Osteria Mamma — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Please allow me to explain why Osteria Mamma is receiving only 2 stars, which is quite generous in my opinion given the terrible experience we had there for lunch with my boyfriend and his parents. We had hoped to use the $100 egift card that I purchased directly through their website on 6/24 as a wedding gift for my parent-in-laws. Needless to say, we were very disappointed that we were unable to use this egift card, despite the fact that I had spoken with the owner directly on the phone about the ecard I purchased, and then in September I asked if he could please resend the Square receipt to me, which he did. Our waitress Ariana gave us a convoluted and absurd explanation about how they don't know anything about these Square egift cards and that they do not accept them - which made no sense because I purchased it directly on their website! As if having to pay for the entire bill wasn't enough (happy birthday to my mother-in-law!), we also had HORRIBLE service - I didn't catch our other waiter's name, but when we asked for more bread please, she replied "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" in a sarcastic tone, like we were inconveniencing her! While I am grateful to the owner Filippo Cortivo for finally reimbursing me the $100 that we never ended up being able to use, I found his explanation a little perplexing: "First and foremost, I want to apologize for my misunderstanding of the situation. I want to rectify this immediately for you. I can either refund the credit card you use for the gift or the credit card you use for restaurant payments. If you choose the latter, please send me the last four digits of the card. Once again, I apologize for any inconvenience caused. As a token of my apology, I’ll treat you to a nice bottle of wine the next time you visit." I think this inconvenience warrants much more than a nice bottle of wine, to say the least. We will not be returning to this restaurant again, and instead will be going to Civico 2064, which has outstanding service and a...

Sigh Osteria Mamma, why have we not met until tonight? (well technically in January, but hey, better late than never for my review). I take notes and start my review in the restaurant, by the way, just in case you're wondering how I remember things. But I digress, this is about Osteria Mamma and not my reviewing techniques.

Located on a little nondescript corner on Melrose and Lucerne, in the Larchmont Village/Hancock Park area. You have to be on the look out for the restaurant. There is no neon lights pointing you to the direction of Osteria Mamma. You just have to pay attention to the streets you are passing.

It's dimly lit inside, romantic, wine bottle walls - it just takes you to a different place. It's no longer the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles, you kinda walk into a small restaurant in Italy.

There's HUGE wine list - mostly originating from Italy and separated by region.

There's a decent sized menu, with plenty of options - pastas, salads, meats. Everything you would expect in an Italian menu. I ended up ordering the Bigoli Neri [black squid ink bigoli, cherry tomatoes, shrimp, bottarga] = bigoli are thick-round long pastas, almost like udon. Shrimp was fresh, as was sauce. It was light and not too heavy, which is what I prefer in my pasta.

In addition, we ordered the Tiramisu. The tiramisu was light, fluffly and totes delish. It's a HUGE portion, so make sure you're sharing. Even with me, the dessert lover, we couldn't finish the dessert. :( sad face.

I would totally come back for more food here. There's so many different entrees I want to sample. The pastas are hand made, it has this very homey feeling.

Note - make reservations, this place is hit or miss with how packed it can be.

Plenty of street parking, after 7 pm (of course). There are some side residential streets also, but please make sure you're reading those...

Corner restaurant on Melrose Ave, El Centro Ave. I've been here twice and I haven't been disappointed or wowed. Fortunately, their service is excellent and ingredients are always fresh.

My order and take:

Crostini di burrata $17.25-My favorite dish of the night and it was just as good as the first time! The burrata is fresh with the cheese dropping on the side and the meat perfectly paired. **

Campana $9.25-Fresh simple garden salad, lightly tossed with dressing. It has all the ingredients I love, but overpriced for a salad dish...enough to feed two as appetizer. **

Pappardelle zafferano $19.25-Plenty of chopped up mushrooms in cream sauce and Pappardelle...nothing less, nothing more. The dish looks small, but it's enough to fill you up. It lacks flavor...if you like simple dimension in your dish, go for this. It's not bland, but missing the sparkle! *

Pappardelle anatra $18.95-Spinach pappardelle, not the best presentation of the dish especially mixed with red sauce and chunks of meat. The dish looked like something you would feed to an animal...well, a fancy one at least! And no, I am not the fancy animal. As for the taste, I would give it a 1-star. *

Panna cotta $7-I love Panna cotta, but don't get it here...it's the second time I ordered it and I forgot how bad it was the first time, my mistake! It tasted like a day old missing the creaminess of a Panna cotta. I don't like day old hard Panna cotta!

I would give this place another chance and definitely order other dishes. Their pasta is freshly made and cooked perfectly, but where does it go afterwards? I haven't tasted any pasta I liked.

Tip: Reservation is available, in call or open table. Valet or street parking is available here, but you might have to park a block or two down since Osteria Mamma is right on the busy street of Melrose Avenue! Plenty of Meter parking on...