(310) 451-4595
1501 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica,
CA
90401
34.012704
-118.496469
Neighborhoods: Downtown, West LA
Hours:
Mon-Thu 11:30am-10pm
Fri-Sat 11:30am-11pm
Sun 10am-3pm, 4pm-10pm
Price:
$$$
Last updated 6.20.11
Category:
Payment Methods:
American Express, Visa, Discover, MasterCard
Restaurant Special Features:
Romantic Dining, Brunch, Outdoor Dining
Cuisine:
What People Are Saying About I Cugini
Featured Review
Contributor
Contributor
In Short – The large dining room is accented by rustic chandeliers, exposed-beam ceilings and sounds of sizzling from the open kitchen. A huge glassed-in patio overlooks Ocean Avenue and Palisades Park. The menu emphasizes Italian seafood; the specialty dish is a grilled whole fish. Other items include shellfish risotto and seafood spaghetti. Desserts offer an array of sweets like sorbets, fruits and tiramisu.
Editor's Tips
- Brunch:
- Enjoy smooth tunes with brunch. From 10am to 3pm Sunday, the Wave 94.7 broadcasts live jazz from the restaurant. Call ahead for reservations.
- The Extras:
- After your meal, stroll along the Santa Monica Pier or the Third Street Promenade, which is just a couple blocks away.
- Know Before You Go:
- Reservations are recommended. Credit card required for party of 10 or more.
| ambiance | 100.0% positive |
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|---|---|---|
| dessert | 100.0% positive |
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| drinks | 75.0% positive |
|
| food quality | 80.95000267028809% positive |
|
| menu variety | 87.5% positive |
|
| overall | 75.0% positive |
|
| return potential | 75.0% positive |
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| service | 87.5% positive |
|
| value | 69.43999767303467% positive |
|
| wait time | 100.0% positive |
|
Major disappointment
by Coops
Went in early January with great expectations only to be disappointed by a very poor quality of food, in fact may have been responsible for a bout of food poison, my suspicion anyway. Avoid.
- Pros: ambience and location
- Cons: food quality
Not a good place to eat on Ocean Ave
by DenaG
I went to I Cugini last Saturday night for dinner and the food was pretty awful. My date and I shared the grilled Calamari and it was gross. I've had grilled Calamari before and although nothing compares to it being fried, their version tasted bad. We then shared a Cesar salad and it was fine. We also split the Shirmp Risotto and it had like a sandy grit (sand maybe) in it. We sent it back. The manager was super friendly and felt horrible and asked if we wanted to order anything else. Since the cooked food was so bad we said no. He then sent over a delicious chocolate desert - best thing we had the entire meal. I would never go back as there are too many good restaurants in Santa Monica and our meal tasted pretty terrible. Interestingly the restaurant was packed.
- Pros: The Manager was nice and wanted to fix our issue
- Cons: tasteless food, patio was quite loud
sat. night visit
by taylordk
Went there Saturday night with one of the restaurant's investor's no less. The place looked nice, then we sat down with the menus, and they looked the menu's at a ridiculous family restaurant, with illustrations and a wacky font. That's fine for Applebees, but this it seems like this is trying to be a top tier restaurant, or at least, its prices scream that. Overall, it seemed like Olive Garden quality food at 5-Star restaurant prices.
I got the whole Daurade fish grilled. There is a choice of having a whole fish prepared four different ways. The waiter told me the chefs prefer to girl it so I got it that way. Just that choice in itself is so ridiculous and awful, I knew it was going to be bad news. The fish came and I had them fillet it for me and it came back in broken chunks and looked very unappetizing. It was bland, screamed for some kind of sauce. The sides were even worse. Spinach salad that was cold like it just came out of the fridge and clumped together, with nothing on it but pickled onions. It was disgusting. Oh, and garlic mashed potoatoes that weren't well mashed and tasted like water. Another at the table had the lasagna, which was way too big a portion and also didn't seem freshly made. She thought it was okay. We got the grilled calamari appetizer too. That was way too small a portion, especially for the price.
Listen, if you like Olive Garden or Red Lobster, this is definitely a step up for you, and I hope you enjoy paying steep prices for mediocre to bad food, but you probably can't tell the difference anyway and are giving this place 5 stars.
I Cugini - Santa Monica = worst place to eat!
by Meerkat2008
To give a star to these guys would be an extravagance..... based on today's experience. We felt ashamed to treat our guests from Italy to such a poor quality food. All was substandard ...we might as well hvae taken them to McDonald's. We all feel sick now. These guys are not seving Italian cuisine! The service was so bad with this arrogant waiter. This is not about knowing or not knowing about seafood or pizza dishes and presentation ..this is about stealing our money. I feel bad for even paying for the junk they served. Funny ..there was a Zagat survey box there .... makes me laugh!
- Pros: Location
- Cons: Quality
Not the best
by gsabean
Obviously, no one here has ever been to the East Coast. Does anyone know real seafood in California? I have yet to find a good seafood restaurant in this entire state, and I Cugini continues that quest.
I went with a group of 10 last night, and the service and food really could have been better. I had the mussels (dry and bland), and the soft shell crab (definitely not the best I've ever had - and not worth $27). There's very little to choose from. That, and the waitress couldn't even pronounce the names of the dishes. Yea, real authentic Italian.
- Pros: the view
- Cons: the food
The Details on I Cugini
Place Categories:
- great overflowing italian food
- great service
- great location
- great fresh italian seafood restaurant
- worst place
- professional servers
- enjoyable end culinary experience
- mediocre quality food
- fantastic atmosphere
- nice patio view
- great entrees
- beautiful patio
- all loved meal
- incredible nice ambience
- overpriced drinks
- great heirloom tomatoes
- like whole fish
- cold spinach salad
- great basil
- great music
- helpful staff
- like italian seafood
- good ambiance
- best sunday brunch
- favorite italian

