Casaléna — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I came here once before and it was nice and service was good. This time we were "greeted" by two hostesses who looked up from their conversation briefly then returned to their giggling and then finely acknowledged our existence with smug looks on their faces, asking for our name, we were then brought to a table and then left for about 10-15 minutes while I watched 6 waiters stand by the kitchen laughing and what seamed like dozen bus boys scurring around the one section of the restaurant. I finally noticed a waiter point at us to a buss boy mouthing "water" , which he brought to us but not offering still, sparkling or tap. Just water. We were finally greeted by the waitress, who was the best part of the evening, and asked for our drink order and appetizer order. At this point all was well except for the seriously unusual amount of children at half of the tables. I realize this is not the restaurants fault but what is their fault, is spreading them all over the place, put them all in one area so they are not bugging other patrons. We got our drinks and ordered our main courses and minutes later our first appetizer showed up followed by the second. Both apps were very good. We ordered the charred octopus and the wagu meatballs unfortunately half way through the second appetizer our mains came with all our dirty plates and half the octopus still there on the table and we had only just ordered them and considering one of the mains was a 12 oz prime rib eye that should have taken much longer not to mention it shouldn't have been fired to begin with but bringing food to a table without clearing it first is unacceptable also considering we were splitting the steak, they didn't bring a second plate but left me my dirty one with octopus and meatball sauce on it with my dirty cutlery on it, my wife had to grab her cutlery off her dirty plate to put it on the steak plate. We also were not brought any steak knives or offered any. The steaks are pre cut which is also just a terrible presentation but the best part was that the 12 oz prime rib wasn't a prime ribeye , I've been a chef for 35 years and this wasn't a ribeye this was a new York strip, major difference in quality, flavor, and texture not to mention the shape this was rectangular with fat along the length of the steak. It goes for 75 dollars we were charged 77 dollars so I don't know what happened here but im a very tolerant person knowing how hard it is to run a restaurant but there wasnt any form of management happening here, if there is a manager I didn't see one and the training is just not there or attention to detail there were dead saggy flowers on our table, thats restaurant management 101, you always do a walk through and check tables and wine glasses for spots, you train front end to at least get water on the table within 5 minutes of being seated. If its busy have somebody take a drink order but everyone was having a chat by the kitchen and again no management . Its sad because its a nice place and like I said the first experience was much better and much more professional. Get a new manager or perhaps "a", manager, dump the hosteses with tudes in the front and train the bussers to be on point with every table. I apologize because I rarely write bad reviews because if it just wasn't that great im just not going to write anything but eating at a restaurant is a treat and you go out to have and enjoyable day away from troubles and to get pampered and this did not happen here I couldn't get out...

I love Casaléna for lunch if you’re around Woodland Hills, and it was great going with a group because we were able to share many dishes family-style. It’s very trendy both inside and on the outdoor patio, with a variety of very cool chandelier light fixtures inside and a mostly-covered patio (although bits of sun do shine through). Now that the weather is getting cooler, outdoor dining at Casalena is the way to go. Lucky, even as a group of 8, they were able to accommodate us without a reservation with a minimal wait time. We were also able to easily find street parking nearby.

Seven Must Order Dishes if you’re sharing:

