This place is so cute and cozy. A little Italian deli and restaurant on busy Santa Monica. Be sure to get the Insalata Gamberi!!! I'm not the biggest shrimp fan, but when it's cooked right I know how to appreciate it. Don't even get me started on salads..anyone who knows me knows that getting me to eat my veggies is impossible. So coming to this restaurant just to order this salad should say a lot. So how do I describe it??? Consistently refreshing and wonderful in every way. The grilled shrimp is fantastic, never overcooked and seasoned perfectly. Fresh corn and avocado hide the fact that I'm shoveling down the romaine and arugula lightly coated with a lemony dressing. Is my mouth watering right now? YES!
Not to overshadow the rest of the food with my shrimp salad obsession... La Bottega is a great casual lunch or dinner spot. I loved it so much that I even had (one of) my graduation parties here, where we feasted on a large array of the menu. We were able to reserve the extension of the restaurant, a former barber shop turned cheery dining room. Lupe helped me choose pastas and entrees like chicken linguini, penne arrabbiata, and lamb chops, which we happily consumed. And how could I forget the strawberry shortcake?! Made just for me. Light, summery, and with just the right amount of sweetness.
Buon Appetito!!
I got two things delivered from here via Seamless:
-a chicken pesto sandwich with mozzarella
-polenta gorgonzola appetizer
the polenta gorgonzola was OK...it was literally just polenta with chunks of gorgonzola in it. I could have made that for a lot less than $8.
the chicken sandwich was almost disgustingly smothered in pesto to the point where i couldn't touch most of the butcher paper it was wrapped in. i had expected fresh mozzarella but instead got greasy kraft-looking mozzarella pieces.
This is based on a truly disappointing order via Grub Hub. Â I was quoted 6:44 that my food would arrive. Â It was about 7:45 when the delivery guy finally arrived.
This was a delivery guy from the restaurant, not employed by Grub Hub. Â Most of the delivery people actually work at the restaurants where the food is being ordered from.
Anyway so I get it, it's Cinco de Mayo maybe people like myself opted for Italian? Â However the food was underwhelming. Â The pasta e fagioli was bland and I had to season it accordingly. Â I ordered the Chopped Salad Bottega which consists of chopped lettuces, mozzarella, tomato, salame, pepperoncini, dressing) and asked for no salami and 2 dressings on the side. Â Well salame was included in the salad and only one dressing. Â It's SO hard for people to read and do their jobs...
I have heard from my employer that once they ordered sandwiches for clients and the bread was moldy and the owner/manager refused to accept the blame.
This is disappointing to add to another list of sub par Italian spots here on the west coast.
Luckily because my food was an hour late Grub Hub gave me a free $ 25 food voucher. Â $ 25 for mediocre soup and salad? Â Nah, I'll pass.
My boyfriend and I had dinner at La Bottega tonight and it was pretty darn good ! We started out with a decent size plate of calamari. They make their pastas homemade! I had the spaghetti with pink vodka sauce and he got the pesto gnocchi which was also delicious. The cannelloni  for desert  came in a pair so we both had one! it was perfect. good service good food. no complaints!
Review Source:Great little place on the Santa Monica Blvd row of excellent stores and restaurants. The place has been around for a while, and for me it is one of the best places to get Lasagna. When I have my itch for Lasagna I like to go here. Great little Italian atmosphere inside, and perfect place to eat with a glass of red wine.
Review Source:Absolute favorite Italian Restaurant IN LOS ANGELES!
It so cozy, and the staff are so friendly. Anything you want or like, they can make it happen. I've been here for anniversary's and birthday's, and I've never had a dull moment here!
The food is divine! I tend to always get the Linguine Gamberi Diavolo, (with shrimp in a spicy red sauce). It is amazing! so much flavor. Their Pizza is excellent too. The Caprese (fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil, extra virgin olive oil), is so fresh, and their tomatoes are so beautiful.
this place is a must try! Do not be turned away from it's quaint small cozy environment. There is plenty of seating, and this restaurant makes you feel like you are in Italy itself!
This is my neighborhood italian restuarant.
Ive been coming here for years (8 at least). Â Even if I only come in once or twice a year, I am welcomed with the warmest greeting and it is obvious they clearly remember me. Â The waiters are always warm, friendly, and super accomodating.
My friends and family request that we eat at La Bottega when they are visiting me. Â :)
Came here because we (she) lives in the neighborhood and it's walking distance. So far it's not bad for quick easy simple Italian food. I think there is more to be desired here.
I forget the names of the dish but one was a pasta and the other was a fried chicken and vegetables. Both were ok and decent. We also had a chocolate and raspberry with whipped cream frosting cake which tasted a bit stale since it came out of the case.
I'm really torn on this place on whether to go back and try something else or just go somewhere else.
Mediocre food, and poor service is usually what it takes for me to rate a restaurant two stars or less.
