Felix Trattoria — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Been again with German friends from the culinary business yesterday. We did not have a reservation but were still seated within minutes - a huge plus, after all it was a busy Friday night (must admit we were early though).

We ordered "family style" - so we shared different starters and entrees - generally highly recommended if you want to explore new dishes and are not sure you like it enough to eat a whole portion of it.

The food was as delicious as expected for a place like this (and we had been a few times before), BUT

I would have expected that the portions of the pasta were somewhat consistent. While two pasta portions were perfect to get everyone a spoon just big enough to have more than one bite, two were on the - politefully said - "small side". Since the service knew we were going to share, she should have suggested either another dish, or asked us to order two of these small ones.

the service was nice, but she tried to upsell in a way that I was tempted to ask if she worked on commission only. And man, she did upsell on us: she recommended two pasta dishes with white truffel. We do of course know that Truffle is expensive, and even more so white truffel. They did have truffel dishes on the menu - in the region of $50, so when we picked one, I expected this one to run a little more, maybe $75. It did end up with $150 - more than the four other pasta dishes we had together, INCLUDING another truffle pasta dish from the regular menu. Sorry, but I would have expected some "advance" notice on this.

Apart from that the place was a tad to loud for a comfortable conversation the food was really really good - but our waitress really talked a lot, a bit too much for me. There was "room" to add this little information, too ;-)

It is important to me that one understands: I am perfectly willing to pay top dollar, as a matter of fact I am taking my German friends to the Spago tonight for the Chef's tasting menu - highly recommended, by the way! - but in this case I was put a bit off - so off that I am not sure if I will go again, which reduces my rating from five to mere three stars.

My previous visit was five stars:

I am always somewhat sceptical when people are raving extremely about places and use phrases like "best ever".

But as I was taking a friend from Germany to Abbott Kinney anyway, we wanted to give Felix a try. Having arrived at 6 pm​, we were immediately seated on a "communal table" - fine with us. Great location, great design all the way through the bathrooms​, immaculate service*

Focaccia melts in your mouth, peach & burrata dish was fresh and exceptional, and pasta​ and pizza were fantastic. True, the place is pricey​ and the pasta portions are rather on the small side.

However, we took the servers advice - if you are first timers, share some stuff. So we had both bread versions, the burrata, the spaghetti al limone and the pizza Diavolo​ - and shared it between the three of us.

I am a pretty good eater, so for me, the pasta portion would not do alone, but after having shared the bread, we were well fed, but did not feel stuffed. Over $20 for pasta and pizza seems​ high, but the quality is exceptional and we the way were sat we could watch Chef Evan making fresh pasta - really really labour intensive - and that clearly resulted in a spectacular dining experience - which, for $130 incl. tax and tip​ was absolutely worth it.

I want to come back to the service: I sort of came to peace​ with the fact that especially in much-hyped places like this servers see themselves "ranked" above their patrons, not bothering to wait and rather cut into a conversation if they want something. Not here. They patiently waited next to the table for us to address them - very much appreciated!

Would I go again? Absolutely. Would I make a 30+ min detour to go? Yes.

So again, this is a hyped place - you may want to make a reservation and have a bigger budget than a usual pasta/ pizza dinner. If you even go for fish - the branzino the guys shared sitting next to us was $65, but it looked...

I have eaten at Felix and spent a lot of $$ many times, but never again.

Ever since Covid this place has become unbearably pretentious in its service of oily, overrated food that is incredibly overpriced.

Essentially, Felix has shown us all a whole new level of arrogance in LA restauranteurs, and it normally spells the end of their era. I expect this to be the case here too.

In a clear sign of the restaurant experience to come from now on, at Felix you pay full restaurant prices for their factory kitchen to push out volume orders of their menu but in a cold, soggy, mushy mess that is delivered to your door.

In a bag.