We loved the Hamachi Crudo ($23) so much that we ordered two! It came with ponzu, serrano, and topped with crispy leek, and was a good combination of refreshing and a spice-kick with the pepper. From the Lunch Specials Menu, we loved the refreshing summer Cucumber Watermelon Salad ($18) even though it’s fall. It also has lemon, feta cheese, passionfruit vinaigrette, and basil oil, and the passion fruit wasn’t as strong as I was expecting. The Whipped Eggplant ($16) under the To Share section of the menu is vegan and comes with pickled pepper, pan de cristal, & olive oil, and it was so creamy and delicious. The meatballs, also under the To Share section of the menu, were a crowd favorite. The Wagyu Meatballs come with ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, a significant amount of pomodoro sauce, and topped with parsley. For Mains, the Butterflied Half Branzino ($29) is gluten free and comes with chimichurri & grilled lemon. The Branzino was great, especially with the chimichurri sauce, being perfectly crispy on the outside and soft meaty on the inside. Another Main, the Steak Frites ($29) actually went really well with the chimichurri sauce leftover from the branzino! A hanger steak, I recommend it cooked medium or medium rare, and it comes au poivre with a large quantity of French fries. If you’re not ordering the Branzino, make sure to ask for a side of chimichurri to go with your steak. The Shashuka Verde is a good brunch option if you go in the morning. This was my first time having green Shashuka (green-over-red seems to be trending in LA?) and it was good to share alongside other items to avoid having too much acidity at once.

The group collectively agreed that the Limoncello Slice ($14) was the best and the Apple Tart ($14) is the second best dessert. I especially loved the sauce and fresh berries on the limoncello. The Tiramisu ($14) was too cakey and the least enjoyed by the table. While there was a good presentation on the dessert themselves, no shared plates were brought to the table even though there were 8 of us with 3 desserts.

Beverage: For brunch, next time I’d like to try a coffee. The orange juice had a funny taste to it and I wasn’t able to force myself to finish it - I’d just skip that. It said it was fresh squeezed, maybe one of the oranges was on the older side? Or maybe it was a different type of orange than I’m accustomed to?

The very saucey Tuna Tartar ($23) was not my fav, and wouldn’t fall on my reorder list. It came with avocado, pickled ginger, cucumber, fresno, micro cilantro, ponzu, and...

Like... I got me an Italian spot in L.A. (DTLA, to be exact), Casalena also hits. Like... "okay, I see what you're doing, Woodland Hills!" And trust me, if you don't already live or work in Woodland Hills, ain't nobody trying to go. But back to Casalena.

First, this was a Hotspot for a 6 o'clock dinner on a Saturday night. I went with my mom, my sister and a family friend to celebrate said family friend's birthday and joint was already poppin' (just let me have that phrase for today). Everyone was doing valet parking as we weren't too sure where to park and at $8, I could see why. That's more than reasonable for valet parking. Inside was so boisterous, I was fearful had we not made reservations, the would be long. Yeah, like two minutes long. No, seriously. We waited for like 2 minutes for they seated our party and the place was just about packed.

We did on this particular visit that the restaurant had been open for 5 weeks and there are some tell-tales. The staff is very attentive, but service is a little slow. But slow means they're making it with the freshest ingredients they have and you can tell. Like, there was some care there.

A quick run of what we had:

Me: the charred Cesar salad with a side of whipped mash ( the whipped mash is a must, even if you jusy share it with someone, taste these buds)

My sister: pestl rigatoni and a side of broccolini. (Broccilini, surprisingly, they were perfectly seasoned. I stole a few from her plate.

My mom: the lab chops. The paired it with a dry salad. Would've helped if that had added some sort kf dressing, but that wasn't the focus of the dish. The lamb... delish. Tender. She ordered it medium, as all God's children should.

Family friend: shrimp scampi. I didn't this one, but it looked perfectly cooked and was had a nice presentation when they brought the dish over.

Yes, we had dessert, thanks for asking. Three of us has sorbet, 2 lemon sorbets. Very tart but you can tell used fresh lemon juice in their sorbet. I had a clementine sorbet (I swear, I thought she said lemon time sorbet. I was like, 'what's the difference). No tartness in this sorbet. You will find a whole clementine in your sorbet so enjoy the fruit hunt. And my sister had an apple fritter? I think. She said it tasted good and was made with real apples. I was too full at this point to sneak a bite and let you know I agree.

I highly recommend a visit to Casalena if you're in the area. Very good foos. The restaurant already seems popular, which also means it's very loud. Just know that going in. But overall, it was a good experience. Would...