Pity, because I really wanted to like this place as it's walking distance from my apartment.
We ordered the fusili with cream sauce, mushrooms & sausage, and the Maccheroncini with pancetta, carmelized onions, tomato sauces.
Of the two, the fusili was by far the best. Both of the pastas were cooked expertly, which I enjoyed, but the macceroncini was swimming in a pool of uninspired tomato sauce. It was like somebody opened an entire can of Ragu and dumped it into my bowl.The onions were not carmelized at all either and the pancetta....meh.
I wanted to enjoy the high point of the dish - the pasta -- and I couldn't because of all the sauce.
The fusili also had too much sauce, but was much better overall. I really enjoyed the sausage and mushrooms -- it gave the sauce a nice earthy layer of flavor.
The service is where La Bottega really lost me.
I would have probably given three stars if not for the service. We asked a lot of questions when we first sat down so perhaps this is what annoyed our Euro waiter? I don't know, but he was not pleasant, especially when he realized we weren't ordering wine.
I had to flag down another waiter to get my water glass refilled. To me, it's unforgivable if a restaurant allows a customer's water glass to go completely empty. We also had to request a breadbasket.
Will I be back? Maybe to try one of their hot sandwiches for take-out. I will not be back to dine there, that's for sure.
My roomie and I ordered delivery from la bottega and didn't care for the food. We found ourselves hungry and driving by so we thought we would give it another go. We were both so glad we did. Completely different experience.
The service was great, the food even better and the ambiance - cozy and nice in a cafe kind of way. I love for pasta fagioli and they didn't disappoint. My friend had the chix raviolis and she raved and raved about them. They also have a deli counter that looked yummy. So my recommendation would be to try to eat inside the restaurant instead of ordering in. It's just better...I have no idea why...but it def is.
I love the personal service i got here. I used to live down the street from them.
Loved the food.
Once i ordered a tiramisu slice it was the day before thanksgiving.
They wound up giving me the WHOLE Tiramisu since they were closed the next two days and it would of not been fresh when they opened back up.
They are very kind and thoughtful
They told me to take it home and enjoy it with their family.
I thank them for their hospitality.
Small portions for the price, but I have to keep in mind that this is West Los Angeles/Santa Monica area which is pricey.
Apparantly, you can get coupons from <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> for this place at this point in time.
Pretty Good pastas (better than Olive Garden and better tasting than Fritto Misto in Santa Monica/West Los Angeles) but defnitely not the best Italian that I have had.
FYI: the little symbols with the spoons show the home made pasta.
Service was good when I was there with my friends.
The Italian food items are much pricier than Claro's Italian Market (La Habra, CA) in my neighborhood.
I was still a little hungry afterwards.
I always pass by this restaurant, and finally decided to try it out when I saw a Groupon for it. The restaurant is small, and they don't take reservations, so be prepared to wait a bit on busy nights. I waited about 20 minutes on a Friday night.
The Groupon included one appetizer, one salad, two pastas, and one dessert. We ordered the Fried Calamari, Insalata Gamberi, Basil Gnocchi, Fusilli Salsiccia E Panna, and Olive Oil Cake.
The calamari and salad were both decent. The salad consisted of grilled shrimp, avocado, and corn with lemon-oil dressing. The dressing might be too light for some people's tastes, but it was all right to me.
Out of all the dishes, the pastas were the best tasting ones. The pasta was perfectly cooked, and both dishes were well-flavored. The portions seemed kind of small to me, but they were just enough to fill you up.
We decided to go with the olive oil cake since we've never tried it before. The cake had a subtle olive oil taste to it, but I wasn't expecting it to have such a lemony flavor. It wasn't what I expected it to be, and it ended up below my expectations.
The waiters were friendly, but they seemed somewhat disorganized. They seated groups ahead of others that came in before them. The service was also pretty slow.
Overall, I enjoyed eating here, but only because I had a Groupon. I don't think I'd pay for the normal prices of these dishes.
Please note, the "3 star" rating is the averaged out rating.
I would give 5 for food and also 5 for service. However, in the end when I signed the check, it FORCED me to drop everything to 3.
Groupon had this place a couple days ago and I got the option for 2. Â The following was the original description from Groupon: One appetizer (up to a $12 value) + One salad (up to a $16 value) + Two pastas (up to an $17 value each) + One dessert (up to a $6 value)
I was happy 'cause I really want to try out Linguine Gamberi Diavolo from the menu but when I sit down and looked at the menu, it was $18 which was fallen out from the choice list.
(AND I just checked the website, it was still $17, lol)
They were also out of salmon, which was the second thing I wanted to try over. Â Oh well, oh well.
During the dining, I had really good salad, grate appetizer. Â I was pleased with the pastas I got (it made me almost forgot I didn't get the top 2 on my wishlist) Â Dessert was awesome, I never thought chocolate moose would be this good!
