Pasta Sisters — Restaurant in Culver City

Came in with a friend for an early dinner. She ordered a pasta with a side of grilled chicken. I ordered the salmon with 2 sides, mashed potatoes and a green salad. They have a chicken dish with a lemon caper sauce. I asked if I could have a side of the lemon caper sauce for my salmon. The cashier said they can’t do that. She didn’t know how to charge for it. I pointed to a sign that said, “+$6 extra side of sauce” and said she can charge me that. She said, “No.” I had to cajole her to get her to ask the kitchen and/or a manger to see if they could do it. She resisted, hard. When she finally took the 5 steps over to ask the manager at the end of the counter, I see her vigorously shaking her head “no” while asking, “we CAN’T order her a side of lemon caper sauce, right?” I worked in hospitality for a decade and know about this leading type of communication with a manager so they agree with what I told the customer. If she had asked, “Is there any way we can order her a side of sauce?” The result would have been different. Do they have the lemons and capers? Yes. Do they have a kitchen and pans? Yes. Could they make the sauce that they’ve been making all night long and pour it into a tiny ramekin and charge me $6 for it? Absolutely. But the cashier didn’t want to do it didn’t happen. Salmon was good but nothing special. (Dry without the lemon caper sauce) The salad was a salad. The mashed potatoes were weird. They added nutmeg or something to them and I didn’t finish them. My friend’s pasta was delicious. Weird that they couldn’t toss the chicken in with the pasta so it could be coated with sauce. They HAD to have it plain on the side. Maybe Pasta Sisters is anti-sauce-mixing? Who knows. But it was lame. And the total was $67. No wine or extras. Pricey for what you see in...

Warning - Pasta Sisters does NOT live up to its hype. In fact, the food experience we had left my guest and I wondering why people love this place so much! We just didn’t get it and personally both don’t agree.

Before I dive in, it’s important to note that these are my thoughts based on my tastes, but what I always strive to do is chronicle my experiences honestly.

What we ordered - Arrabbiata Linguine with Burrata, Pesto Spaghetti, Caprese Sandwich, Roasted Vegetables, and Panna Cotta

Things to know - this is an order at the counter and first come first serve seating.

Let’s focus on what was good - it has a nicely organized store front/counter. The table bread (salted focaccia) was the best part of our meal. The food presentation is beautiful (certainly leads you to believe it tastes as good). And the vegetable side was simply prepared but tasty.

What wasn’t good - the pesto… on man… it just didn’t do it for us; it’s made as a very thick dry paste which I found almost to be inedible. If you’re a fan of the way pesto is done in Genoa, this is not that! The Caprese sandwich wasn’t good either (note that it’s made with that pesto). There just is no flavor in this sandwich at all; nothing in it had flavor even when you deconstructed it. In the Arrabbiata, you could only taste the spiciness in the sauce and nothing else. And lastly, the Panna Cotta was just way too dense. Our three mains were such a fail, we ended up leaving so much food to go in the trash which I HATE doing. Lastly, we were never given water for the table or napkins - both a basic necessity ALL restaurants should offer guests.

This Italian restaurant missed too many marks and...

I'd had this place on my food bucket list for years, and am staying with friends who don't live far from it for a couple days. I'd had a bad day, pasta is my happy food, and so I got myself up and headed over here. Oh my freaking gosh lemme tell you how glad I was that I did. The place is fairly small, with a good sized patio outside and a smaller one they're doing construction on on the other side of it. There's a good sized free parking lot behind it that is shared with other businesses. I was gonna go for my default of tomato basil, and then decided/was talked into the pesto which was my second choice. You order at the counter, get a number, find a table, and they bring you bread and oil/vinegar to dip it in. There's a mint infused water station, the bathrooms are up front and clean, and everyone was so nice there. I sat down, inhaled the bread I didn't plan on eating all of, and not too long later a staff member brought over this plate of green deliciousness.

I am a bonafide 1110% pasta lover for life, have been since I could chew food. This was one of thee best pasta dishes I've ever had, it was cooked so perfectly, was chewy, the sauce went so well with it, and my only single negative comment was that i wish it had been warmer than it was (it was nearly room temperature).

They have salads, sides, dessert, drinks (alcoholic and not), and the place was slammed. I didn't plan on joining the clean plate club tonight but oh wow did I, with zero regrets. It was so good that someone almost drove almost an hour in traffic to come meet me for pasta even after I had finished mine. I will be back asap and try the tomato basil, and will bring...