Rosti Tuscan Kitchen - Santa Monica — Restaurant in Santa Monica

I hate writing bad reviews, but I'd be doing the community a disservice if I only review the good places. The good- they were able to accommodate our large party on the same day so that was appreciated. Parking was a non issue in back of the restaurant. Portions are HUGE.. like 4 ppl could share a salad and the chicken Parm and be full - very budget friendly! The Chianti was great and the salad we had was delicious and also would have easily served 4-6 of us. My partner and I usually share a couple of plates for variety, but this was too much food. Our family that had the pizza and clam linguine liked both dishes.

The Bad- the portions were too big! I know, I know... I listed is as good as well for those who want to share or want lefties, but we we were traveling with nowhere to store leftovers. Had we known how big the salad was, we would've gotten something else, I hate wasting food and not 1 of the 10 in our party came close to finishing. It would have been nice if the server had warned us of how large the salad (a HUGE BOWL) was after we told her we were sharing. We shared the surf and turf. It was supposed to come with a ribeye, but they were out of ribeyes so we subbed a filet. The entire plate of food was lukewarm from the cauliflower to the the filet, which was cooked well, but chewed like leather and had no seasoning. We considered that it was not actually tenderloin but something else. The shrimp was supposedly cooked in a garlic sauce which was undetectable, lacked seasoning, flavor, and was undercooked and also not warm, the spinach tasted like it came out of a can and the roasted cauliflower was awful, like it had seasoning salt and nothing else. Which was super disappointing because making roasted cauliflower takes nothing more than a bit of EVOO, balsamic, salt and pepper. I tasted my sister's mushroom side and garlic mash... the mushrooms had no seasoning and tasted like they came from a can and the garlic mash was meh. Did I mention everything lacked seasoning.

The service also left much to be desired. She dropped one wine menu for a table of 10. Thanks. When asking about dishes she looked like she didn't want to be bothered. I didn't read about the choice of sides so when she asked which sides, I was unprepared. When I asked what our choices were, she pointed us to the menu - which I thought was lame... she could have told us the items or recommended her favs, but then I saw that there are 14 sides to which I thought... how can you do 14 sides well - eeesh. The answer: YOU CAN'T. The place could probably be good with a bit of training of staff, culling of the menu, and reducing the size of the portions - but who knows.. Maybe they do well enough not to change.

There's so many good restaurants in that area, there's no way I, or anyone else in my party would ever consider going back or...

Rosti has to be taken in context for what it is. It's a small chain of dine in and take out style restaurants. Don't think it's an "Italian" restaurant per say. It's Italian food in a cafe setting. If that's what you're looking for, you'll like it. If you're looking for an Italian restaurant in the traditional sense, you'll be like so many of the other reviews that don't get Rosti.

First off, it's cafe tables and not super comfortable. It's loud inside and there's a lot of "coming and going" of customers (I mentioned that it's a big take out restaurant). However, if you want good "kitchen style" Italian style food, it's actually really good. The pizza is very good. The pastas also very good. The sandwiches are tasty. They're known for their rotisserie chicken which you can get but it also serves as the meat foundation for sandwiches, etc.

I've been eating at Rosti for about 20 years. When I lived in Brentwood, I frequented it often. Since then, I've moved away but frequently come back to the Santa Monica location and it stays true to form with consistent great food for both lunch and diner. My favorite is their pizza. Start there or with the chicken as it's good stuff...

On a parting note, you would think that it's not really a wait table place but it is and the service is very good with attentive staff that aren't overbearing. Like I said, this place is a mix of things all pretty damn good...

Wonderful place to eat at if you happen to find yourself strolling down Montana Ave in Santa Monica. Between the wonderful weather and delicious food it makes for a great time. Amazing and quick service. As for the food i was greatly pleased! The only bad critique i have is the marinara sauce (not pictured) that comes with the calamari, it was very soup like(low key giving tomato soup vibes), it lacked the thickness of a dipping sauce BUT nonetheless still good. I ordered the blackened chicken Caesar sandwich and chiiiiile the chicken was so juicy and seasoned to perfection. Everything tasted so fresh! My sister ordered the half pound rosti cheeseburger which looked delicious she did state “ for it to be a well done burger it’s still juicy and flavorful, it doesn’t taste dry at all” Of course i had to order me a drink, i kept it classy with Prosecco & i love how it comes in a small individual bottle vs it being poured from a larger bottle. We ordered the pollo al mattone(drumsticks) for my nephew unfortunately he didn’t seem to enjoy the drumsticks as much but he was able to eat the fries. Btw the fries y u m m y you can taste the rosemary sea salt and I’m guessing a drizzle of olive oil.

all in all this place is delicious and a heavy recommendation to eat at, the only downside honestly would be finding parking if their parking lot is full, but even then that was not...