In the end when the check came, I felt betrayed. Â For those who used Groupon a lot, we all know we should tip on the FULL amount BEFORE the Groupon discount. Â The face value of this Groupon I got was honored to $68 pre tax, which was the amount I was going to use to pay the tip.
But no. Â No, no, no, no, no.
On the white paper, black words were stated how much I had for this dinner. Â There were 2 other red lines saying the balance and the "Gratitude 18%"
I was like, huh??
After my card came back, the "tip" session and the "total" session on the merchandise copy were ALREADY FILLED OUT with the 18% of tips.
I mean, I'm not cheap (although I love Groupon) and I was willing to give 18% or more for the tips. Â BUT, I don't like to be FORCED. Â There wasn't the place for me to sign my name on the merchandise copy and it made me felt like "you have to tip us on 18%"
So I notified the waiter and asked what was going on with the check. Â He said he was following the instruction given by the upper management. Â Well, it wasn't his fault (in fact I liked him, his suggestion for the food were all great) Â
I left a fair amount of the tips (still, I really appreciated everything else) and explained to him this was not the proper way for the customers.
Overall, the food and the service won my heart but I will not go back if there is no change to this situation.
I'll keep this short since my time there was forgettable. Â
As others have mentioned, the service here is horrible & unbearably slow. Â My waiter showed no interest in being there or waiting on me. Â We were seated, he gave us the menu, and all with no exchange of words. Â
We ordered and he made quick comments about our order..maybe something along the lines of "ok" with a grim look on his face. Â You could totally tell he was annoyed and did not enjoy being there. Â Throughout the meal he also failed to refill our water even after we repeatedly asked him. Â BAD BAD service. Â
The food on the other hand was decent. Â We ordered the linguine bottega & the fettuccine salmone. Â Linguine was decent. Â I really liked the sauce but the chicken was super dry and overcooked. Â Also, the portions were small which is a recurring theme in my life....unfortunately. Â Had to practice some portion control that night which I wasn't too happy about. Â The fettuccine salmone was also decent. Â The sauce wasn't as great as the one on the linguine. Â But the fish was cooked really nicely. Â I wanted to switch the fish with the chicken. Â Now that'd be a dish! Â
Took about 45 minutes to order, get my meal, and eat it. Â It was a pretty quick dinner. Â But it was also raining like crazy that night so there weren't many people in the deli/restaurant anyway. Â
For the price & the serivce, I would say it's not worth visitng this place to eat. Â Maybe the deli side of it is a better choice bc then you don't have to deal with moody waiters and small courses. Â Had I not had my groupon for this place I would have been more upset with my visit.
If you are at the West L.A. Courthouse, it's a crosswalk away. Â Having just turned in my paperwork for traffic school, I noticed I still had time left on my parking meter. I thought I would pop in and discover something new. When I walked in, there were only 2 women seated at a table in the back. Which made me wonder just a bit.
The deli case had some spinach & rapini. They looked nice and dark green. I asked for them to go.
I noticed some tempting chocolate cookies in the dessert case. The server proceeded to use a napkin to pick up a cookie. Instead of dropping it in the bag, he put it back down on the display plate. It was as if he had given up on the cookie. I looked at him, puzzled. Cookie fail? He kindly informed me that the cookie was probably more than 2 days old. He said when it's fresh it's so good, crunchy on the outside, chewy/soft on the inside. It must have felt hard as a rock by the way of his facial expression. Perhaps the baker had an day off? Thank goodness for a honest server who didn't want to waste my hard earned $.
What saved this review was a rare and honest, high integrity server. Â Add to that, the fact that the rapini & spinach had been cooked to dark green perfection. That means not undercooked, not overcooked. There's a fine line and the cook got it right here. A few of my friends are new converts into a super green supplement powder. I'll take my dark green veggies cooked like this anytime over the powder.
La Bottega Marino is a difficult restaurant to rate overall because the quality varied so much. Â The service and appetizer were 2 stars. The atmosphere and prices were 3 stars. While the Pasta entrees were 5 stars.
Let's start with the good. Â Or should I say great? Â I found myself ready to write off La Bottega as a serious let-down until the two main home-made pasta dishes arrived. The Fusilli Salsiccia e Funghi features perfectly prepared home-made Fusilli, home-made slightly spicy Sausage, and plenty of Mushrooms in a thick Cream Sauce. Â The plates look small, but they are deep so the portions are bigger than expected. Â The combination of flavors may not be unique to La Bottega, but they are done well. We couldn't get enough of this combination and it wasn't even the better of the two entrees because the Fettuccine Salmone was addictive. Â Mixed with a Pink Sauce and Chives, the perfect Fettuccine and slightly-smoky Salmon was irresistable. I didn't want to share, but luckily both dishes were phenomenal.
