Fia Restaurant — Restaurant in Santa Monica

A CLASS OF IT'S OWN ! When it comes to celebrating our wedding anniversary my wife and I wanted to have dinner somewhere VERY SPECIAL ! Fia Restaurant was our one and only choice because of it's incredible feel good factor and WORLD CLASS MENU. Weeks ago I made a dinner reservation online for 6pm on Friday, June 17th....our 16th wedding anniversary. After enjoying a lovely HAPPY HOUR at Dono ( Spanish, Tapas ) their sister restaurant next door we arrived at Fia just before 6pm. Lovely Katie the GM greeted us at the hostess desk and my wife was shown to a table on the upstairs balcony above the bar....what a fun surprise ! Meanwhile I zipped stage left to Fia Steak where I had a nice chat with Chef Brendan and then it was back to sit with my wife. Within a minute or so of getting comfortable a very well dressed lady came by and provided us with elegant glasses of Prosecco....what a treat to meet Michelle the gifted Sommelier. Being our 3rd dinner visit here we obviously love the place...the talented staff provide the most amazing service you will ever experience. And the bedazzling menu has been meticulously designed by the MOST TALENTED CHEF we have ever met....Chef Brendan Collins who not only runs Fia Restaurant and Fia Steak but also Dono ( Spanish / Tapas ) next door. Our stylish server Momi arrived to pamper us for the evening. I needed a good beer and Momi brought me ice cold IPA in fast time. It tasted great ! We decided to try some appetizers and starters on the menu before our entrees. First up it was a Tortellini / Porcini Appetizer...what a delight ! Followed quickly by an exquisite starter...Peaches & Ricotta, Endives, Proscuitto & Truffle Honey. WOW was that delicious ! Next it was Hawaiian Bigeye Tuna, Caviar, Creme Fraiche & Shrimp Chips. What a sensational dish ! WHOO HOO...our Tortellini, Porcini Mushroom, Asparagus, Spinach & Pearl Onion arrived...my wife's favorite Fia dish. Incredible flavor and texture would be an understatement ! Time for our entrees...I chose the Pot Roast Short Rib, Winter Vegetables, Creamed Spinach & Celery Root Gratin while my wife went for the Seared Diver Scallops, Spring Pea Tortellini, Pancetta, Carrots & Shaved Snap Pea. We shared as we always do and the Seared Diver Scallops tasted as good as it gets. We both enjoyed the ever so tender Pot Roast Short Rib and the veggies were sensational. Obviously we were having a real fun night....the atmosphere is magical ! Everybody we could see was having a great time. Maybe we can fit in some dessert....my wife wanted something new which was not on the printed menu... PEACH COBBLER. I had my eye on the CASCADING TIRAMISU...I like a big finish ! And out they came one after the other....the Peach Cobbler ( deconstructed ) had fabulous flavor. What can I say about the Cascading Tiramisu..my video tells the story. It was delicious ! At some point we both individually thanked Chef Brendan for making our anniversary dinner totally memorable. YOU WILL NOT FIND A BETTER...

I took my grown kids and nephew there for a birthday dinner and we arrived at 7:30 and not seated until 8:40 . And this was with a reservation. Then we had to wait another entire hour to get any food and when it finally arrived only two entrees was good. The cod was flavorless as were the brussel sprouts. My daughters lasagna was half eaten as well. I left the restaurant with an entremely bad taste in my mouth. The staff were rude, dismissive and aggressive with us. The manager was brought in and when I tried to explain how disappointing the food was he deflecting and never once apologized for keeping us waiting and then being given food that was bland and flavorless. Look, I know new restaurants have good nights and bad nights, It happens, but when you are having an off night ,apologize! Buy a drink for someone, anything ....but to be treated so badly with no apology is entirely unacceptable. I am a 62 year old woman who knows fine reataurants and I must say ,from the hosetss all the way to the manager I was mortified at their manners and bad behaviour.Not to mention the food. I will never go back

I just saw the response from the restaurant and I must say it is as classless as the service was that we received while in the restaurant. Instead of apologizing for a ridiculous wait time to get a table and get food they deflected the blame by saying my daughter made a rude comment to the hostess when in fact it was a joke, and the other hostess knew that it was a joke!. And in your nasty rebuttal to my review you said we had eaten all of the food we complained about ,Do you know why some of the food that we complained about was actually eaten? Because we’d been in the restaurant since 730 and by 945 and we had not eaten yet and my two kids were starving! They would’ve eaten cardboard by that point. I on the other hand left all of my uneaten cod on my plate to show them that I didn’t like it and it was flavorless, At that point all the manager had to do was apologize but instead he attacked my daughter! As a mother I was Horrified that this manager actually bullied my daughter at the table! She immediately got up to go and apologize to the hostess not realizing that she had hurt her feelings , she spoke with the other hostess and she said she totally got that what my daughter said was a joke.

If this is the way you treat all of your 60 something customers? For some strange reason you singled me out and I don’t know why ,was it my age? Really I feel totally discriminated against now and especially with the rude response I got from your manager it was like he was bullying me like he had bullied my daughter. Clearly he has a problem with women and/or senior citizens. I know you are hip and trendy restaurant and if you don’t want older people there you should just say so ,not treat them so badly that they never...

I was eager to try Fia, unfortunately everything about it felt pretentious and overpriced. I was with a group of eight for dinner, we ordered a majority of the menu.

Food: the food was mostly good, but not great. The steak was not worth the $190 price tag and lacked any wood grilled flavor. The chicken parmigiana was salty. The pastas were good but also overpriced (~$36); the lobster and squid ink pasta featured a foam that looked pretty, but was devoid of flavor. The bread is good, the Italian chopped salad was very good. The menu is random and confused. They serve “California cuisine” but the menu goes from steak to pasta to tuna tartar to beef Wellington. The farmers market section lacks seasonal items and no local farms are referenced. The portions are decent. Most menu items should be $5-$10 cheaper, I can go down the block and get a cheaper and tastier pasta from Milo and olive.

Service: the service was mostly good. I like to bring wines and pay corkage- they limit you to one bottle which I’ve never seen before. Most restaurants allow 2-3 bottles. The sommelier offered little to no guidance when we did purchase bottles. The setting is nice but in reality is just a bunch of tables in a mostly bare backyard. Our server was good. They asked that we complete our entire order at one time which is annoying and difficult for a large group.

All in all this restaurant offers a nice relaxed setting, an uninspiring menu, and Hollywood pretentiousness for near Michelin star prices. If they offered a more standard corkage policy and marginally cheaper prices this would be three stars. I’d be interested to to try brunch as the setting would pair nicely with that.

Maybe worth a try if you haven’t been, but you’ll find better options up and...