Meal kits? You jest. You mean ingredient kits. And at the very same prices (they also demand a healthy tip for delivered food and yes I mean demand - not recommend) as if you sat in their restaurant and they prepared you a hot meal, served it to you and it had the ambiance and entertainment experience that comes with it. Instead you get a lukewarm bag of messy mush. Granted, their hostess is usually so rude its punch-worthy, the food both massively over-salted and massively overpriced, but they have also cut corners recently by making portions tinier and tinier and also made their expensive ingredients very thinly applied.

Their 'meal kit' is hilarious. They merely push out hugely overpriced ingredients in a box with do it yourself instructions. Much like a mix of YouTube videos and WholeFoods Delivery could, but at 20x the price.

Its astonishing that this group of people can so boldly claim to need our 'support' and our 'help' to get through this 'trying time' while also being so transparently opportunistic and arrogant about it. And in their latest installment of crocodile tears meets 'support us during this time' arrogance, today Felix have 'blessed us' with a pork sandwich and decided to 'release' these sandwiches at noon, with no advanced ordering, no place to eat them and no service. Yet again, to their increasing convenience.

And yet again, retaining full 'restaurant quality and experience' prices.

Except in this case Felix want to think you are so lucky to eat their pork sandwich that you will stand in line outside their door for an hr in the sun while the increasingly violent Venice homeless that circle their restaurant night and day, hit you up and make the experience more than noteworthy. Felix even have the Italian meatballs to then mandate a minimum 'service' tip, for crying out loud.

How lucky we all are to be blessed enough to 'support' Felix during their difficult time.....

In consideration of Felix's nauseating arrogance during this 'trying time' I would like to offer two impolite words of comment to the obnoxious manager and owner, but should keep it down to merely one...

UPDATE: Had to write an update because OMG I finally got to experience Felix in person. I am speechless. I didn't think it could get any better. Everything was perfect-- the service, the ambiance, the food.

First, I must say that our server was so kind. He guided us through the whole menu and specified which dishes were pescatarian for me. They have a beautiful garden area that has such peaceful vibes. The perfect date spot.

For food -- Sfincione: Again, you cannot come here and not ordered the focaccia. It is buttery, flaky goodness --Gamberi: This is also an amazing starter. These are Blue prawns in a delicious oil/buttery sauce. Make sure to save some focaccia to dip! -- Fiori Di Zucca: the squash blossoms! I saw so many reviews of these and was delighted to try them. These are fried and full of ricotta. Very delicious, but if you are looking for something light these are not it. -- Filetto: This is a Buffalo Mozzarella pizza with basil and tomatoes. It is AMAZING. The cheese melts in your mouth and the crust is cooked perfectly. -- Busiate: I had to save the best for last! You cannot go wrong with their pesto pasta. Best pesto pasta I have ever had!! The noodles are so fresh and cooked to perfection. The pesto is incredible and it's served with sungold cherry tomatoes.

I wish we had room left for dessert because I can only imagine how amazing the items must be. You should definitely order some wine or cocktails to compliment your meal. Do yourself the favor and please treat yourself to the best Italian food in LA. You will be amazed :) Wow all I have to say is INCREDIBLE!!!!

#1: Don't even think about ordering from here if you don't get the Focaccia. It's to die for!!

Since restaurants are closed right now, we ordered their take and prepare pasta kit with the focaccia bread and burrata. The pesto pasta kit was so delicious! All you have to do is boil the water, place the noodles for 3 minutes (or until cooked) and then save a 1/2 cup of pasta water and mix it with the sauce over a stove top. Pour the cooked noodles in and mix it up. Place in bowls and top with parmesan, basil, and crushed peppers.

The focaccia bread is so quick & easy as well. You just heat the oven at 400 degrees and place the bread in there for like 4-5 min. They give you everything you need. Just follow the directions as listed.

For the burrata, it just came in a container. To plate it, I placed some arugula on a plate with oil & vinegar then cut up some cherry tomatoes. SO AMAZING!! Do yourself a favor and order from here. This is the perfect, delicious quarantine meal of your dreams. You even feel accomplished because you helped prepare it