CENTO Raw Bar — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I thought most of the food was pretty good but unfortunately overpriced for the amount of food you get. I really hate speaking bad about a place but I want Management to know how I felt as a customer paying hundreds of dollars to eat at their establishment. First off the ambience was lovely…loud as hell…but lovely. I don’t know when it opened, but unfortunately, already seeing signs of wear and tear. The floor has been painted, and the barstools are chipping into that (Which is unfortunate). The chairs are insanely uncomfortable. The barstools and the chairs in the bar area I would stay away from. I’m not sure how they’re gonna get red wine off of that fuzzy couch(!!!) A couple of misses were the size of the plates. Way too small and the service staff had to keep changing them out. But the “table”couldn’t really accommodate anything bigger. I do have to say that the bar menu lacked luster. I’m just gonna leave it at that. The seafood tower was way overpriced for what came. The uni pasta needs to be discussed. Where was the Uni? Unfortunately, I felt the ginger and basil way overpowered this dish. Please skip the chocolate cake, it tastes like an old school ding dong. The staff… A little bit snooty, not very warm and not terribly informative. Also, our check came without being asked if we needed anything else. Just odd. Kind of a one and done for me. I wouldn’t say it was a “comfortable” experience, but I could see people going for the gram! Oh, and by the way, you can barely hear due to the bounce of noise off of all the hard surfaces and the loud music. Nothing soft to absorb sound unfortunately. I recommend eating outside in the back where it was much quieter and potentially the chairs were more comfortable. The bar area, though beautiful, is difficult to have conversations. Uni on the seafood platter and the fish dip were the...

Old…and New! Cento Pasta Restaurant just opened a crudo/raw bar next door. Hopefully this is OK but this is a review for both restaurants as I suggest you do the same as we did and go to both the same night. we made two reservations on OpenTable one for the raw bar and then one for the pasta. This is complicated and I had to call since OpenTable does not allow more than one reservation within two hours of the second one.The raw bat is a beautiful, modern space w a very NYC vibe. This is the first time I have ever wanted to order a seafood tower in years and they really nailed this one.  They also had plenty of other tasty options, including a stellar fish dip , creative Crudo, and more.  we didn’t wanna get too much since this dinner was being followed by another dinner.  The pasta restaurant also delivered. We hadn’t been there in years. The mostly outdoor space is airy and not overly crowded.  service is friendly and welcoming, something I do not take for granted in Los Angeles. While most of the menu is seafood and farmers market fruit and veggie focused, they have a great duck and cherry confit that embraced our red Burgs, along w a respectable. bolognese . Corkage $35, no limits. We would be delighted to return....

I stopped in for a couple of drinks at the standing bar and was immediately impressed by the space itself. The design is clearly intentional and well thought out, and the music created a great vibe that is stylish, modern, and inviting.

That said, I found the cocktail menu a bit underwhelming. For a bar that puts so much effort into atmosphere, I was hoping for drinks that showed a similar level of creativity other than interesting glassware. Instead, the offerings leaned pretty standard like an espresso martini and a gentle riff on a gold rush. Nothing wrong with classics, but when the prices are on the higher end, it feels reasonable to expect something a little more inspired or distinctive.

Service was polite, but the check was dropped without a word when we hadn’t finished our second round of drinks, which felt a bit abrupt and left us unsure whether we were being subtly encouraged to wrap up. It didn’t exactly make us feel welcome. It’s giving old elitist LA vibes that are outdated.

There’s definitely potential here and the foundation is strong. I’d just love to see the beverage program catch up to the care that’s clearly been put into the aesthetics and...