Vito Restaurant — Restaurant in Santa Monica

some mensa member decided to turn the a/c to 67deg so we were pretty chilly. i saw another lady in the cut dining with her winter coat on

terrible service. no one came to check up on us ever, ask if we wanted more drinks, etc. the waiter introduced himself and took our drink order at 6:50, a busser took our order at about 7:10 (we had to ask for bread that had been plopped down on everyone else's table including many people who sat down after us), and at 8:10 a busser asked if he could pack up our food. that was about the extent of proactive service. every other interaction, we had to flag someone down

when the bread finally got plopped down, the butter was hard asl. like uk when you're super hungry and all you wanna do is spread the butter on the bread, and you can't even spread it evenly cause some genius decided to refrigerate it? it was like that. like wow, what did we do to you?

cramped. they rolled out this massive dessert table which was hitting someone's elbows. dude had to move so the waiters could show someone else the dessert. would be cool if we were shown anything

the spaghetti sauce was bomb, the meatballs tasted like chef boyardee. $33

phenomenal tiramisu. $16. vito, yall get one extra star for that and the spaghetti sauce. savor it

the veal portofino's veggies were giving michelle obama school cafeteria. $39. peep the carrots, peas, and broccoli in the photo. sauce was good tho

overall a terrible way to spend $152 on valentine's day. oh well, at least we didn't have to tip. since this is america, the servers may now get a stereotype about "black people don't tip" bc of us. nah, the black person in our party begged me to at least leave a measly 5% but i couldn't even do that. we usually do 20%, we didn't tip cause yall didn't serve!!

i see the owner likes to go back and forth with some of the other reviews lol (great way to run a business btw) so i'm looking forward to seeing how they dispute these facts here. pull the...

Looks elegant from the window but the very hard to find parking situation should give you an indication of the very tight quarters to cram many people in a small place. The waiters even bump each other like a pinball machine.

This was my initial impression (it does get better) walking in and trying to even figure out WHERE is the check in table. If you happen to get lucky to park in the small valet parking area, then walk in through the back, turn right, take a few steps and turn right again. There should be someone in a suit standing next to a very inconspicuous high desk.

Things start improving a little by prompting sitting us down. But theres slippery slope in Service when we were left alone for awhile before someone asked if we wanted something to drink.

Tip: Make sure to check in and tell them before you order that you get a 15% Discount! Helps to save money!

2 stars lost up to this point. But the service started to improve eventually as they became more attentive. But to be fair, the food truly deserves 5 stars on its own.

Very impressed by the following:

Cocktail raspberry martini = great flavor !

calamari fritti is a Great Appetizer!!

Caesar salad for 2 skillfully prepared at table. Very Cool!!

Spaghetti Della Casa - spaghetti with shrimp with a very tasty & different type of sauce!

What took me OVER THE TOP was their FILETTO DE MANZO This Filet Mignon. ranks as one of the BEST I have ever had. It is Very delicious & ULTRA tender The Mushrooms are very...

This was an impromptu stop for dinner and the place is the epitome of “Old School” Italian. Red naugahyde, dark wood, and low lighting are the hallmarks of this place. I actually like this vibe, but as I’ve mentioned before, we generally sit at the bar, and by 5pm on Monday the bar was full. My particular seat had a pole on the right and a lamp in front of me that was attached and so I felt quite squeezed. Also my bar stool was wobbly and lopsided. Other than that, the place seemed a little old and in need of a little sprucing but that makes sense, since it’s been there for 42 years. It is definitely a local favorite and you could tell. The service at the bar was excellent. JJ the bartender was attentive and knowledgeable. He gave us great suggestions on the extensive menu. We opted for roasted peppers and Calamari for apps. Both were amazing. We had the Cesar salad for 2 (they can’t make it tableside at the bar - but usually do) the Cesar was incredible. The dressing was light and very flavorful - just the way I like it 😍 My man had the cioppino which had great flavor and a lot of seafood. He did wish they had a crusty piece of Italian bread for dipping. They did have nice rolls but he would have preferred the prior. I had the filet with mushrooms and it was perfectly cooked, very tender and amazing flavor. Excellent! So, overall great great impromptu dinner....