Calamari Fritti was our appetizer of choice. Â Bad choice. Â The Squid was dry and covered in a thick and hard batter. Â Crunchy is not the way I like my calamari. Â The dipping red sauce is advertised as spicy, however, it was literally the opposite: bland. Â The strongest flavor actually seemed to be the old oil it was prepared in. Â Skip this appetizer and choose one of the others like the Crostini or Pulpette al Sugo (Meatballs). Â The free bread and spread was unremarkable and could almost be skipped entirely.
Perhaps, the most disappointing part of the visit was the service. It was a combination of too infrequent service with little help at all. We were never asked what drink we'd like or provided any wine/drink options. Â So, we were left with just water. Â No specials were presented and no suggestions given. Â The manager/server was gruff in simply asking if we were ready or not (twice) and then quickly grabbing the menus to move on to chat with the table next to ours. Â Our water glasses were empty for most of the meal. Â The server did shout from the table next to ours to ask if everything was ok once and then brought water, but its been a while since I've seen such little attention provided before or during a meal. Â Afterwards, when bringing the check he did ask how things were and we shared our delight with the pastas and disappointment with calamari.
For parking, we found a free spot on the side street near the restaurant, so, that was lucky. Â The desserts looked tempting, however, we just didn't have any space left for them. Â We benefitted from a Groupon coupon which was handled without any fuss. Â Overall, La Bottega averages out to 3.5 stars. If I come back (doubtful given the service issues), it will be for the pasta and only for the pasta.
Let me just start off by saying I rarely ever give 2 stars... but wow the service here kinda sucks.
It's EXTREMELY close to where I live, and I've looked passed it a bajillion times, but I finally went in cuz I had a coupon for this place. Â Otherwise, I would really never even think to come here. Â There's nothing appealing about this place from the outside that would make me want to step in.
The waiters weren't rude.. well not blatantly... I just got the feeling that they did not want to be there at all, and were secretly sending ESP waves wishing we never stepped in. Â I don't think our waiter smiled once... maybe a tiny forced smirk when we joked with him... plus the overall feel of this place is REALLY CRAMPED. Â I suppose it couldve been cute if they pulled it off the right way and made it cozy and acted as if they actually wanted customers...
We had lasagna and wine.. the lasagna was sooooo forgettable and I'm a sucker for even frozen dinner lasagnas. Â We also had dessert, but their dessert options all looked kinda sad. Â The prices are just OK... standard Italian restaurant prices. Â I personally don't feel like it was worth it. Â
I suppose we mightve went on a bad night, it was quite late when we got there, around 8:30 - 9pm. Â So maybe they were closing the kitchen... but still. Â They couldve at least pretended to enjoy people. Â When I think back on that place, I just feel really odd. Â I'm kinda bummed its so close to where I live, because if I liked it better, I would probably go there quite often!
I'm really disappointed. I feel like for the first time, Yelp has failed me! Usually Yelp reviews are spot on and if a place is rated a 4 with more than 30 reviews - it's pretty darn good. However, I was sorely disappointed by the experience.
After waiting 20 minutes to be seated, it took us another 15-20 minutes to get to order. After that we had to wait another 30 minutes for the food to come out while I watched a party who came after us get served their food. We got our appetizer served LAST. Also, waiting for our food, the server failed to come by our table even once to refill all of our empty cups.
I could barely even understand the waiter and what he was saying. His attitude was poor as well. Extremely unattentive and didn't apologize that the food took so dang long.
Here is what we ordered:
Fiori di Zucchine Ripieni Â
ricotta stuffed fried zucchini blossoms, zucchini-mint dip
-MEH, it wasn't that good.
Maccheroncini Norm Â
Marinara, basil, eggplant, fresh mozzarella
-Good, but nothing special and definitely not worth the price for the smallest portion of pasta I've ever been served at a restaurant.
Positano Â
Prosciutto, arugula, mozzarella, fresh tomato sauce
-MEH, the pizza was dry and just ok
CONCLUSION: Maybe my experience would have been worth a 3 stars with a better waiter. There was another waiter who served us one of our dishes who was really nice - but he wasn't our waiter unfortunately. Will I come again? NO, THANK YOU.
I've had a few items now from their menu, most of which have been impressive. Tonight though, I had a food orgasm. Their Fettuccine Salmone was simply put "out of this world." Â Thank God I ordered take out, because it would have been embarrassing to lick the bowl the way I did at home. Don't judge me either; Â licking the bowl was absolutely called for after this meal, believe me!
This restaurant is EXTREMELY well-priced for what it offers. Their Pinocchio panini, which boasts bresaola-dry cured filet mignon, and burrata (my favorite cheese in the whole wide world), arugula and sun-dried tomato mayonnaise on a crusty Italian bread is a mere 9 dollars. Â It's big too and could definitely be stretched over two meals. Â
It is  authentic Italian in the most intimate, casual setting.  I tend to order delivery from them, but after seeing what a charming little joint they have, I'll definitely eat in again and again.
