North Italia — Restaurant in El Segundo

The large selection off of North Italia’s menu attracted me to give this restaurant a try. However, based on the incompetent service from the front of house staff to the wait staff to the food quality and flavour, I will not be a returning.

Special requests were clearly written in the OpenTable reservation page for a spacious indoor table in a quiet area. The hostess was about to sit us at an outside table until she reread the special requests. She and her assistant were dressed more for a gym workout than hostess attire – extremely unprofessional. Also, we were situated near the kitchen in the noisiest area of the restaurant were we weren’t able to have a conversation in normal volume! We sat at our table for nearly 15 minutes BEFORE we were greeted by our server. I requested to speak to the manager on two occasions to the hostess but the manager never came to my table. Honestly, if I wanted this lack of service and being ignored, I would have just stayed at home!

As an apology, our waiter offered us a complimentary order of the calamari and dessert. However, when we received the check, we were charged for the calamari…I suggest that all restaurant patrons should inspect the food/beverage charges on the bill PRIOR to paying the check regardless of the price point of the restaurant – never assume that your bill is correct.

For a party of three, we ordered plenty of food in an effort to try a variety of flavour, texture and spices. We ordered Crispy Calamari, Wild Shrimp Scampi (the kitchen ran out of this appetizer item and was substituted for the entrée, Roasted Salmon), Arancini, Funghi Pizza, Squid Ink Mafaldine, Diver Scallops, Braised Short Rib, and the Hazelnut Torta. This is eight items - three appetizers, four entrées, and one dessert! Unfortunately, nothing stood out in terms of flavour.

The Crispy Calamari was more like an arugula salad garnished with calamari as it’s croutons. The calamari was a bit oily and the batter/coating could use some seasoning. The Arancini was more of a fried cheese ball lacking in layer and depth – it should have a layer of risotto stuffed with a large chunk of cheese causing it to ooze out as you bite into the arancini. No mushrooms were found or tasted in the risotto even though the menu description states that it is a mushroom risotto. The Funghi Pizza had an excellent crust – super thin, crunchy and semi-gluten/chewy texture – flavourful but it bit oily (coming from the smoked mozzarella).

The Squid Ink Mafaldine was a bit overcooked and the pasta would have a bit more texture when served al dente. The sauce accompanying the mafaldine was too sweet and very flat in taste…probably the least favourite for us. The Braised Short Rib entrée was returned because the meat was still very stringy. Also, the portion size was more of an appetizer than an actual entrée. The roasted/grilled vegetables accompanying the short rib waw good but there was very little mascarpone polenta on the plate – it was more of a schmear. The Roast Salmon was also overcooked by one minute, with no caramelized cauliflower as described on the menu and there was a cross contamination of horseradish onto the salmon. The Diver Scallops was cooked perfectly, however the corn was not roasted and there were no asparagus on the plate. Surprisingly, the star of the evening was the dessert – the Hazelnut Torta. The balance of flavour, sweetness and texture was on point!

North Italia lacks the sophistication and attention towards details from the kitchen, and both the waiting and front of house staff. If you’re searching for mediocre food and service, then North Italia is your place! Nowadays, I notice that most “foodies” (who don’t cook regularly at home), do not understand the difference between decent food and great food. Mediocrity seems to be the norm/criteria in food and in life which is depressing. For things to improve, we need to raise the level in our lives and expectations…otherwise, things...

We typically love North Italia, but last night was probably one of the worst dining experiences we’ve had in a long time. It started with the wait queue with the host stand. It was clear that it was a busy night for them, but we had 8-9 people in front of us and were quoted about 20 mins. Totally fine. We went and looked at the shops and let our kids play around the fountain watching the list get down to one before us. We made our way to the host stand to wait the rest of the time out. Finally the app they used said we were first in line. This is where we noticed that the hosts were by passing the list and as people walked up to check in status the hosts were sitting them. This happened 4 times. After asking twice about what we were seeing and waiting an additional 10-15 mins we finally got a table. Total wait time 45 mins, but as a former restaurant manager I get it… it’s a Saturday night.

