Italian restaurants in California
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Pascucci
Don't let the sight of tourists deter you from palazzo-style Pascucci. Despite occasionally spotty service, locals love the filling pastas, pizzas and paninis here, not to mention the bargain prices. For a taste of Italian heaven, try the Bellagio: smoked chicken, mushroom, red onions and sun-dried tomatoes in a roasted garlic-parmesan cream sauce over bowtie pasta. Sit at the bar for the quickest service.
reviewed
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Cafe Bernardo
This is a Midtown favorite serving all meals. Stop by for strong coffee or have a full-on meal with pasta, a grilled skirt steak and wine. There's an outdoor seating area and an adjacent martini bar that's popular around happy hour.
reviewed
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C
Trattoria La Siciliana
An Italian hotspot south of campus among the restaurants of the charming Elmwood District.
reviewed
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Ideale
Expat Italian regulars are stunned that a restaurant this authentic borders the Pacific, with proper bucatini ammatriciana (Roman tube pasta with tomato-pancetta-pecorino sauce), seafood risotto made with superior Canaroli rice, a well-priced selection of Italian wines, and wisecracking Tuscan waitstaff.
reviewed
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E
A16
Like a high-maintenance date, this Neapolitan pizzeria demands reservations and then haughtily makes you wait in the foyer. The 2009 James Beard Rising Star Chef Nate Appleman’s housemade mozzarella burrata and chewy-but-not-too-thick-crust pizza makes it worth your while, especially the kicky calamari. Skip the spotty desserts and concentrate on adventurous house-cured salumi platters, including the delectably spicy pig’s ear terrine (no, really).
reviewed
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Caffé Sport
For a boisterous good time and Sicilian seafood and pasta dishes in heaping family-size quantities, Caffé Sport's the ticket. Sicilian-born owner Antonio Latona is a wood-carver and painter, and over the past three decades he has decorated every square inch of his seafood restaurant with his own intricately carved, colorful benches, chairs, tables and ornamental beams - it's like having dinner at an eccentric Italian uncle's place.
reviewed
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G
Little Dom’s
New on the scene but already a neighborhood fave, Little Dom’s lures rumpled hipsters, laid-back solos and tot-carrying alternadads with easygoing charm and satisfying Italian meals. Penny-pinchers love the $15 Monday-night suppers (add $10 for a bottle of wine) but we like it best for breakfast. Mmm, ricotta blueberry pancakes. In WeHo? Try the brother restaurant Dominick’s (8715 Beverly Blvd).
reviewed
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H
Ca’ Del Sole
Sitting beside the fireplace within the Mediterranean walls of Ca’ Del Sole, it’s easy to feel like one of the Hollywood powerbrokers who frequent the place. Efficient, low-key service at this industry haven, bordering NBC/Universal’s busy Gate 3, keeps dealmakers happy while talking numbers over fresh insalata di mare and pumpkin-stuffed mezzelune.
reviewed
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L'Opera
Even simple dishes like bruschetta and pesto gnocchi become feistily flavored culinary works of art at this elegant dining shrine. The waiters are old-school and the sommelier capable of dissecting each wine down to the molecular level. We were blown away by the ravioli ai tartufo (truffle ravioli) and the buttery filet mignon with wild mushrooms.
reviewed
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Michelangelo
Finicky purists scoff at Michelangelo, but for a cheap plate of spaghetti Bolognese and a convivial crowd, it's hard to beat this hole-in-the-wall joint in the middle of the Columbus St action. Wine comes in rooster-shaped pitchers, and big bowls of gummie bears get passed around for dessert. Fun, easy and fast - except when there's a line. Cash only.
reviewed
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K
Piccolo
This teensy spot, mere steps from the boardwalk, pays homage to the original Venice with vintage black-and-white photos and Carnevale masks. The food too is as authentic as it gets with beef carpaccio, Tuscan bean soup, pistachio-encrusted lamb loin and any of the homemade pastas getting big thumbs up from the grown-up bohemian crowd. No reservations.
