Rossoblu — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Just came from Rossoblu and really cannot believe the experience we had dining here.

The service was lousy beginning with our waitress who was visibly irritated that we were not interested in ordering "as the chef suggests family style for the table" (sorry, party of six not interested in sharing around the table)

I was interested in trying the Tortellini in Brodo but the waitress suggested the Mom's Minestra Nel Sacco so I took her up on that suggestion. This dish was bland and uninteresting. Our server never came to ask us how everything was but I did wind up finding another server to replace the dish with my original choice which was better....but still, nothing special. We also ordered the Tortelloni which was "okay" and from the antipasti menu we had the Braised Pork Meatballs. We also had the beautiful but bland Coal Roasted Vegetables and the Bread Basket (the bread was actually good but really, $6 for a few slices of bread?) Others at our table ordered some of the additional antipasti dishes and Bolognese which seemed to be average and by time the two orders of Brick-Pressed Half Chicken arrived I personally had lost my appetite and was uninterested in trying it but the rest of the table seemed to enjoy that. Our server was completely un-attentive and made herself so scarce that I actually had to go inside and order a drink at the bar to be sent out to our table and that happened without any apology from any of the staff including a "manager" looking guy who seemed to be more interested in what was on his phone. The rest of the staff seemed very unmoved by the fact that a patron had to leave her table to go order a beverage. The final straw was one server who came to clear our plates filling up her hands reaching and leaning over the table without so much as an "excuse me" and then proceeded to drop everything in her hands at the foot of the table sending chards of broken dishware from several plates shattering all over the place. Even with this, no apology, no manager, nothing.

The sad thing is that all of this happened on a quiet Sunday evening in which the restaurant was half full at best.

We finished our meal with some sorbettos, a boudino, and some sort of ice cream dish with a balsamic vinegar glaze. Disappointing at best....I never leave dessert and I don't think anyone at the table finished any one thing.

The restaurant space itself is nice with an outdoor seating area with security patrol clearly visible making rounds in the adjacent alleyway. The restrooms are dark and basic stalls with the sinks located outside in the hallway of the restaurant which I though was really weird. You have to walk out of the bathroom and wash your hands in front of everyone.

I personally was totally disappointed with Rossoblu and wouldn't waste my time or money to give it another chance after this experience tonight.

We followed our nav system back home turning left on San Pedro blvd which takes you directly through a skid row tent city that begins just a few block away from Rossoblu....don't go that way if you can avoid it. One, it's not the safest area and, two, it will make you feel terrible for spending $22 on a few pieces of pasta in chicken broth served by a staff that could clearly not...

I've been super excited to try Rossoblu, so we came to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. I wanted to love Rossoblu, but unfortunately, we left disappointed.

Upon arriving, I was surprised to see how close to skid row Rossoblu is. We parked just a block away, and the streets were lined with homeless tents. The $12 valet right in front of the restaurant seems more for safety than for lack of parking availability.

For starters, we got the grilled pork meatballs and the market salad. The grill marks I saw on other photos were totally absent on our order of meatballs. Nevertheless, they were tasty.

The market salad was the biggest disappointment of the night. Listed as having peaches, nectarines, and apricot dressing, we barely saw either of the fruits, and the dressing was undetectable. And for $17?!? What a waste. I'd rather get Sweetgreen.

After the starters, we waited 15 minutes for our two pastas to arrive. Both were cooked well, good quality pasta and solid sized portions. From a flavor stand point, the maltagliati with mushrooms was good, but nothing special. If I was to return, I'd try the ragu instead. The tortelloni with swiss chard, ricotta, tomato and butter sauce was ok, very one-note. Given Rossoblu's reputation, and at $25 or $24 for each pasta, I was hoping for great.

As we waited to see the dessert menus, a huge rat scurried the length of the outdoor area from end to end, an arm's length away from our table. A waiter who couldn't help but notice, apologized and chalked it up to the alley next door to the restaurant.

After we received the dessert menus, we noticed a swarm of bugs hovering directly over our heads. It was then that we decided to wrap up the evening. My wife left the restaurant to evade the swarm while I waited for the check. Thankfully I was able to use toast & apple pay to quickly close out the $140 meal before another visit from rodents and/or insects.

With all the great italian food in the city, I don't see myself coming back to Rossoblu again.

*I recognize that the outdoor issues are not totally in Rossoblu's control, but I do have to factor it into this review as it was part of...

I was really excited to finally go here after hearing such great things. Also, pasta is pretty much my favorite food so I was looking forward to seeing if they stack up to the amazing options we have in LA.

First, the space is beautiful and the service was really good, so that part was excellent. Overall the food was good, but I was really hoping for great.

Our first course was the meatballs, which were some of the best meatballs I've ever had (including my mom and grandma's, and mine unfortunately). They were reallllly tender and flavorful and the sauce was awesome.

Second was tortellini en brodo, which I've had ever since I was a kid so I was really excited to see it at a nice restaurant. I would say it was good but not great unfortunately. The broth was very flavorful but the tortellini was lacking something - a little too plain with only meat inside.

The Maltagliati was next and I was stoked to try this because mushroom pasta is one of my favorite things, but again it fell a little flat. It did have a good mushroom flavor but I felt the sauce was a bit thin and lacked a punch for me. Maybe this was intentional and I've made similar mushroom sauce at home that tasted similar, but I guess I was hoping it would be thicker and adhere to the pasta a bit more.

The pig face was last and that was really good! It just looks awesome and man was it packed with flavor. There isn't a ton of meat on it ultimately, but it was plenty of food for us and I love that they have something really interesting like this on the menu.

So overall I thought it was really good but could've been one of the best in LA if they up their pasta game. The bolognese looked great and I will try that next time, but I try to get more interesting things when I'm out compared to what I can make at home. Also the cocktails sounded interesting but ultimately weren't anything special. A few more spirit forward drinks would've been nice :)

One plus was that the pastas were very generous portions compared to other hip Italian...