This is where things get even more frustrating. We sat down and as our waiter approached to introduce themselves we asked to put the food in for our two kids. So we ordered two simple items off the kids menu. He said that’s a good idea and took the kids food order and went off without our drink or even app order. No problem. The focus was getting our kids food since the wait for the table took so long. About 5 - 10 later he came back around and asked if we were ready to order. We put in two apps + a salad, drinks for my spouse and me, and our two entree meal.

This is when we realized either our food was not put in in correctly… or the kitchen/front of the house were totally out of wack. Either way, our apps all showed up within 10 mins, a typically ticket time. Our bar drinks right after. When our server stopped over to check on us he said he’d check on the kids food since at this point it had been almost 20-30 mins since he took their food order. About 10 mins later the kids food arrived. So we figured maybe things will work out since the kids were eating and our entrees would arrive around the same time. But all of the sudden one of the managers show as at the host stand earlier just “drove by” our table and dropped off a meatball app and said “here have a meat ball” But our entrees didn’t arrive for about 20 mins after that when our server noticed that we still hadn’t gotten our food and had to go follow up with the kitchen. In the time between we order another round of drinks waiting on our food and our kids had finished eating.

After our food arrived we had to flag someone down to get boxes because we had been at the restaurant over an hour and a half and we were past the kids patience. Our food took so long I only got to take a bite out of my pizza since things took so long. Someone needs to talk to the kitchen manager or the front of the house manager because I’m that was too much chaos for a slight error.

The sad thing is that when the check came we had to double check the tab because the staff tried to drop off meat balls two other times other than they did prior. The overall experience was not the best. The manager who dropped off the free meat balls never stopped over to check on us nor did our server really after the food issues. For a 250 dollar meal for a family of four you’d think you’d have a better experience than I could get at an understaffed chilies. We didn’t even get to eat our food.

The funny part is that we forgot something at our table and realized when we got to our car, when I ran back to get it the people at the table had already received drinks and apps in the whole 10 mins it took us to get to our car and back. I’m not sure what happened… but something better could...

The Baseline: For an Italian sit down restaurant the food must use of prime Italian ingredients (garlic, tomatoes, cheese, basil), preparation of sauces and al dente pasta, the meal portion size must leave me feeling full, and the service needs me feeling like I am part of the family.

Food: The food at North Italia is good Italian and there isn’t any time I can think of that it has disappointed me. This visit I tried the Crispy Eggplant Parmesan and Calamari Fritti small plates and both were crispy and the eggplant took on all the delicious Italian seasoning. The entrees were the Bolognese, crushed meatball rags, and tortellini al pomodoro which were all well sauced with the pastas cooked to an al dente preparation. The drinks were an iced tea and a Sicilian Margarita which all complemented the meal, with water glasses kept full. We opted for desert and the Tahitian Vanilla Panna Cotta which was well formed, perfect texture, and not overly sweet as you would expect from a panna cotta. The compliment desert we had a latte and a Jumpstart. I love the Jumpstart which was sweet and espresso shot shaken into a delicious concoction. Getting this every chance I can.

Service: Service was not bad this visit but there was a few hiccups that caused the entrees to be delivered at different times. A little forgiveness for the business and that the manager stopped by to let us know.

Ambiance: This has the same Ambiance as my original review and it was not any different. The bathrooms are very clean which is high marks.

Original Review:

North Italia is a great Italian restaurant located at The Point in El Segundo, CA. This Italian restaurant hits all the points of the baseline as it relates to Italian food: use of prime Italian ingredients (garlic, tomatoes, cheese, basil), preparation of sauces and al dente pasta, and meal portion size.

Food: the pasta is prepared to the proper consistency (aka not gummy), the grilled items have a proper amount of char with retaining the proper moisture levels, the drinks have enough alcohol to additional mixture ratio to be enjoyable, and the presentation/ temperature of the food is within the proper levels of making it appetizing. Aka the sauces are delicious, the cheeses are melted and grated with style, the meats are the right temperature, and meal is just satisfying.

Service: This was great service and the table was given the proper amount of attention. Ding for having a few times that my water glass was empty. Otherwise it was close to perfect.

Atmosphere: The restaurant is an open, inviting environment with a great flow of energy throughout. The tables are nice, the bathrooms are super clean, and the kitchen has open glass views of watching food being prepared. This has a very good upscale modern...