What am I missing here? Â The service was painfully slow; the waiter had a not-so-funny pretentious sense of humor; the pasta sauce tasted like it came out of a can.
With my Groupon in hand, we decided to stop by La Bottega Marino for lunch. Â Upon entering, no one offered us menus so we helped ourselves. Â After we got the menus, we sat for a long time before anyone came by to take our order.
We tried the crostini appetizer with mission figs and prosciutto. Â This dish was excellent. Â When we finished, we told the waiter that we really enjoyed the appetizer and he said, "Get ready for the next batch. There are 4 more batches. Just kidding, there isn't any more." ??? Is that supposed to be funny?
I ordered the Maccheroni Amatriciana. Â I'm not good at pronouncing long names like that so I said as I pointed to the menu, "I would like to try this." The waiter responded, "You can have it only if you say the name." WTF, I just finished telling the bf how much I hate it when waiters create embarrassing situations for me. I was still excited to try the pasta because the description said that it has caramelized onions, pancetta and basil. Â Sounds delicious, right? Â The pancetta was not even visible. Â The onions were barely caramelized. Â The tomato sauce tasted like it came straight out of a can.
When we finished our pastas, we still had sauce left on our plates. The waiter came by with more bread and told us that he "didn't want to see any sauce left over." Â Who does he think he is, my mother? The whole time, I felt like he was talking down to me. Â His attitude was extremely annoying and I certainly didn't appreciate it.
I walked into this place & was a little surprised. It's not exactly a restaurant, more like a little market that also serves food. We were greeted by the nicest waitress, and the place just felt like Italy. Very homey, very rustic, very simple. The staff was super friendly and more than happy to explain the dishes and recommend their favorite desserts.
I have to say, I was really surprised by the food too... but not in a good way. It was disappointing, and I really wish it wasn't.
FIORI DI ZUCCHINE RIPIENI (ricotta stuffed fried zucchini blossoms, zucchini-mint dip) - delicious and light, but maybe a bit too much ricotta
PINNOCIO (bresaola-dry cured filet mignon, burrata, arugula, sun-dried tomato mayonnaise) - interesting sandwich with unfamiliar ingredients, but boring and not very flavorful in the end
PRINCIPE (black truffle fonduta, proscuutto di parma) - bland pizza didn't taste of truffle at all, with lackluster cheese & crust :( the prosciutto was good though!
DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE - caught my eye when I walked in but disappointed, wasn't especially chocolatey somehow...
ESPRESSO - possibly best espresso I've had, definitely highlight of the meal.
So the place is adorable, service is great, but maybe the food is just not for us.
Oh, & save money by getting a <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Frestaurant.com&s=c5fe485af4df376130bee54f875814d79c4d7913e1258123b1206d2bdbf4873b" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://restaurant.com</a> certificate!
EDIT: The pizza & sandwich were MUCH better after reheating at home in the oven.
If you can find a better Italian dining experience in Los Angeles, please let me know, because I can't. Â Though admittedly, I have yet to go to Il Grano.
Greg, our server, impeccable. Â Food, outstanding. Â Chef/owner personable and delightful. Â Wine list extensive and value priced for the quality.
All around experience, particularly for the money, phenomenal.
If you haven't been here, please don't go to this place because if you visit once, you will come back often as well as tell all your friends and it will become hard for me to get a table. Â Eh, I guess the intent of this yelp posting is to share the wealth; go see what I'm talking about for yourself.
I have not tried Il Grano, the sister restaurant, but if it is even half as good (word on the street is its better) it is the second best Italian dining experience in Los Angeles.
I really like this place. You know you really like a place if you have a dream you are eating there and wake up with your pillow in your mouth. Yes... this happened to me. I was devouring the delicious chicken, tomato, creamy fattening Linguine Bottega and then it suddenly tasted strange. As my eyes fluttered opened I was devastated to find I was not in the restaurant.. but in my bed chewing my pillow.
I also love their pizza. It's got great wood fired tasting thin crust. Fresh Mozzarella that is not reminiscent of plastic cheese, huge basil leaves, and tomato sauce that is not over powering. But, I guess you have to like that kind of thing. Then again, I find Pizza Hut, Dominos, and Papa Johns to be disgusting pieces of cardboard that people should use as toilet paper or welcome mats...
I went into La Bottega Marino a few days ago to see if they had any good desserts for bf's birthday. Â Little did I know what I was getting into when I walked in the door!
It was like 11 in the am, and they already had an AMAZING array of sweets, of which I had to get: fresh tiramisu, freshly filled cannolis and ricotta pie.  I couldn't even wait for bf to get off of work to sample a cannoli - it was crispy and light and the filling was lightly sweet and ricotta rich with a few little pieces of candied orange peel hanging out  inside.  Mmmmmm.....
