Antico Nuovo — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Antico Nuovo is an incredible dining experience. The staff, the decor, the ambiance, and the food were all top tier and were brought together for an exquisite meal.

When first walking in, your eyes adjust to a dimly lit, humble restaurant. Nothing is too fancy, nobody is overdressed and the decor is mostly old-world Italian cookware - leaving you to feel right at home and immediately comfortable.

The service was tremendous, from the host to the wait staff to the buzzers, everyone was well spoken, helpful, and very kind. Our waiter in particular was extremely helpful and honest about how to go about the menu and avoiding dairy (typically a challenge in most Italian-American restaurants, but made easy at Antico Nuovo!)

The real deal, the food: We started with the Tuna Crudo. Perhaps the weakest part of our meal, was still fantastic. Very fresh and adorned with olives, capers and capers leaves. Would have loved some lemon. The focaccia. The focaccia. THE focaccia. Dare I say the best bread I've tasted, the focaccia was fresh, warm, and would melt your heart. They could have served us 10 loaves of this alone and I would have been just as happy. Accompanied by the anchovies which were tremendous, and the green chickpea puree I will absolutely be dreaming of this course for decades. The sauce on the anchovies was light and herby and the green chickpea puree will forever have me bothering wait staff about future hummus orders "does this come in green?". The Branzino was delightfully buttery, brightened up with lemon, and loaded with a fantastic selection of olives. I'd never had a dry aged fish before, but I'll be looking for it on every menu in the future, what a treat! Rosticciana, the pork ribs. As if the meal so far hadn't been pleasurable enough, these pork ribs are perhaps the greatest thing I have ever eaten. The blend of Tuscan herbs and spices, fennel pollen, and a hint of citrus will make my own home cooking taste bland for eternity. I truly haven't stopped thinking about these ribs since I first just smelled them. A true journey of flavor, and you'll never want to get off that ride. Vegan coconut caramel ice cream. A perfect end to a perfect meal. Delightfully creamy, not too sweet, and complex enough to keep you scooping more. If this was sold in stores, Ben and jerry's would be out of business and I would be 500 pounds.

It will be impossible to not compare every restaurant I go to in the future to this experience. My only regret is not booking another reservation for the next day. If you have the chance, this is an absolute must go in California. An enormous thank you the wait staff, the kitchen staff, and everyone involved at Antico Nuovo. I'll be seeing you again real soon.

My only gripe is the valet outside, I understand he's running a business but I parked myself - he never touched my keys, my car, or even collected my ticket or got my car at the end. Just taxed me $10 at the door for seemingly no reason, and was gone when our meal was finished. The smallest blemish on an otherwise...

Had high hopes, we’ve been told that we had a less-than-average evening, but I just try to be honest.

We haven’t quite got used to the LA-vibe of a stellar restaurant nestled in the festering armpit of a strip-mall car park, but the laundromat-cum-vapestore next door really plucked that note well. On the edges of K-town, this is apparently a gem of a restaurant. We found it…not bad, but not great.

They were very kind to move us from the kitchen facing bar table - slash: Dante’s 2nd circle of hell (it was wayyyy too hot for any other social pursuit than Bikram Yoga - to a table for two. The general vibe was fine, but the table decorations in the middle of the room seemed to be growing into the patrons as they dined. Wasn’t sure what the goal there was. It was certainly dramatic. Would have given it a 4/5 for vibe but (on a Thursday night) it was empty by 9.45. What’s that about? Maybe it’s the European in me but if a restaurant is putting chairs on tables before 22h30 then you’ve gotta be worried about the clientele (or, perhaps, an imminent ICE raid).

We had the kingfish crudo, the crab tagliatelle and the tagliata di manzo. It got better throughout. The crudo was fresh, but way way way too much lemon juice. It cured well before it got back to our table - so early in fact I think it released an EP in 1979 called Boys Don’t Cry. So sharp it was fighting the French in 1812*. I had to have a honey diet for three days afterwards (and despite that my brain health is still questionable).

The crab pasta was fine. Nicely cooked (perhaps a touch over) crab, slightly loose sauce, but tasty. Literally (and I thought I knew how to use that word, but the preceding sentence proves me wrong) uncommentable.

The tagliata was fantastic. Four slight, whispery, suggestive slices of heaven. Nestled into the green and pleasant backdrop of a subtly pesto sauce. Elgar couldn’t have written it better. I’m glad the crescendo occurred but I do feel a better composer could have brought the whole thing together with a little more panache.

The wine was the biggest letdown. We ordered a 2019 Chiara Boschis Barolo - this really shouldn’t have been on the menu and DEFINITELY shouldn’t have been allowed out of the crib. Someone needs to reset the baby monitor because this one really got away from them. I’m really not a wine snob (I drink Whispering Angel and brag to my friends about it) but this arrived at our table driving a Little Tykes Cosy Coupe (yes, I had to look that up).

3/5 feels right for our experience, leans towards a 4, but we’re playing a /5 game here. Hope you enjoy!

*obscure reference to the Sharpe novels written by Bernard Cromwell starring Sean Bean - a hero, a villain, a rapscallion, and 75% of my inspiration...

I was really looking forward to Antico Nuovo, as had I previously researched the menu prior to my visit to the USA. The majority of the dishes were good, but the service was off. Our waiter seemed almost condescending from the beginning, and would check up on us constantly. The service did feel a little rushed, and while ordering were told that we HAD to get a pasta dish, and the waiter stressed that the pasta was what they were known for. After we chose the pasta he recommended (which was the least favourite dish of the night- overly sweet and one-note) he came back to our table and told us we had ordered too much food, and that the ‘massive American portions’ would be too much for us. We said we would go without the pasta and he again insisted we must get the pasta and go without the broccolini caesar that we had actually chosen. He was insistent on this, and 99% of the time I’ll take the servers advice on ordering, so we agreed. We received one wrong dish, but sent it back, and it really wasn’t an issue. The branzino, lamb and caesar were all good dishes, but were blown away by the focaccia and anchovies. The pasta we were recommended was subpar. Eventually we decided we wanted to get the caesar as we were still quite hungry, and I weirdly felt the waiter was offended? Again when we decided to forgo dessert, I got a similar vibe. The whole night the service was overbearing, but passive aggressive.

There was a misunderstanding, and we thought we had to pay at the front counter, and when we asked to pay, were met with confused and condescending looks. We explained that we must have misunderstood, and the host very condescendingly explained that we were wrong. No big deal as we were paying now. Waiter came rushing over and said that he thought we had left without paying… Also could tell that since we were non-American he assumed we weren’t going to tip. Asked us where we were from and when replying ‘New Zealand’ he said “in London?”…

After writing out tip and total, later checked what we were billed, and the tip was not included, after we double checked with the waiter we had written everything out correctly, as to not make a mistake. Super strange service that interfered with some lovely dishes and ambience.

As someone who IS a server at a similar restaurant, I was really disappointed in Antico Nuovo’s hospitality, and the attitude towards non-American guests. The service should never take away...