reviewed
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L
Dan Tana’s
Tightly packed booths, red-jacketed staff, smooth-as-silk cocktails and no-frills pasta – old Hollywood still lingers at Dan Tana’s, open since 1964. Some say the pasta dishes are overpriced, but Jessica Alba, George Clooney and the rest of the new Hollywood crowd don’t seem to mind. The Caesar salad is especially good, and perfect for splitting.
reviewed
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L'Osteria del Forno
Off-the-boat waiters serve trattoria-style Italian dishes at this tiny, eight-table spot that lines 'em up every night. Though little on the menu is truly authentic, the crispy-thin pizzas and roasted meats have a soul-satisfying quality and prices are reasonable. For dessert: affogato (espresso poured over ice cream). Cash only.
reviewed
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Bistro Laurent
This vintage brick restaurant is helmed by Laurent Grangien, who brings a native expertise to the French menu. At lunch, the menu focuses on simple specials like seasonal salads and pizzas that will transport you to the Mediterranean via your shady garden table. At night, things are more complex; just be sure to save room for dessert.
reviewed
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Liguria Bakery
Bleary-eyed art students and Italian grandmothers are in line by 8am for the cinnamon-raisin focaccia hot out of the 100-year-old oven, leaving 9am dawdlers a choice of tomato or classic rosemary, and 10am stragglers out of luck. Take what you can get, and don’t kid yourself that you’re going to save it for lunch.
reviewed
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O
Il Cielo
Candles, Chianti and a table for two in an enchanted garden are the hallmarks of a romantic night out. If your date doesn't make you swoon, then the rustic Northern Italian food should still ensure an unforgettable evening. That scene in Legally Blonde where Reese Witherspoon is dumped by her boyfriend was shot here.
reviewed
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Allegria
This convivial trattoria near the Malibu Pier is often filled with patrons lusting after the pizzas tickled by wood fire just long enough to produce perfectly crispy thin crusts. Other dishes beckon too, including pretty pastas, tender osso buco and crispy fried calamari paired with a tomato sauce that's got some kick.
reviewed
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Q
Little Star Pizza
Midwest weather patterns reveal that Chicago’s thunder has been stolen by Little Star’s deep-dish pie, with California additions of cornmeal crust, fresh local veggies and just the right amount of cheese. The all-meat pizza is a Chicago stockyard’s worth of meat – not for the faint of heart.
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Casa Bianca
For over half a century, the Martorana family has plied Oxy students (from nearby Occidental College) and pizza punters of all stripes with habit-forming thin-crust pies. Their homemade lasagna and ravioli are also culinary excursions straight to the Boot. Pass the inevitable wait with drinks at nearby Chalet.
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Café Prego
Avalon has a number of good Italian restaurants (Antonio's and Villa Portofino, both on Crescent Ave, are also recommended), but this one fits as comfortably as your favorite pair of flip-flops. No culinary flights of fancy here - just soul-sustaining pasta, crispy calamari, fresh seafood and steak.
reviewed
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Goat Hill Pizza
Thin-crust sourdough pizza served with pitchers of Anchor Steam lures hungry crowds uphill from Bottom of the Hill and other downhill bars. When other restaurants are closed on Monday nights, here you can load up on all the pizza you can eat for $10.
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Mama D's
This neighborhood Italian fits like a well-worn shoe and puts 'heap' into 'cheap'. The thin-crust pizzas, homemade ravioli, tangy cioppino and freshly baked bread, all served with a smile, keep regulars coming back for more. Expect a wait.
reviewed
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Angelini Osteria
Conversation flows as freely as the wine at this convivial eatery whose eclectic clientele shares a passion for Gino Angelini's soulful risottos, pungent pastas and rustic trattoria classics à la roasted veal shank and grilled quail.
reviewed
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Angelini's Italian Restaurant
At the time of research this upscale new eatery had yet to open but the last bricks were being laid on the back patio's wood-fire oven. The proposed menu promised fresh pasta, steaks, pizza, seafood and a short but varied wine selection.
reviewed
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Di Napoli's Firehouse
A charmingly old-school Italian joint in a strip mall, the friendly family's servers dish up minestrone soup so hearty it could fuel an expedition, plus gigantic calzones, pastas, chicken parmesan and salads.
reviewed
