell it is hand made, as the texture is amazing and the flavors are awesome. I also like their lamb. However, if you are looking for more typical pasta dishes, their linguine al vongole is not that great and their pizza kind of sucks. If you MUST have a traditional pasta dish, I would go for their rigatoni lombardy, which is hearty and tasty.
This place is absolutely amazing for authentic italian. They hand make their gnocchi every day and all of their sauces are extremely tasty. I have a friend visiting here from northern italy and I sent him to this place and he said he felt like he was back at home eating italian in his home country which should speak for the quality of the food here. The waiters and service are knowledgeable and can help you with wine pairing too if you need it. You all need to try this place for good italian that won't cost you as much as some of the other places in LA.
My Italian boss recommended this place, and I found it fairly good in terms of service, decor, and food. When you walk into the restaurant you'll see a lot of awards hanging on the wall from the Zagats for best Italian restaurants (or soemthing like that) of 2008..2007...etc etc.
The pasta dishes here are delicious and they come in big portions. You can probably feed two girls w/o any problem...unless you are like me..then you might not want to share :P
MY coworkers always get the Sintara Salad and the Seafood Salad...supposedly they are good as well.
After catching a movie at the Majestic, we sat out on foot to explore the options on Westwood. Stopped in here right before closing time. The food was simply OUTSTANDING!!! I had the spinach ravoli with gorgonzola sauce. This my friends is something I want to eat again and again and again and again!! The bread and dipping oils were great as well. Beware they are ready to rock out of there at closing time. They were rolling up the rugs and turning out the lights.
Fabulous food, service, and atmosphere. Small restaurant, book a reservation. We took our own wine; they are super gracious about doing this, albeit charged us a hefty corkage fee. Looking forward to coming back!
Jayme! Jayme! Jayme! He's awesome and based on his recommendation we tried Sprazzo's Ravioli Portobello. We all got hooked on it, it's the best! If you're undecided, Jayme can always recommend something and he really knows what he's talking about. He's an excellent staff and he makes the dining experience so much better! Last time I went with a coworker, I made a point to ask or him. Desserts are really tasty too.
The ravioli is simply divine. Good service, very good food.
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