UOVO Marina del Rey — Restaurant in Culver City

We have been to other Uovo's and found their food to be quite good and the service pretty good. And then we walked into the Twilight Zone of bad host, bad cooks, pre-made food, and just okay service.

We parked and got in line, they do not take reservations at all and were told it would be at least a 15 minute wait to eat outside. All that is offered inside is counter space. Not wanting to wait, we decided for the counter. We were told to wait for him to seat us at the counter, standing the whole time which anyone can see is not something I can do for long and he, the host, said he would seat us right away. He did not. He made us stand there for over 10 minutes for a counter seat (there were plenty of them) while he waited on those who came after us, still not seated, and we had to ask him to take care of us. He told us rudely to wait. He was just dealing with the line and taking names. He finally sat us and it was cold and the seats are just so uncomfortable. We asked to be moved and we would wait for the outside. We were rudely, told, "You have already been seated, you will now have to go outside to the back of the line and start again!." We asked if these people in this long line had reservations and he lied and said a few did. They don't take reservations. We should have left right then, but because the other Uovo that we had been to before was good we decided to deal with the cold and uncomfortable wooden seats and hope for the best. I have never dealt with such a crude host.

A server came by and gave us menus and napkins. He wanted to know if we were ready to order. Now, he had just delivered to us the menu. But really he wanted to go home. After waiting another 10 minutes I told him we are ready to order. He looked at us and said that here, this person will take care of you. I saw him take off his apron and walk out the door.

Another server came and she was nice.

We had the Crema di Parmigiano, which is handmade meat tortellini (contains pork) in a cream of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. It was nothing like what I had at the Santa Monica store. It was just some pasta with fettuccini sauce, you know, like what you can get at Olive Garden or from a jar. The one I had at the Santa Monica store was great. It was yellow sauce because of the great spices they used and was made fresh. This, like every other dish they "make" is pre made and is in pots on the stove or in drawers under the counter. It is already all cooked. They just heat it up for a minute, toss on a pre made sauce ( all in big bowls) and that is it. It was not good at all.

My husband had Yellowtail Crudo and he did very much enjoy that. He also had broccolini which was good, not great. Their Tiramisu was good, again not great.

The real problem with this place beyond the cafeteria style of cooking, the cold, the rude host, the not great or even close to it pre-made food is the hygiene. I will only address the worst offense I saw. The main cook, sadly ours, clearly has a cold. Though out the entire time we were there, over an hour, he was constantly wiping his nose on his sleeve with his gloves on and going back to work (and doing this while he was cooking). He did this about once a minute. It was disgusting. He then took off his gloves, stuck his thumb up his nose and wiped it on his shirt. He put on another pair of gloves, never washed his hands and continued with the getting the drip of mucus off his nose, most on the gloves, some on this shirt. There was no sanitizer in sight and I did not see a place for him to wash up. Had a Health Department employee seen this they would have gone nuts. It was just gross. I was not at all comfortable eating what he cooked. My husband ate most of it as there was nothing to eat at home and all this was over priced for what you get.

He also enjoyed checking his phone that was in his pocket and...

PSA to Angelenos, this is NOT the place to go for pasta. As first time patrons of Uovo, my husband & I were surprised to learn the restaurant’s pasta dough is overnighted from Bologna daily. This struck us as excessive & polluting, antithetical to what pasta represents in Italy.

Uovo pasta dough has to make the 6,000+ mile trip from Bologna to LA everyday because the restaurant claims they can’t find quality eggs stateside. Scratching my head. There are no good eggs in California, one of the country’s most important food producers, or anywhere closer? Forgoing the opportunity to work with regenerative farms to produce amazing eggs & instead choosing to pollute the planet & bypass local farmers is a red flag. We almost left, but received the text our seats were ready so went ahead.

I thought since I was about to be complicit in contributing to the carbon footprint of a trip to Italy, hopefully the pasta would transport me there. But the trip took a turn for the worse.

We were crammed onto stools with no leg room. Moments after ordering, the first course arrived with the wine. The breakneck speed was odd since dinner in Italy is not known to be a rushed affair. Why bring ingredients from IT if you’re not celebrating an Italian experience? Disappointment continued with a flavorless salad. I was confused why other ingredients weren’t treated as specially as the pasta dough.

Before we finished the first course, pastas arrived. Plates were stacking up, we felt super rushed. Food was delivered with speed instead of care.

Knowing the cacio e pepe I was eating had a huge carbon footprint didn’t help its depressing flavor & presentation. The tonnarelli was drowned in gloppy, salty sauce that lacked any similarity to the cacio e pepes of Rome. While the pasta itself had a nice texture, the flavor of the supposedly wondrous Bologna-made dough was masked by an overly salty, unbalanced sauce. This was the wrong way to treat the food Uovo claims doesn’t exist in this hemisphere.

Then came the only option for dessert, tiramisu. But what was set before us was so unrecognizable it was clear the restaurant was not interested in recreating the finesse inherent in this dessert. We received a cup of melted coffee ice cream with crumbles of lady fingers & a glop of chocolate sauce on top. Moments later a waiter dropped the check before we’d touched dessert. Continuing with the rushed vibes, we hurried to pay $200 for confusion & disappointment and got outta there.

I’ll end with this: if Uovo is gonna be audacious & environmentally damaging, they have a responsibility: to actually make delicious Italian food while creating a space where patrons feel good eating it — but sorry folks you’re not going to find that experience here. Instead you’ll get a turn & burn experience — the opposite of dining in Italy. The disrespect to our planet, to Italians, to Angelenos (who freaking love pasta!!), is not gonna cut it. I do not recommend this restaurant and...

My family and I always enjoyed eating at this location. Since I have several food sensitivities, I always ordered the Ragout Bolognese. I recently had to go gluten free as well and there are gluten free options on the menu but only for a few selected dishes. We arrived super hungry and my family ordered their dishes first. When I tried ordering the Ragout dish and asked for the GF option instead, the waiter informed us that this was not possible. After asking why, he answered its restaurant policy not to accommodate special requests. Only certain dishes are allowed to be ordered GF (Like my husband’s dish with Arrabiata sauce. ) The waiter was sorry and tried to find me a dish I could eat but since I have many other intolerances including dairy, tomato sauce or even Arugula salad, there was nothing left on the menu for me to order. I explained to him that I had this dish many times before and tolerated it very well, we just have to switch the pasta and I kindly ask for an exception since I was very hungry. He made it more awkward and embarrassing for me when he said that he needed to make a phone call for this request. He came back and said sorry I am not allowed. So I told him that I can’t eat anything else from the menu. My family ate without me, and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the GF pasta in my husband’s dish. They looked almost exactly like the regular noodles that come with the Ragout, just a little thinner. I am speechless and cannot understand how a restaurant is refusing to serve gluten free pasta to customers, especially when it’s available. This was rude and something I can’t believe. Very sad policy. I get the idea that chefs want the dishes to taste and look in a certain way, but believe me, people with intolerances are totally happy to get the chance to switch out some pasta and are fully aware of that it might taste a little different or possibly better with regular pasta. I am super sad and will most likely not come back! Poor customer service ! (The waiter was very sorry and I felt bad for him too, letting me watch my husband and...