DeSano Pizzeria Napoletana — Restaurant in Los Angeles

IF YOU LIKE WOOD OVEN PIZZA.... THEN WALK IN WITH CONFIDENCE.

This Review is based solely on my experience and personal opinion.

I went to the DESANO pizzeria with my friends on a Thursday night, 11/18/21 and it was my first time.

FOOD: We ordered one large DIAVOLA and one large VERDURA and in the end 6 CANNOLI. PIZZA DIAVOLA= very good pizza indeed! the right amount of topping, NOT greasy, NOT fatty, NOT oily, NOT soggy and the right amount of cheese. The wood Oven is what does the magic.... the crust is crunchy and toasty, the bottom is thin and well done. The fresh, simple, but very good ingredients are the secret of its amazingly balanced taste, that surprises even the most picky New York style pizza lover. The Sausage and the Peppers were tasty and tender, and the Bufala cheese would just melt in your mouth .......Wow! PIZZA VERDURA= few ingredients, as you can see in my photos, but an harmonious combination. cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, spinach and mushrooms..... couldn't be more simple. very good pizza indeed! the right amount of topping, NOT greasy, NOT fatty, NOT oily, NOT soggy and the right amount of cheese. The wood Oven is what does the magic.... the crust is crunchy and toasty, the bottom is thin and well done. The fresh, simple, but very good ingredients are the secret of its amazingly balanced taste, that surprises even the most picky New York style pizza lover. CANNOLI= they were good and flavorful but could have been better. They did not have the chocolate coating inside that prevents the Cannoli from becoming soggy and mushy. very good cannoli regardless. The Ricotta filling was good but too sweet and the Chocolate chips ones had WAY TOO MUCH chocolate chips...Nice Cannoli shell I have to say. . I enjoyed the overall look and flavor.

DRINKS= they have a small vertical refrigerator with a selection of Italian style beverages, alcoholic and not. I did really enjoy picking my drink among all the flavors and types available. Sparkling water, Italian sodas and much more. They have beer, Italian wine and Italian Spumante. Amazing! Each of us picked a different drink and we enjoyed it!

STUFF: Friendly, helpful, they greeted us at the entrance and when we left, and they said THANK YOU quite a few times. The young girl and the boy at the entrance guide you thru the Menu to help you make the right choice and the rest of the staff are nice and smiling. Soooo, very good customer experience.

CLEANLINESS: Tables, floor, benches.... all clean. the buss boy kept cleaning in between servings and the other one was brushing the floor in the meantime. Pleasantly surprised to see such attention to details. the cleanliness of a restaurant is a key when it comes to a great customer experience.

RESTROOMS: restrooms were nice and clean. Hand soap. paper towel, toilet paper and running water was available.

PLACE: the restaurant has one massive room, industrial style and one small room. in the Large room you have many tables and benches to host a large number of customers (at least before COVID) and here you have the four wood ovens and the lab where they make the pizza dough. The place is minimally furnished but the look is still nice and neat. The small room, whit a pub-like look, is very minimalistic and sort of "naked" but I liked it too. This is a great place to have parties, reunions and gatherings with family and/or friends while enjoying a very good pizza. Both rooms have a TV set. PRICE: Within the average for a wood oven pizza.

CONCLUSIONS: if you like thin crust pizza wood oven baked then you have to visit this place....

Like why are all the good pizza places in la pretentious af? Takes a real effort to ruin one of the funnest foods and like the only food that people compare to the joys of having sex... how? Have f'in strict policies, miserable and snobby employees fronting the counter and charging juuust enough so customers feel like they are juuust being overcharged and of course have gelato but god forbid a sample -like every other gelataria on Earth. Pretty soon this place will vibe like that place on Larchmont w/ all the passive agro signage informing customers about their pizzaria policies. ‍ Parking is great! Ingredients are tops Ovens are on point So w/ a foundation like that, how can you manage to accomplish anything but the perfect pie? Other than having strict policies and little ambiance and sour counter help? Not understand that Buffalo is a different cheese than shredded mozzarella. Buffalo should be let to dry a bit first and topped onto the pie AFTER it has been removed from the wood burning oven. Yup, that's how you manage to present a brick oven pizza w/ precious Italian flour as a soggy crust :,( waste. Not allow customers to make their own pies or do half and halves. Like why tf not? What went on at that meeting? Was catered with sour grapes or smthg? When I went the place was empty, other than some dude eating his pizza alone w/ a plastic knife and fork ‍‍ Anyway Italians LOVE food and there is no love here just quality ingredients great ovens a lot of brick and pretentious vibe and boring counter peeps. Wish la would step up their game a bit like Italy, NY , Bay and everywhere else that manages good pizza w/ good ambiance at a...

*Delayed post from June ‘25

Picked up an order to go and wasn’t super impressed, though I think an in person visit would be better as many people have recommended dining in. I’d also choose other items on the menu in the future given this experience. Their parking lot is huge and the building also looks very big, but I didn’t explore the inside. The pick up counter was quick and easy as I placed an online order.

We ordered the Heart of Palm Salad as a starter, which was large enough to easily feed 4-5 people. I enjoyed the citrus dressing and there was a significant amount to appropriately coat the amount of greens. The heart of palm slices, tomatoes, and cheese paired well with the arugula, but the ratio was off with too much cheese and not enough tomatoes. The greens were visibly old as ⅓ of them were yellowed, had plenty of holes and or were dried out.

Of the two pizzas we ordered, I preferred the Capriccio that had artichoke and prosciutto because it contrasted the base of the pizza and added a variety of flavors and textures. The Cacio e Pepe pizza was too heavy without enough contrast between the cheeses, so it felt more like eating a flatbread with globs of cooked cream on top, even though the quality of the cheese was really high. It needs acidity, whether from sundried tomatoes or a balsamic glaze. Some people might like that amount of cheese though since apparently it’s a favorite on their menu, so who knows. The pizza dough itself was delicious, even the next day after reheating in...