The ricotta pie had pine nuts and raisins in it, and a little bit of orange zest - good, but really nothing spectacular. Â The *STAR* was the TIRAMISU, bf and I both agreed that this was what we would like to schmear all over our bodies and lick off, lol. Â Ok, not really, we're more into licking food off plates or utensils, but if you WANT to lick something off a body part - I highly recommend picking THE TIRAMISU.
The desserts were so impressive that we came back the following Saturday night for dinner. Â We got there relatively early, and the few tables up front were already taken. Â It's a small place, but the tables in the back were fine - it has a casual cafe-feeling atmosphere. Â We were greeted and seated by a polite waiter who brought us a lovely warm (fava? lima? white?) bean dip drizzled with very high quality fruity olive oil and soft and chewy bread.
We ordered a few things and then watched the place get TOTALLY filled as we ate. Â Again, it's a small place, but we were glad that we happened to get there early for dinner on this Saturday night - clearly, had we gotten there at 6:30-ish, we might have been forced to wait for a table.
We started with the Frittura all' Italiana, an assortment of deep fried little bites. Â There were 2 pieces of each of 4 items: boccocini that oozed but didn't melt the tastebuds off (that's a good thing); delicately cheesy potato crocche (croquettes), herbed ricotta stuffed squash blossoms that were tender and rich and light all at the same time, and arancini (rice and cheese balls) that reminded us of bites of creamy risotto. Â OMG this was an awesome starter, with a ramekin of (maybe overly hot) very fresh and delish marinara to dip everything in. Â Our favorites were the squash blossoms and the arancini.
Next we had the Atomica pizza - a thin crust topped with spicy mozzarella, tomato sauce, salami and coppa (we say gabagool, a la Tony Soprano heehee). Â This was like a pepperoni pizza all grown up and in a tasteful dark suit, but with spicy accents - like a sharp tie in a bright color or pattern! Â The crust was perfectly chewy and crispy enough to want to eat it all - but thin enough to not interfere with having another slice.
The Crostino Assortment came next, 1 piece of each of 5 of their crostinos. Â The butternut squash-parmigiano was buttery, with melted cheese on top, and tasted like heaven! Â The black fig with prosciutto had delicate chunks of fresh fruit underneath and the thinnest little slices of meat delicately folded on top - the sweet and salty and meaty and tender fruity were perfect complements to each other. Â I loved the chicken liver pate' - it was smooth and so light and creamy with a slight taste of wine (bf is not a big pate' fan). Â
Bf DID love the porcini and mixed mushroom crostino - and he is NOT a mushroom lover! Â I am a musroom lover, especially of the porcini kind - if it's got porcinis in it, I will bet it will be wonderful. Â The artichoke (a salad simply dressed with olive oil and lemon) and pecorino (shaved on top) was the only wild card, we both could have gone either way - something about it just didn't live up to the standards of the rest of the bunch. Â I was disappointed that the assortment did NOT include the oxtail too :(. Â
We were feeling pretty full at that point, so we would have stopped there had we not spied the limoncello cake when we walked in. Â We're making limoncello at home (literally as I type this!) and they were out of it when I was here the other day, so we had to get it tonight. Â I also wanted bf to try the cannolis THIS fresh like I had the first one the other day. Â So we got cappucino and espresso and cake and cannoli. Â
Oooof, talk about assisted carbicide! Â
After having their desserts the other day, we were expecting the limoncello cake to be something show stopping. Â And don't get me wrong, it was a great *lemon cake*. Â But it wasn't something that was as outstanding as the tiramisu or.....the....cannolis! Â (Fresh, you must eat the cannolis fresh - even if they sit for an hour or so the texture will change!!) Â They listed pumpkin cannolis on the menu and I was looking forward to trying them, but they didn't have them :(.
So I'll be back for the oxtail crostino and the pumpkin cannolis! Â Oh, and some of their AWESOME espresso.....mmmmmm! Â And next time, we'll put more money in the meter so we can take more time to shop their little area of foodie items :).
Came here for dinner because my roommate had been raving about it. Â The place is small and has a very friendly mom and pop shop feel to it. Â Everyone seems to be a regular and the waiter knows them all. Â So service was definitely friendly and it really made you feel at home.
Their menu is fairly large with appetizers, salads, a large sandwich selection, and the traditional Italian dishes. Â They bring out complimentary bread with tomatoes and olive oil. The bread was ok, but not super fresh or warm. Â The tomatoes were fresh and delicious, plus a cool addition.
I got the Rigatoni Bolognese, which the waiter specifically recommended. Â Maybe my hopes were too high, but the dish was pretty disappointing. Â The meat sauce was lukewarm and didn't seem to have that much flavor to it. Â The rigatoni was a bit rough, I think it may have been a bit undercooked.
I did try my roommate's dish, and it seemed much better. Â So maybe it was a one-off mistake. Â I think I'll give it another try, with hopefully better results, but for now I can't give it above a 3.
