Terra e Mare Ristorante — Restaurant in Los Angeles

This restaurant/restauranteur has an ego, but nothing to back it up...

We ate at Terra-ble e Ma-le on Saturday night of September 23, 2023.

Appetizers (tuna tartare and crab cakes) were presented in a lovely way, but the "tartar" as it's listed on the menu (spell/translation check anyone?), tasted bland and was of poor quality. Crab cakes were overcooked and dry. Both reminded me of Yard house quality but not as good and thrice the price.

Main dishes (lobster ravioli and New York steak) were presented in a plain and simple way. The ravioli tasted like the pasta water had not been seasoned and had chewy bits in it. The steak looked lovely with it's criss cross grill patterns but was not seasoned and not cooked medium rare as requested. Chimichurri tasted like rotten avocado, and spinach was an unseasoned mass of "no thank you!". The roasted potatoes were decent, really the only nicely cooked and seasoned thing in the dish.

Sent steak back because it wasn't enjoyable in it's unseasoned form, so waiter said he'd take it off the bill. Manager/owner Stelian stopped by and asked what was wrong with the steak and I told him it was under seasoned and the chimichurri tasted bad. He quickly defended both saying how the steak is the best center cut prime and how everyone loves the chimichurri. Your ego is not your amigo Stelian!

I received and paid bill, unfortunately I didn't notice that dear Stelian had undermined his waiter and had left the steak charge on the bill as "1/2 comp". So in the end I sent back more than half of the dish, was told it would be taken off the bill, then charged for half of it. I polled friends and restaurant workers over the past week and comments about this act can be summed up as, "that's the lowest of the low".

This place has potential but the owner is all ego for no reason - the food is BAD and OVERPRICED! I recommend Malbec in Pasadena for legitimately great meat and chimichurri, as well as service with a smile and without ego. Or go big and have some amazing meats (and also good chimichurri) at any Fogo de Chao.

Or eat ANYWHERE else, just don't go to Terra e...

We came here on a Friday night for dinner with 9 people total. The place was full and not crammed which was great. Most of the tables were larger groups like ourselves. The table was ready for us right when we got there. Once we sat down and were looking over the menu, we got to put in our drink orders and after a few minutes when we were ready to order, we got the butter with black salt and rosemary bread brought to our table, it was a good start to dinner and if I wasn’t trying to control myself I could have cleared a whole basket by myself.

I didn’t get to try every dish our table ordered but the food I did try tasted good, best way I can describe it is that they were very solid and satisfactory. The dishes provided tame flavors, nothing too extreme or too unnoticeable but a happy medium. The portions were good enough where an entree will clearly fill you up, even the appetizers were a good enough size that if you chose to order one instead of an entree you’d be able to pull it off, if you prefer a smaller amount of food.

The ambiance felt very family friendly which would explain the frequency of large groups I noticed very quickly once we entered the restaurant.

The service was solid and the staff was courteous, we did not wait too long for attention and the staff was able to answer all the questions we had and assist wherever we needed it.

There was a little parking in the back and if it got full we would have easily found street parking all around the restaurant.

Overall we all enjoyed our visit to the restaurant and I can see myself coming back in the future whenever I’m in the mood for Italian food.

Everything we ordered: -fiuggi (sparkling water) -bourbon cooler (drink) -very berry mule (drink) -black manhatten (drink) -the 1908 (drink) -NY sour (drink) -butter with black salt and rosemary bread -Grilled Calamari -Rigatoni Varese -Pollo Ruspante -Veal Chop -Filetto di Manzo -Farfalle alla vodka e Prosciutto -Lasagna Bolognese -Meat Balls -Baked Red Snapper with carrots...

Lovely place. The kitchen is open which made the whole place feel cozy. I had initially seen there was a tomahawk steak on the menu but was sad to hear they no longer serve it. Initially had chosen this place for that specific reason but bf ended up getting the wagyu steak that was on the Specials menu. Bf said it was so tender and delicious. Seasonings were great, did not need anything else. The potato gnocchi was a bit plain. I ordered the branzino, great crispy skin and it was cooked to perfection! I also ordered the seafood risotto. I forgot to add cheese to it which I am sure would've added a little more flavor but it was good. Scallops were delicious. We saw another table order the cioppino and it looked amazing. Definitely going back to order that. The bread they bring out to the table with the salted butter was soft and warm. I had to order more because it went great with the branzino. I ordered the Lychee collins and it was tasty. No strong alcohol taste but definitely had a kick. The cucumber cosmo was light and fresh. We had affogatos (one decaf and one regular) and they were superb! I almost ordered another round. All in all, great place for a casual dinner. We took our 8 month old and they had a high chair and were very accommodating. Our server, his name escapes me, was attentive and took good care of us. Can't wait to go back! *Parking in the back. This restaurant is in a plaza and there is a small parking lot attached, immediately behind. Since we went at night, the other businesses were closed so there was plenty of spaces. Also metered parking...