Cafe Med

Moderately priced Italian dining in the heart of the chichi Sunset Strip.

by Contributor at Citysearch

In Short
With its perfect corner location and curbside tables, this cafe can get by on looks alone. A curving copper-topped coffee bar runs along the casual dining room. The Italian-inspired menu features starters like salmon tartare on a bed of dill sauce, and burrata di bufala, a hollow of fresh mozzarella stuffed with mascarpone cheese, accented with roasted red peppers. Popular entrees include lightly breaded sea bass with horseradish crust, and rich spinach-ricotta ravioli in sage butter.

10/27/09

OH PLEASE

by jpwilson19 at Citysearch

These people complaining about the 20% service charge obviously don't tip that much; 20% is pretty standard here in LA. The reason why they charge is probably because most Italians stiff the wait staff. If you were reasonable tippers, you wouldn't even write such a sordid review. My Uncle owns an Italian restaurant in New York and when our cousins came from Italy they even stiffed the wait staff in his own restaurant!!!

When American's go to Italy they always double tip the staff, and obviously 5% here is all you want to pay.

GO CAFE MED!

• Pros: Atmosphere
• Cons: Can be noisy

07/08/09

Not worth the money

by Susan24 at Citysearch

Recommended by the hotel but we were so disappointed.

Food was cold, badly prepared and staff unfriendly.

Also because we had accents, we were charged 20% service charge for 2 people!!!!!

• Pros: Location
• Cons: Poor Quality and Poor Service

10/07/08

Got charged for service just because we have accents!!!

by crisss at Citysearch

We are Italians and we, therefore, have an accent. We have been to Cafe Med in the past and this never happened, but it did the last two times, so I will never return there. The waiter (who was rude and really not attentive to us) charged us the service. I told him I have never seen that in 20 years in LA. He said they do that during summer season. Ok, I went there on October 4...looks to me like Summer is over...plus nowhere in the menu was indicated that the service was included. I am sure it was because he believed we were tourists. This is discrimination to Italians in an Italian place!!!! Ridicolous. NEVER AGAIN THERE>

• Pros: Nice location
• Cons: Bad service

08/29/08

Great experience!

by lbctx at Citysearch

Cafe Med is on a busy corner location along Sunset Plaza. You'll find loads of parking just behind restaurant, which is definitely a plus in this area. Choose a seat on the patio if possible; you won't be disappointed with the people watching. (One caveat: there was a VERY close traffic call in the intersection and we realized, while smelling the burned tire rubber, that in the event of an actual accident, the patio wouldn't be protected from flying debris or sliding vehicles. Such is the case with all outdoor cafes; this one is just on an extremely busy street.)

The menu was filled with interesting choices, from salads to sandwiches to pizza to pasta to meat/chicken/seafood entrees. (With prices ranging from $10 to $30, there's something for every budget.) We selected the fried calamari appetizer to share, followed by separate entrees of grilled prawns and grilled salmon. As we waited, we enjoyed biscuit-like bread with a wonderfully fruity olive oil and a lovely dry riesling.

The tender, crispy calamari was served with an excellent light red, almost pink, marinara that accented rather than overpowered. The prawns were huge, split like lobsters, and served on a bed of crunchy greens. The salmon was very simply served with a tasty side of fresh corn and tomatoes. In all dishes, the quality of the ingredients spoke for themselves.

We finished with a light and airy tiramisu that more than fulfilled its "pick me up" translation. Delicious!

Total tab for everything was a very reasonable $80. The value received was well worth the price.

The location's ambiance and excellent service enhanced one of the best dining experiences during our week in LA. We plan to return to Cafe Med on our next visit.