Bottega looks like a place you'd come for breakfast. Simple dining chairs set in a deli environment. The ventilation is poor which is one of my biggest pet P's-- I don't like coming out of a restaurant with my hair and clothes smelling like grease, so much so that I need to take a shower when I get home. It's gross.
Now lets talk about the food-- mediocre at best. I give them props for not over cooking their pasta but the sauces are thick and heavy (way too much cream so it drowns out an semblance of meat or herbs).
I came here on a Sat night on a date and Bottega killed it. I left there with a heavy stomach and reeking of 3 month old cooking oil. With so many affordable and good Italian restaurants in the neighborhood, Â I would not come back here.
I've been here a few times before for dinner. Â The food was very good, but the larger reason I'm giving a five is that I live nearby and they're great as a local deli or a place to pick up bread if you need it. Â
Even more impressive is that one day I was making a BLT, buuuut kinda forgot the T. Â I called over and asked if I could buy a few tomatoes from them; they said, yeah sure, come on over. Â I biked over and they said here are three tomatoes, tried to pay and they wouldn't let me "you're a regular customer, just come visit again". Â Sure it's a simple way to get me to come back, but also very appreciated. Â It's nice to have a local restaurant with personality.
THIS IS FOR BOTTEGA ON LARCHMONT
Be advised, La Bottega closes fairly early and is BYO. Â Also be advised (on account of the fact that I want only to receive positive e-mail), no one except New Yorkers should read the following sentence. Â
There is NO truly great Italian food in Los Angeles. Â Just accept it. Â Make peace with it. Â Or stop meditating and use your gym membership money to buy a plane ticket twice a year to La Guardia, and then go straight to Max's, Per Se, or virtually any Pizza-By-The-Slice joint. Or buy a hand crank pasta maker.
Anyway, La Bottega's thick dark chocolate "silk" pie is as if Jesus, Satan, Moses, Mohammed, and Mr. Snuffelufugus all got together, had a slice, and went, "you, know, we're really all just the same." Â How cruel that World Peace Pie is only made in very small batches. Â Digest as you walk along Larchmont Street. Â Excellent people watching and a news stand that let's you oogle the Men of GQ, oh, I mean READ without buying. Â Chocolate and Ryan Gosling in one night.
I was tempted to put three stars because I swear the chicken in my chicken lasagna was from a CAN! Â But that dark chocolate pie....
Looking for a recipe for disaster....?
Take 2 girls on a Friday night who've been waiting (actually dying) to see the Joy Division movie, "Control" for over a year and a half now. Then tell them that it's only playing at the Nuart on the....duh duh duuuuhhhhm...WEST SIDE, then tell them they have 2 hours to find a place to eat before the movie and then throw in the mix a friend coincidentally getting his haircut at Floyd's....annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd GO!
So there we are, driving on the 405 towards unfamiliar territory. We were actually going to exit at Santa Monica, something neither of us really do unless forced. I mean really, the only time I need the 405 is to merge onto the 10 to go to Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica, so imagine my surprise when we were getting off early. Oh to the my.
My trusty co-hort Aunny D had a Persian food place in mind that wasn't too far from the theater, but once we pulled up and peeped the menu and saw that they don't have alcohol (On a Friday night! The horror!!) and there was NO atmosphere, we said, Next! I mean, Aunny and I can pretty much make a party anywhere we go, but here, ooof, that woulda taken skills that my appetite was way too hungry to focus on.
We then called her friend Dylan (who's name I should really change to protect the innocent, but, eh, go with it) and he suggested a few Ramen places, nah, a thai place or two, nah, another Persian place, to which I said, "tell him we want meat and wine." Really, what else do I eat?
We then realized he was at Floyd's getting his haircut so we swung by and he met us at the car window and after going over our starvatary needs, he recommended The Counter. I was stoked since that's been on my list of West side places to try, so yay. But this is where the story goes South. What we heard was Ocean Park, 28th, near Fantasy Island and so we headed toward Fantasy Island, I mean, we clearly both knew where that was. :)
That's when we then got really lost. Aunny was making rights and lefts into areas that terrified us. (Please note that she lives in a not so great area in K-town and I used to live in what I affectionately called, The Chateau de Crackhouse, but the West side terrifies us! I mean, they have khaki wearing people!!)
Anyhoo, I am trying to play good co-pilot by yelping these places on my Blackberry but I can't find a map so really, we are just getting really lost and STARVING at this point. (On a separate note, I think it's times like these that define friendships. If you can get totally lost and are absolutely starving and running on super low blood sugar and can still crack each other up, dammit, that's love!)
We then found The Counter and also found The Line and said, "Eff that, that will take over an hour!! And so we started driving around to where we thought restaurants might be. We passed Violet, the Arsenal, Don Antonio's (yuck), Vito and...is that Floyd's again. Did we just make a total circle!?!?! Daaaamit, and look there's Dylan standing on the corner again and looking at us jerk in and out of traffic like typical female drivers...yeah, I said it.
