Caruso's Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Los Angeles

0 STARS = Worst service ever. Mediocre food. Teriyaki wings on the menu and dirty bleach smell when we entered... should have been a sign for us to leave the moment we sat down.

*Arrived at 5:30pm with only 5 tables full. Left at 7:30pm, place was packed. *Everything took forever: seating, ordering, getting boxes, and the check. *Our server ignored us repeatedly, rarely checked in, and acted annoyed when we asked for the bill. When I finally went up to pay, she seemed bothered and “You pay the bill at your table” and slammed my card on the reader. *From the hostess who seemed bothered to seat us, long waits to get anything, the vibe was unwelcoming. *thin walls meant the place was VERY LOUD

Every part of the experience dragged: waiting to be seated, waiting for our order to be taken, waiting for boxes, and—most frustrating—waiting endlessly for the check.

We arrived at 5:30pm (only 5 tables were full) and didn’t leave until 7:30pm, by which point the place was packed. Our server - when we finally got one - repeatedly walked past our table without checking if we needed anything—napkins, refills, dessert, or the bill.

When I finally went up front to pay, she snapped, “You pay the bill at your table.” I told her we’d asked several times for the bill. Her response: “It’s busy,” before slamming my card on the reader.

That was her idea of customer service? A mild apology when what she should have said was: “Thank you for waiting to pay and not walking out.”

From the start, we didn’t feel welcome. The hostess acted inconvenienced by seating us and the air had a dirty bleach smell to it.

To make matters worse, mariachi music from an event next door blared through the paper-thin wall the entire time. (i love mariachi, and i am not hating on the event next door. it's not their fault the restaurant cheaped out on insulation)

The food? Completely average. You’d be better off with a frozen pizza or Olive Garden. Honestly, the bar might be the only redeeming part of this place - which explains the teriyaki wings - but you’d have to pay me to come back.

Maybe this place thinks it’s emulating Italy and wants you to sit for four hours… but I doubt it.

We are locals and we are always in search of a family-friendly place to make our own. Despite the low reviews, we went out on a whim and took a chance on this place.

I tried to look the other way and give the staff the benefit of the doubt. Waiting tables is a delicate dance. But after a while, it just got ridiculous to not look away any more.

Overall, I feel like my evening was taken away. Thank goodness for my pleasant and...

We are changing our original 5 star to a 1 star for the following reasons. First, we ordered a medium pizza on Friday June 14, 2024 and the order was passed onto a company called Slice. They then passed our order onto Doordash. Now we knew it was going to take half an hour to 45 minutes but after an hour and a half we finally get a Doordash call claiming the guys out front. He wasn't. After several attempts to call him back the guy calls us back and says he's in the middle of Van Nuys and can't find us. He blamed his navigation. Then he gets really rude after I ask if he knew where a extremely popular intersection was and tells me he's doing us a favor. By that point it's 2 hours and we're really hungry and done so I tell him to take it back. He starts yelling at me claiming we're still going to pay! Called Caruso's and we're told "No refund". They said we have to get our money back from Doordash but when I called Doordash they said it's Caruso's. An hour later after I made dinner for me and my girlfriend, we get an email from Doordash saying our order was canceled.

The next day on Saturday June 15th we decide we still want a pizza so we drive to Caruso's and order a large pizza and other items. We tell the girl at the desk what had happened the night before and she again says they don't refund they only credit towards a new order? Not a good way to do business. Then after a 20 minute or longer wait our pizza arrived and I immediately slide it into our very own pizza carrier. We drive straight home (less then 2 miles) and break out the dishes and open the box and the pizza's room temperature. Like actually cold around the outside and room temperature in the middle. Not hot! Not even warm! Then we noticed the cheese was cracking all over which is a sign that it's not even close to fresh. It's close to impossible for any size pizza to go cold in just a matter of minutes. Especially when we used a pizza carrier.

Not sure how Caruso's pulled this off but there's absolutely no excuse. As I said it's impossible if the pizza was freshly made and this one wasn't. We would have to speculate that someone stiffed them for a similar pizza and they just tossed the topping we ordered onto it and boxed it up and simply forgot to at least heat it up. There's really no excuse.

So we are done with Caruso's. We've dinned there a few times and ordered many times but NEVER again. We'll take our hard earned money elsewhere to a place that...

We went on a Sunday afternoon. They have help wanted signs all over the front of the entrance so I want to be as fair as I can. The bar area which I'm sure in football season is a great place to go it is larger than the restaurant side. They only had 2 waitresses who were doing everything, running around in both the restaurant and the bar, including busing the table so hopefully they will get help soon. Service as we expected was very slow. 1/2 hour to just get the salad or soup and garlic bread. I asked the waitress for utensils because I didn't have any and she said we don't have that I can only give you a napkin. I looked at her in disbelief saying you don't have knives & forks what am I suppose to eat with? She said oh no I have those. WHAT? Anyway Salad was good, my friend said soup was very salty & just warm. Main dishes Ok I don't want to sound like a food critic but my heritage is 100% Italian. I ordered eggplant parmigiana with a side of Angel Hair pasta. The marinara sauce for me was beyond horrible. Too sweet, thick & dark red which means it's been simmering on the stove for too many hours. My friend who had chicken breast with eggplant (no marinara)was good. The Pizza's looked really good. So will I may try it again, maybe the pizza or something without marinara sauce. Their portions are quite big. Update: We ordered carryout Large veggie Pizza yesterday after not being there for two months. People I got the pizza for didn't eat meat. Anyway they were not stingy with the vegetables as some places are. Nothing diced or minced all big slices of mushrooms, Slices of Red Bell Peppers & Black olives and I have to say it was very good including the crust. Will order...