Scopa Italian Roots — Restaurant in Los Angeles

We had a very nice server and there’s a great ambiance at Scopa, perfect for dates and connecting with friends alike. They have a gorgeous bar, large window, candles on the tables, and all of our food came perfectly coursed. We were easily able to make a same-day reservation via the Resy app, and I do recommend making a reservation in advance because it was popping when we arrived. For parking, you can either park in the connected valet lot ($13 on a Monday) or look for free street parking (we found it pretty easily, but then again it was a Monday).

There are the top four absolute must-order items you should order to share:

Hot Antipasti - Scallops Oreganata ($23) with brown butter, bread crumbs, & lemon. I’m gluten free so I asked for no breadcrumbs, and I also recommend ordering a side of gluten free bread to dip in the brown butter after you finish enjoying the scallops because they have the absolute best gluten free cheesecheese bread! They only came with 2 scallops in an order so consider ordering enough so each person can have at least 1 full scallop.

Hot Antipasti - Mortadella Meatballs ($21) with pistachio pesto, arugula, & parmesan cheese. This came with 3 medium-large sized meatballs covered in a delicious green pesto - don’t let looks deceive you, even if this isn’t how you expect meatballs to look they’re delish.

Cold Antipasti - Heirloom Tomatoes ($18) with sweet onion, basil, ricotta salata cheese, sherry vinegar, & olive oil. If you enjoy tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, this is the dish for you. My favorite were the little orange tomatoes.

Salad - Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad ($22) with generous pecorino romano cheese, parsley, grapes, olive oil, sherry vinegar, & toasted almonds. This was a good portion size and the best raw Brussels sprouts I’ve ever had.

While I did really enjoy the flavor of oysters themselves and their sauces, and I do want to put them as item 5 to order, each of the oysters had some shell bits had to spit out, and it only came with 1 spoon and 0 mini forks. The oysters come with lemon slices, cocktail sauce, shredded horseradish, mignonette, and are $4.50 each with a minimum of 6. I would order them again, but enjoy them carefully and hope that they’re shucked better next time.

However…

Maybe things were off because it was a Monday and they had multiple large last minute parties walk in. Maybe I should have gone for the pastas instead of the below because it is an Italian restaurant. Maybe I’m just a person who enjoys more seasoning on seafood or less sauce on pork chops, but a few of the dishes weren’t exactly as good as I was expecting.

Unless you love canned tuna, absolutely avoid the Sicilian Tuna Cold Antipasti ($19) with market green beans, fingerling potato, capers, lemon, & olive oil. It wasn’t until we mentioned to our server our strong disappointment with the dish, as we were expecting either Tuna Crudo or Seared Tuna, that our server told us that he usually steers guests away from it. It also had zero seasoning, and boy did it need it. It also feels like this dish should have automatically been served with crackers.

The Amberjack Crudo ($25) with watermelon radish, bulls blood micro greens, & herb oil needed a combo-sauce or a stronger flavored oil, as it was very bland as-is. Luckily not a fishy-fish, but still lackluster for their only fish crudo on the menu.

For the Mains, they were already sold out of the 24oz T-bone Steak ($82) when we arrived, and the server recommended the Pork Chop. The generous portion of Pork Chop ($66) came with crispy fingerling potatoes, roasted shallots, olives, capers, garlic, balsamic vinegar, & fresh herbs. The balsamic was more of a thick, sweet, heavy glaze, and it overpowered the meat. Personally, we both felt it was...

As a local and someone who has often patronized this restaurant over the past couple years, I have never been so disappointed, an absolute AWFUL EXPERIENCE and SCOPA will never gain another dollar from my family and my business dinners ever again. My wife and I ordered a Penne Pasta entree, Meatballs app (3 pieces) and a Rigatoni Ala Vodka. We wanted to add chicken to the Rigatoni but you’re unable to do so on post mates (really?!) and you would think in the pandemic stay at home curb side/delivery world we live in today that the restauranteur would want to ensure food quality, portion size, cost control and that good old thing called ‘genuine service’ are all at the forefront, well that certainly wasn’t the case... The manager on duty (Josh 12.27 evening) was so rude, defensive and raised his voice when I called to inform him that we were charged $70 for cold food, small portions and were unable to add chicken to an entree. Josh’s response was “yeah, we don’t do that” which is ironic because I’m a 20 year veteran in the restaurant business at a senior management level, this is so not the way to treat your customers, also not a great way to grow revenue.... When I stated the cost breakdown between Postmates and our order, he replied “that’s not us, we don’t receive any of that” referring to the money tendered by Postmates, he retorted portion sizes are the same and once again, did this with an attitude and an aggressive tone on the phone. Again, I’m 20 years in this business and never write reviews for bad service, I normally just never return. Well in this case, I’m not only never going to return, nor will my family or clients that I entertain. I will find other alternatives that respect their customers, understand the value of service and can professionally field a constructive complaint by an upset customer. I mean, wouldn’t you want to sell an ‘add-on’ of grilled chicken considering you can’t dine in doors, the restaurant industry has been so badly impacted and this is how you treat your guest...?? $70 for three entrees that looked like apps, 2 of which are vegetarian?! I mean... wow!!! Shame on you SCOPA and as a reminder, 3rd party services that YOU DECIDE to utilize is a reflection of your restaurant. So please gain some hospitality 101, listen to your customers, add “up-sell” prompts and most importantly NEVER get nasty with a guest who is giving open honest constructive feedback. If I had to guess I’ve probably been to SCOPA 20 x in the last 2 years and have always had a great experience. All I can say is, you missed the boat this time and sadly have lost allot of business moving forward...

By far my favorite restaurant in town, maybe even all time. Never had a bad meal there. Awesome drinks as well. Great looking crowd. Try to book ahead of time. Always very busy. Also if you can, go next door to Old Lighting (speakeasy) and have some super special cocktails.

Update 1/13/25

I don’t live CA anymore but when I am back in town I always go back to Scopa. Well I wish I didn’t this time. Went alone so I ate at the bar. Host didn’t did not greet when I waked in. You literally have one job. Sat at the bar. I was literally the only person at the bar. Bartender ignored me for about 5-10 minutes even after I saw him look my way 3 times. I asked a barback if they could get him. Only reason he showed up. Came down. Didn’t even greet me. Asked if I wanted a drink. Ordered one. Ok. I figured at this point he would try to chat me up as bartenders do to make the guest feel welcome and earn their tip. I was a bartender for a long time so I know how he should act. He never asked how I was doing. After I ordered he never asked how the food was. The bar has filled up a bit more and now and he’s chatting up every other customer except me. See this is what a lot of bartenders don’t get. It’s a game. If someone seems unhappy at first, which I was since he ignored me for a while while I sat at the bar. The game is to win that customer back over. Make them feel welcome. He did the opposite. Maybe he doesn’t like tips because that was the lowest % tip I have ever given in my life. I gave him every chance to come around. Nope. Not to mention the food runners weren’t very friendly. Do servers and staff not know how to say you’re welcome after someone says thank you. I guess not. Overall I will still comeback because of the food but for a place that used to have great service in a sea of restaurants with bad service, they have gone down hill. Oh I also watched the manager touch tables to see how the meal was going but of course not me. Everyone that worked there seemed like they had better things to do. If I was still bartending, I would kill to work at Scopa. Too bad their bartenders...