Capri — Restaurant in Los Angeles

The grocery has a lot of imported products from Italy which are not available In regular local stores and that is good specially if you want to cook something close to authentic Italian. They have wines, cheeses, cookies, chips, breadsticks etc. Couple of things I didn't find are the bottled squid/cuttlefish ink sauce (there is a squid ink pasta but not the sauce) and anchovies in salt. Grocery items are a bit pricy but understandable. The Gelato place downstairs is way below par from maybe the worst Gelato you can buy in Italy which made their Affogato mediocre. The 3 star review is exactly for the grocery/market place of Eataly Los Angeles.

Now for one of the restaurant inside of Eataly that we tried...not good at all. It is LA PIZZA & LA PASTA. Uses fresh pasta but the pasta was too al dente to the point of it being too chewy. You will be focusing on the taste of the pasta which is overpowered by the flour used than the sauce. But the sauces are not tasty as well, so I guess no harm done there.. We had ordered the pesto and also the pasta alle vongole. Both were lacking flavour and everything. I didn't even see a minute piece of garlic in the vongole pasta (the prepared sauces from little authentic Italian grocery stores are way better). Their pasta dishes will make you full really quick, that I give to them. No need to finish everything, which is a blessing. This might be because the 'fresh pasta' is so heavy (even to chew) that it goes down and settles down heavy too. Their fried seafood plate called GRANDI PLATTI - Gran Fritto de Mare is a disappointment. One of their staffs said it is for sharing (good for 3). It just had a few pieces of cut up squid (1squid), 3 breaded cubed fish and a couple of shrimps and then topped or should I say buried in tons of shredded and breaded deep fried vegetable strings like carrots and I don't know what the other strings are (pictures attached).. at first we didn't notice how much crispy strings are there, but as we dug in we couldn't find any seafood, all we were getting are those crispy strings. Then we decided to remove all the crispy strings and after 2 plates of that... voila! we saw the pieces of fried seafood below. So tricky but not smart, they could have placed the seafood on top to make it look that there's a lot. Maybe we would not have noticed if we already got full and didn't mind if the bottom is full of... yes, crispy strings. We called the manager about it and he said he could just give us two orders of calamari instead but we declined they just removed it from the bill and then took the dish away. Not sure if their other dishes are good as we didn't try anything else anymore. It could have been better if we just ordered from one of the counters in the marketplace that offered meals like burrata bruschetta, pizza, etc. So the 3 star is really for Eataly's grocery store/marketplace as there is no available site for La pizza & La pasta Los Angeles in google maps yet to give a review. I would give them 1 star because our main server is...

If it’s your desire to enter a crazy Italian food fantasy land, Eataly is the place to go. I’d like to tell you they have hot and cold running pasta, and it’s probably true, but there is so much Italian goodness going on in this place, you won’t have the chance to experience all of it in one visit. It’s like Disneyland, if Disneyland was Italian food themed. (And it’s free to get in, minus of course the inevitable amount you’ll spend on coffee, pastries, bread, cheese, Italian pantry goods, gelato, wine and at the restaurants.

This place indulge all of your senses and although it can be very crowded with very long lines (to be fair we were there on a Saturday night around dinner time…not exactly the most care-free non-busy time to go to a restaurant) going into it knowing that will allow you to enjoy everything. Go here. You don’t even need a passport.

After wandering like tourists through the aisle of Eataly, already on sensory overload, we got in the long line to eat at La Pizza & La Pasta, on the second floor at Eataly in the back. Lo and behold the line wanders by a stand selling wine by the glass. I can have a sample before decided to buy a glass? Oh Eataly, you’ve thought of everything. We waited about a half an hour for a table (Be prepared for this. They don’t take reservations.) But this did allow one of us to wait in line while the other explored the store more.

We really enjoyed the food! I had the Margherita Pizza. I would have liked it or have some of the parmesan cheese on it, but overall the crust, sauce, and cheese were amazing.

The gluten-free marinara pizza served without cheese had my wife questioning her very reality. The crust was so good that no-one at the table believed it was actually gluten-free.

Our son is a plain pasta kind of guy (sigh…we didn’t raise him right) So that’s what he got. At least it was made in house. I tried a noodle and the flavor was good but it was a little over cooked. (that perfect balance of cooked versus al dente not quite achieved for him.)

The bread started off the whole meal was great. It’s also made in house, and serves with a noticeably flavorful olive oil that kind of reinvented the idea of olive oil for me. We ended up buying a bottle of it.

We also had fresh mozzarella served with beets, pistachio pesto and squash (you get to pick any three items to accompany the burrata). This was also really really good.

The restaurant does have a “no substitutions” policy which always ding the overall rating of a place for us. (One of us is vegetarian and one is gluten free so sometimes we need to modify things a little just so we can eat at a place…when that’s not possible it limits our options. We did have plenty to eat here so it wasn’t really an issue, but still whenever we see “no substitutions” on a menu it bums us out a little.

La Pizza & La Pasta was definitely worth the wait. Eataly on its own is well worth a visit with its coffee stations, separate pizza restaurant, bread, cheeses, olive oil’s, gelato, pastries etc…We can’t wait...

I strongly recommend Capri inside of Eataly in the Westfield Century City mall for anyone who enjoys high quality Italian cuisine, craft cocktails, wine, crudo, and oysters. It’s a great dinner experience for dates and nights out with friends/family/clients, and they had a list of pop up events (guest chefs, crudo nights, cooking classes) that I definitely want to come back for. You can make a reservation on OpenTable, the service was great, and they have both indoor and outdoor seating available.

The oysters are so fresh and beautifully served over ice on a blue and white ocean plate. You can combine the different types of oysters, and they’re served with lemon, mignonette, and cocktail sauce. We just did the half dozen for $22, but you can also get a dozen for $44.

For starters, I recommend the Tartare di Tonno ($25) crudo which includes tuna tartare, evoo, avocado, fresh mint and fresh dill.

For a variety pack to experience more crudo on one plate, the Tris di Carpaccio ($36) was absolutely divine. It included three different crudo in rows side by side, yellowtail, tuna, and sea scallops carpaccio, which are topped with fresh mint and sea salt, and then the server pours table side the Olitalia lemon dressing.

For a heartier and more substantial dish, the Risotto Al Frutti di Mare ($35) comes with two full river prawns on top of carnaroli rice, which has baby calamari and mutti tomatoes mixed into the rice.

A great option for vegetarians is the Spaghetto all Nerano ($24), a pasta dish which includes zucchini, basil, and parmigiano reggiano.

For dessert, you need to get the Scazetta ($15) with strawberry gelee, rice sponge cake, strawberry sweet cream, and LA’s favorite Harry’s Berries.

For cocktails, the Aperol Spritz was fun, delicious, and perfectly made. They also had a good wine list, and they already had suggested wine pairings for some...