Piccolo Santa Monica — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Our dinner for four started promptly and on the right note. The hostess was friendly and gave us seating choices ,we sat inside. The high table was just the right height and the leather padded chairs were comfortable inside the noise level was perfect to have a normal conversation. we listened to specials from our multi talented waiters that was working the bar as well. the wine choices are vast and contain important Italian classics.We went with a Valpollachella wine which was amazing Appetizers were gorgeous and delicious. Beet carpaccio de Oro with Burrata , Jamon with red wine reduced pears with Burrata and radiccio mix, ricotta stuffed agnolotti with butter reduction and summer truffles shaved on top. That was a dream in a dish! For main course we had veal scaloppini ,very tender over mashed potatoes , and the New York Strip steak with peppercorn sauce !Absolutely perfect! For the end of our meal we ordered a small chocolate mouse tart over a crunchy hazelnut cooky . The dinner was amazing, and I would recommend you visiting Piccolo for a memorable dinner as a date or going...

My date took me here. It was a GREAT pick on his part. The staff is extremely attentive and the food was fantastic. We ordered the grilled octopus as an appetizer and shared the tortellini and squid ink pasta for our entrees. The pasta was not al dente but not overcooked. I ordered the Blackberry Bumble cocktail. It was a solid drink and not too sweet. Street parking was easy. They have indoor and outdoor seating. Outdoor seating is divided into two patios (one attached to the building and one on the street) with ample heaters. The only drawback is that the bathroom sink spews hot water so both my date and I almost burned our mitts off. Other than that, it is a perfect date spot. They’re one of the few places that use real candles (instead of those fake tea light candles). The ambiance is perfect because they have soft, ambient lighting. I recommended this restaurant to a few friends in the area and hope to visit again soon.

Tl;dr: This restaurant is located next to Chick-Fil-A. The food was so good my date & I did not stop by Chick-Fil-A...

We were excited for our meal after discovering Piccolo on OpenTable, especially given the number of positive reviews; however, we left very disappointed. I usually give service a break but both of our servers were snarky and would quip back and become extremely defensive when we asked questions about the menu and our order. At one point, they brought us food we didn't order and insisted that we were wrong and we had, in fact, ordered it. We weren't sure whether or not to share an entree after multiple appetizers, therefore we asked how large the portions were, to which they replied, "Large, and definitely enough to share." The portions were small, even for one person (which could have been excused if the food was anything better than just good). Had the server not lied, we would have ordered two entrees and not been hungry by the end of the night. Overall, it was an extremely awkward and unsettling experience that left us...