• Pros: Great food, helpful service, easy parking, people-watching

07/13/08

Poor Service

by mkcardriver at Citysearch

After pouring wine for the LA Wine Fest at The Raleigh Studios, 8 of us,(two being winemakers and related winery employees) had dinner, which was good overall. I got the Raviolis with Lobster and Corn which I couldn't quite taste. What our whole table couldn't help but notice was that our server or busser's were quite fast to take orders, serve food and clear table, but we had to ask for water which okay BUT it was never refilled. We were never offered sparkling water as apposed to tap, two of us had hot tea and was never offered to have our teapot refilled. And to top it off, we brought all our own wine, offered the wine to our server, and left the remaining bottles of wine for the staff to enjoy and was still charge full corkage. I understand LA is not a wine making region but usually we are not fully charge for corkage or the fee is waved. We had full meals, lots of deserts and some bar drinks for 8 top. I asked for a wine list because we usually purchase wine too but one never arrived. I don't know if our Italian nice handsome waiter was pre-occupied. All I can say is two wineries from Central Coast will not return to Cafe MED and will not recommend it to the rest of Winery Owners/Makers the next time we bring our wine to the LA area for the public to enjoy.

• Pros: FOOD
• Cons: SERVICE

05/22/08

More expensive than nearby restaurants

by foodie114 at Citysearch

The food was pretty good, but overall it was overpriced compared to restaurants like Le Petit Four, which is down the street and has the same, maybe even better, quality food.

• Pros: Food is pretty good
• Cons: Price

11/26/07

Decent pizzas and pasta dishes

by juanmore at Citysearch

This might not be a comprehensive review of the place since we only had an ok Caesar salad that had more of the white hearts than the green leafs of the romaine, the Margherita that was a cheese pizza with a small garnish of basil chiffonade (NO TOMATOES), and two pasta dishes. I though the pizza crust would have been baked better or crisper, since they have an old wood pizza oven. But it was a bit soft, just ok. I had the veal tortelloni w/prosciutto and peas in a cream sauce, which rivaled something from OliveGarden (the price too, that made it ok). My wife had the spaghetti w/pesto, good, would be better if they did not smother the fresh al dente pasta w/sauce. Remember, Italians feel that the pasta al dente is the central part of the dish and not the sauce. Nice location for a night out, the place is clean and great free parking in the rear. Since it is an open kitchen you can see and hear the Spanish speaking cooks and they can get a bit loud; I speak Spanish and some of the things these guys were talking about, ahi guey (if you know what I mean)! Next time I'll try something from the Secondi section of the menu and I'll write about that.

• Pros: Free parking, location, outside seating (to people watch), prices and clean.
• Cons: OK food and loud cooks.

11/24/07

Good for group lunches

by jericsmall at Citysearch

Cafe Med is my favorite Sunset Strip location for a nice place to take the group for a treat. The location is large enough to handle groups of 10 or so during the lunch hour. The pizzas are delicious and European style. They have an excellent wine collection and knowledgeable wait staff. I'd recommend a reservation just to make sure they're prepared. Get some appetizers to share. Outside seating is best and will lead to the occasional celeb spotting or regular Lamborghini viewing.

07/24/07

I'd rather stay home and eat toast and eggs

by tedm23 at Citysearch

My wife and I went to eat at this restaurant and the next day, we both got very sick.

We could not make it to work the next day as we were in very bad conditions. We should have gone to the doctor and reported it but did not have a chance. We were not in the condition of being able to move and we had to go to work the day after. If I knew I would have a car accsident, I would rather stay home even if I have to give up a fun event. If you knew you might get sick, you probably would rather stay home and eat whatever you have home.. or simply go somwhere else...

07/16/07

Best Thin Crust Pizza in L.A.

by eschuman at Citysearch

As a thin crust pizza connoisseur, I was very pleasantly surprised by the truffle oil four-cheese pizza I got at Cafe Med this weekend. Although there was a bit of a wait, the hostess was very accomodating and made us feel as though we were being taken care of even before we were seated. Although we would have preferred an outdoor table due to the entertaining people watching, the ambiance inside was lovely and lended itself to a more intimate dining experience. I also got to taste the caesar salad and meat lasagna, both which were very tasty. Although I did see a review regarding bad fish at Cafe Med, I will definitely return for an easy dinner and a great pizza.

• Pros: Incredible pizza
• Cons: Long waits