Little Trattoria 25 — Restaurant in Huntington Park

The restaurant was out of stock on all desserts and a few appetizers. My entre was missing scallops that the menu said comes with. The two waiters that were on hand left leaving the chef alone. We go to pay and the restaurant owner asks if we have cash to pay our bill because he has been shown how to use the credit card machine but forgot. Then he says the two servers left to get change for the business, then he changes it when we say will wait, Then he changes his story saying they went to Costco to get supplies. Then he leaves us sitting there like what do we do do we just leave? Do we leave our phone number for them to call us so they can take payment over the phone when the staff come back? And why didn't anyone advise us of this before we were sat down so we could have gone to get cash to be able to pay before sitting down. Terrible customer service all around. We had to constantly ask for refills and bread. Barely got any butter. Plus the reason they claim to be low on inventory was due to a venue move in a year. Who remains low on inventory for more than a year move? They also substituted fried shrimp for the out of stock calamari. And charged the same amount but gave...

Our office is right around the corner and we eat here once or twice a week. Their service is almost always excellent as is the food. We have been here so often that we order items that are not on the menu.

Some of their 'off-the-menu' items that should be noted are the Chicken Pillard which is two grilled breasts with arugula, shaved parmesan and lime vinaigrette. Another excellent choice is the chicken with two jumbo shrimp with dijon mustard sauce. (All entrees come with green beans, carrots and roasted potatoes.

As for the items on the menu, the tuna salad uses sushi grade ahi tuna on a bed of greens with vinaigrette dressing - no nasty mayo. The salmon is great. The chicken Gorgonzola is another excellent standby. The paninis are excellent with very crisp french fries.

The only mediocre meal I had was the steak. That was disappointing.

If I were to recommend any improvement it would be better soups (and the steak.)

Desserts are wonderful too - creme brulee...

I did not feel welcome by the gentleman that took my order. I asked about a smaller portion when i was trying to order simply because i retrieve lunch for my boss a lot and he does not eat a lot of food and he hates to waste food. The gentleman at the front stated that there was only one size for the pasta that i wanted and I told him "okay" and requested 2 orders. He says "it will be $17" I said "okay" then he thought it important to say "EACH" as if I would have thought anything else since it is an Italian "restaurant" and not a fast food establishment...maybe it is me, but I think the gentleman at the door should not jump to premature conclusions about people. I have really tried tipping more than my usual 20%, especially with the pandemic going on (needless to say, the entire tip was cancelled). 3 stars because the young lady that rang my order up was pleasant and my boss and I did enjoy the food....I don't think I will...