08/24/09

1 hour later, I am sitting at home HUNGRY!!!

by asiabla

This place was highly recommended to us by friends, so tonight we wanted to have a delicious Italian dinner at Il Pastaio....that was not the case.

I can only speak about my meal, which was Milanese chicken with roasted vegetables - price $25.95 (something like that) I got an enormous piece of chicken, which was not seasoned at all, and tasted like battered rubber!!! With than I was given 2 baby carrots, half of a small potato, and 2 pieces of asparagus. This dish really didn't taste good, so I asked the waiter to take it back and I ordered a half of portion of their ravioli.... which was better than the chicken, but my great grandmother makes better ravioli than this fancy italian place. I would never ever recommend this place. It was very expensive (but this is Beverly Hills), the waiter was rude and I just had a really bad experience. So I spent around $100 for dinner tonight and am still feeling very hungry. Don't go to this place, save your money.

• Cons: felt like I was eating rubber

06/13/09

Would not recommend!!!

by kimmie20

We went to Il Pastaio for lunch on a Sunday to celebrate my Mothers birthday. We were seated promtly outside, which was nice. The meal was pretty good. Midway through the meal, my Mother found something in her pasta. She asked if she should say anything. I told her yes. I asked for our waiter, which we found out, with no explanation from anyone, that our original waiter had left and we now had someone else. I very discreetly told the waiter what she found. His only reply we Oh My. He did offer to bring her another plate, which she refused. No one came out to apologize for this. Which given that this is suppose to be such a nice restaurant, we did expect someone to come out and say something, but it never happened. They fortunately did not charge her for the meal, but an apology would have been a nice gester. I got the impression that if you are not a celebrity they really could care less about you being there or not. Would not go back.

• Pros: Nice location
• Cons: Snobbish waiters and poor customer service

01/16/09

Why is this place busy

by hankscott1234

Having relocated to Beverly Hills recently a co-worker took me to what he said was the best Italian in Beverly Hills.

Twenty minutes pass and we were still waiting for a table. I assumed this would be great food since there didn't seem to be a waiit at the surrounding restaurants. I was wrong. My minestrone tasted like boiled water with a vegtable or two. My pasta was average at best. The coffee was good.

Why is this place so busy?

• Pros: average food
• Cons: Had to wait for a table way too long

09/19/08

Rude waiters, horribel bartender, but good food.

by live2eatinla

The staff is very rude and they don't care because the food is so great. This is the first time I encountered real Italian men so disgusting and rude, they made the French seem the warmest and the kindest.

I recommend ordering food to take out. Don't eat there, and if you do, tip them so little that they would get the message.

03/31/08

YUM!! 10 Stars ++++++++++++++++

by rroBevHills

We've been eating here since it opened and I should have written a review a long time ago. Excellent management style. Delicious food. Everything rocks. The seating is prompt. The staff is organized and helpful. They are extremely accommodating no matter what your situation. I have enjoyed everything I've ever ordered here. YUM!!! I would give this place 10 stars!!!

03/22/08

Solid Italian food in Beverly Hills.

by FoodEEEEEE

So this month my wife and decided that we were on a mission to find the best Italian food in Los Angeles. We went to Il Pastaio last week and it was very good, but it most definitely was not the best in LA (this weeks foray to Il Grano blew it away, BTW). Still, it was very good. I'll keep it short, since there are already many reviews.

THE GOOD:

Excellent pasta. The standouts are the freshly made 'flat' pastas like the pappardelle and tagliatelle. The raviolis (also fresh made), were little pockets of joy.

The antipasti were also pretty solid. Great bresaola and salads.

The prices were surprisingly reasonable for 90210.

THE BAD:

The Secondi were VERY average. We had both veal dishes and the branzino, and all three entrees were mediocre. The basic vegetable sides and garnishes made the plates look like something from 1985.

When I asked the server for a recommendation, he constantly tried to up-sell me on the most expensive thing on the menu. I hate that. I actually gave him the benefit of the doubt and took his recommendation on the Venison Pappardelle, but my wife's Paglia Fieno (at half the price) was far superior. That is when I realized that he was inexcusably full of it.

CONCLUSION:

Great place to grab a bite in BH (it was packed on a Wednesday night). Stick with the antipasti and pastas and you won't be disappointed.

• Pros: Great Fresh Pasta and Antipasti
• Cons: Average service, dated menu, and meat dishes less than spectacular

03/05/08

Good Lunch spot

by simplyjg

I went here on my lunch break and we were seated promptly. The food was good and service was ok. Good place to spot celebs.

• Pros: good lunch spot
• Cons: tables are too close to eachother

03/03/08

Reservations don't mean anything

by rtmilder

I visited the restaurant a couple of weeks ago with my husband and another couple. We were very much looking forward to dining at the restaurant after having read all of the great reviews. However, our experience was not that great. We had reservations for 7:00 and did not get seated until after 8:00. Reservations don't mean anything. They are completely useless. We had to wait because James Caan showed up with 5 friends and even thought we had arrived before his party, they got our table. When we inquired about our table (several times), we were lied to and told that one person from Caan's party had come in before us. If they had just told us the truth, it would not have been so bad but the lying really bothered us. At some point during our wait, we asked to see the manager. Actually, we asked several times. However, the manager never showed. The least they could have done was to send the manager to placate us but I guess they were not smart enough or didn't care enough. Even though the food was good, we will not go back. It really is not worth it.

02/25/08

A Hidden Gem

by kitten227

I finally tried this restaurant after hearing rave reviews from friends. It is very small and not as well known as other restaurants in the area, but probably one of the BEST italian restaurant in the city. The wait was long (even with a reservation) but the spectacular food and service more than made up for it. Like I said, the restaurant is SMALL therefore the tables are very, very close together which was kind of annoying, but the food is well worth it! I also reccomend Il Trammezino (sp.?) next door. They have excellent paninis, salad, and pasta... great, casual lunch spot or for late night takout on the weekends.

• Pros: Excellent food, attantive service, reasonable prices
• Cons: Cramped, Takes a long time to be sat (even with a reservation)

02/21/08

Great food- but inconsiderate service and horrible seating set up

by skytosea4me

When you stay at a hostel or dine on a budget in Europe, you sit very close to the other people, almost like a cafeteria. So when a restaurant wants to fit as many people in their establishment as possible in LA, they decide it's more palatable to call it "European style seating" (picture me saying that all with a big smirk)- I arrived on a moderately busy night, and everyone was sat so close they couldn't move their elbows, and I don't find that romantic at all.

Our server seemed very preoccupied with some girls across the street and just did the basic things without any hospitality. I can deal with a cold server if he is deal1ng with everything on time and not out right rude, but towards the end of our meal, he slapped to desert menus down, and after being ignored for 32 whole minutes (oh yeah, we counted!) he came over and asked us if we wanted dessert- we did initially, but after he disappeared for so long we were naturally unhappy so we decided to slip over to Urth cafe instead.

It's not all negative :) The pumpkin ravioli was amazing, and the lobster was pretty great too. I really enjoyed my wine. My compliments to the chef! The night would have been great had they just put the tables a foot apart and possibly got a server who was thinking about more than his next commercial audition and the young ladies across the street.

• Pros: The food is excellent
• Cons: You're sat directly next to strangers, lame service