Caffe Pinguini Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I’m not sure why everyone likes this place so much. The word that comes to mind to describe this restaurant in its entirety is pretentious. Regardless of not knowing which of the four people that assisted me is actually my server, the food alone is simply not worth the money. If I’m paying $26 for a dish, it’s a slap in the face to receive three very small pieces of chicken that appear to have been sitting for the last hour and reheated, exactly three roasted pieces of potato, and a quarter cup of chopped tomatoes tossed with one leaf of Basil cut into strips. At least make the effort to disguise the meal as worth more than the $6 you spent to make it. Just to clarify: I paid $26 for chicken. My sister received a too-greasy thin crust pepperoni pizza that she had to blot with a white cloth napkin. Speaking of attending with my sister, we are two young women - 22 and 19. We came in wearing clothing that was probably too casual for the place, but I wouldn’t have anticipated the atmosphere for a place that’s located less than 1,000 feet from the beach (and has a picture of a penguin on top of it). Frankly it’s a little weird. Anyway, we felt scrutinized the entire time by the restaurant’s staff, except of course for the end when we sat around waiting for our check because one of our servers didn’t understand us when we said we wanted it. I could go on, but I think I’ve said enough. Just go...

Beware of Price Gouging Specials

My wife and I along with a visiting guest had a very nice lunch today on July 30, 2015 at Caffé Pinguini. The fish specials sounded very good, but no prices were offered. Since we were treating our guest, I was reluctant to ask the price. Recalling that the highest priced entrée on the lunch menu was something like $18, I was not pleased when the check came with $33 for the two Chilean sea bass specials and $35 for the Mediterranean sea bass.

I feel that a waiter should always provide the price for specials, but especially when the price is much higher than the highest priced entrée on the item (in this case almost twice as much). A restaurant is in the business of selling food. The customers are buying. Knowing the price is an essential part of the transaction and I feel that providing special prices is an expected and essential part of your the responsibilities of an ethical restaurant.

I will not dine at Caffé Pinguini again when bringing guests that I am hosting unless I receive assurance that waiters will provide the prices of specials as part of their description. I sent two message to the restaurant's management about this issue, but...

Had very high hopes but we were sadly disappointed several times in one visit. We were seated right away with our reservation, but the outside table was in kind of a shed area which was dark and very loud with the table next to us. I could hear their whole conversation about gunshot wounds. That’s an odd dinner conversation. We had our drink order taken in about 10 minutes. We asked for 2 glasses of the Pinot Noir but were served 2 glasses of a Zinfandel. No one around to ask for the correct wine. Another 10 plus minutes we were asked what starter we’d like which did arrive pretty quickly, but after that it was 20 minutes plus hoping someone would take our menus and dinner order. We both ordered pasta dishes eventually. Sad to report the pasta in both orders were not el dente. A huge disappointment in flavor and texture. Even though we were celebrating an 80th birthday we couldn’t wait to get the bill and get out of there. Our water had the whole outside area to himself. I think all the 5 star reviews are from long time locals who are just used to mediocre food and service. Sadly we won’t be giving them a...