We then parked and he walked up to the car smirking at us and we were just flustered and at the end of our rope. We then looked and we were standing in front of La Bottega and we saw...wine....a deli counter...smelled food and what can I say...LET"S EAT!!!
We were then seated at a nice little 4 top and before even looking at the menu I said, "We need wine!!" Full bodied, spicy, please!!" The server then plunked 2 bottles on the table and said, "You'll like these then." I then studied the labels but was seeing double from hunger and said, "This one." Once poured, oh yes, spicy, full bodied and yummsville.
We then ordered the fried cheese drenched in marinara and the chicken parmigiana and I forget what Aunny had. I know it was a red sauce pasta and she couldn't really pronounce it on the menu, but said it was good.
All in all, they probably could have served us old shoes covered in marinara and cheese and we would have been happy campers, but they didn't and the food was tasty. The sauce wasn't the typical marinara that I usually like, but the taste has stayed in my memory and I would definitely like to try it again. The prices were reasonable, the servers friendly and it's a neat little place to end up on a Friday night. Very neighborhoodie vibe.
And so if you are in that dangerous West side neighborhood (you know the one with nothing really all that dangerous unless you call yourself an East sider, hehe) then definitely check this place out! Good times.
I keep meaning to review this place and what better time to catch up on my neighborhood reviews than tonight? Â See? Â Not having plans on a Friday night can be incredibly satisfying...
Ok. Â I like the food here. Â It's around the corner from my apartment so I've been here quite a bit and had a lot of different dishes: sandwhiches, salads, pastas... Â They've all been good. Â None are fantastic but they are all good and not that pricey. Â I really like the Italian tuna salad (no mayo!), the pesto gnocchi (it's super creamy and smokey!) and the eggplant parm sandwich (gooey and delicious!). Â I don't like the bruschetta - ick. Â Burnt toast with tomatos on top. Â But, they serve bread with a tomato/basil mix at the tables, which is good. Â Similar to the bruschetta minus the burnt part (and free...). Â The service is fine, nothing great but the people who work there are all really nice. Â
The restaurant is small but they have all these great Italian products that they sell there (along with some not so great items), which are fun to browse while you're waiting for take out. Â
Delivery is pricey (though let's face it, I live next door, I *should* be forced to pay a lot for the laziness of delivery) but take out/pick up service is super fast. Â
La Bottega Marino is not a place I could eat all the time as I feel like a lot of the dishes are kind of heavy but it's enjoyable comfort food, Italian style, at a reasonably affordable price in a cute atmosphere. Â Good enough for four stars for me!
Really good food, but mediocre service. The wait staff is warm and friendly, but I don't think there is enough of them. This is fine if you're not in a hurry.
We tried two soups (minestrone and chicken vegetable) which were both quite good, except the chicken in the chicken vegetable soup was overcooked, but everything else about the soup was tasty. The eggplant napoleon was wonderful (and made a great sandwich reheated the next day) as was the bolognese. Â A nice touch to their coffee is that they heat and steam the milk.
My only complaint was the $15 corkage fee- exorbitant considering the mediocre service. This place is a few blocks from my house so I will definitely be back.
It's deli and restaurant in the corner type of Italian restaurant. I went there for a couple times during the lunch time. Drinking wine or beer right next to deli counter where mom with kids comes by to buy some deli it makes me feel like I'm in Italy or Europe.
Pesto Chicken Sandwich. Delicious!
I've tried a couple of tomato based pasta. Very good.
Pizza.... couldn't stop eating it. I love their thin sliced pizza.
Carbonara... OK..... tasted good but it was too heavy and oily for me, I couldn't finish it.
I would highly recommend to come by with group of three or four on Sunday lunch time. And you have to start with beer or wine, and then enjoy your meal!
La Bottega Marino looks like just a store with shelves of pasta, bottles of wine and cans of tomatoes along with a refrigerated deli case full of pies, cakes and antipasti. But off to the side in the front and back are seating areas for would-be diners. At 11:30 during a weekday, those tables and chairs sit empty with only a couple of people taking in an early lunch.
I had the proscuitto, mozzarella cheese and tomato sandwich ($9.50). My lunch companion picked the Maiale brasato, a hot sandwich with organic roasted shredded pork, caramelized onions, provolone cheese ($9.50). The waiter promised that it would be the "best brasato ever." I almost wanted to change my order.
The sandwich tasted so summery fresh with its basil and tomato slices. The coolness of the proscuitto and thick slices of mozzarella made this the perfect meal to eat on a hot summer's day.
I sampled some of my friend's brasato and it was pretty good for a hot shredded pork sandwich but my cool sandwich suited my mood better.
Looking at the menu I saw that the restaurant has pretty late hours. And with all the unlit candles on the tables I imagine that it's quite a cozy scene during the dinner hours. Perhaps a great place to reenact that Lady & the Tramp spaghetti scene.
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