North Italia Del Amo — Restaurant in Torrance

North Italia is an Italian restaurant located at the Del Amo mall. The entrance is in the exterior of the mall. They have indoor and patio dining. The menu includes the usual Italian fare and pizzas. This visit we had the calamari as a starter, beef carpacio, bolognese, shrimp scampi, salmon avocado toast, squid ink pasta, side of Italian donuts and bombolini for dessert. The location is convenient. We were able to easily get a reservation for early lunch on a Sunday morning. Sitting on the patio was lovely. I ordered a cappuccino, and it was delicious. They did not offer refills of normal drip coffee afterward. They also did not have any cherries for their Shirley Temple and did not mention why they did not bring it even though we specifically asked for cherries at the same time as the drink. We had to pursue the lack of cherries before they actually gave an answer. All negative points in my mind, especially the coffee, since I also ordered dessert. That's why I couldn't give them 5 stars for service. The food was pretty good. It's more Italian inspired California cuisine.

Edit to respond to "owner's " comments: "Just ask" doesn't add any stars for service. On this occasion- my MIL who ordered drip decaf was offered more coffee. My children who ordered refillable drinks were offered a refill once. I was neither offered more coffee nor asked if I wanted anything else to drink. The difference between good (3 or 4 star) hospitality vs great hospitality (5 stars) is who's doing the asking. Plus, in my rubric- if you're offered 3 refills- that's great hospitality whether you're at Dennys or Ruth Chris or anywhere in between in the USA or your aunt's house in the...

Food was amazing!

We came in for my boyfriend’s birthday. We decided to eat at that bar for faster service. We can wait though. Great girl but we asked for olive oil, she went to make a few drinks and forgot. I ate my bread. It was cold. I told her nicely we don’t need it. Oh I am sorry. Boyfriend ordered a beer, she made some more drinks we get it no biggy. But she forgot, we asked another bartender and she hurried up and poured. I asked for water like 3 times. Like I said she is a beautiful girl but she doesn’t focus on one thing.

We ordered coffee to go because we had one and we needed it for drive home. First coffee came with raw sugar. Second she gave me sweet n low. No biggy. I asked for sugar. She had a $50 dollar tip still at this point. Off to make a few more drinks and she forgot. We were frustrated.

We asked to pay the bill again. She took her time after we already frustrated. So we asked another Lady, she said she is not a bartender. Asked the bartender. Off to make a few drinks, and a couple glasses of wine. She got a $10 tip. Sorry. We won’t be coming back again. We will stick to Lucille’s. We wait but eventually we get what we asked for.

I was a bartender for many years. Life happens and I always tip well. Regardless but wow lame service.

We felt so much guilt, we were driving back to give her more money but we forgot!

Bread was good but more olive oil would have been good. But yumm anyways… Scallops entre was amazing, so was the short ribs and coffee was amazing but not with sweet...

Have had great food here before at their el segundo location and was disappointed at the Torrance location. We had reservations and checked in a few minutes early and we were told it would be a five minute wait. Never told to check for text messages. About 10 minutes later began to receive texts asking if we were on our way. Duh! We were already there and had checked in. Texts also stated that our table was ready and to go to check in. Duh! We did that already. We were literally standing in front of the check in desk and they never called our name out loud. Meanwhile we noticed that others with reservations were being seated immediately. Finally we went to counter and were scolded for not responding to their texts. Not a good start.

Ok we were seated. On the positive side they had a decent wine list with good by-the-bottle prices. Ordered a vermentino white wine from Sardinia which was excellent at around mid-50’s $ cost. Burrata and tomatoes were excellent and filling. Scallops were good but not outstanding. Squid ink pasta with shrimp and calamari was ruined by overwhelming hot spices. Had no flavor other than burning sensation. Could not get past a few bites. 😓

pannacota desert was highlight of the meal. Our server was excellent but I wish the menu had warned how hot the seasoning of the squid ink pasta was.

Will return to el segundo location despite torrance being slightly...