Olivetta — Restaurant in West Hollywood

We booked Olivetta for an early Valentine’s Day dinner, based on its popularity and reputation. I would not classify it as fine dining, more so a really good Italian restaurant that specializes in drinks, and a more upscale and lively vibe versus a traditional fine dining restaurant like Madeo up on W Sunset. I would say it’s a great place to bring a date or dinner with friends or family, and not so much a work dinner location. The inside is beautifully done and has some great colors. There are tapestries all along the walls with lots of plants dividing the dining areas and a very muted red color that really adds to the ambience. They don’t have a dedicated parking lot, it will be valet or metered street parking. You have to check in with security street side first and then they let you walk up the ramp where you will next check in with the hostess. They have a large bar area as well as a lot of different seating options. Our table was extremely small, however, and the tables were very close together so this is not the sort of place that you’ll be able to have a private or sensitive conversation. Our server was very polite, although took quite some time to take our order initially but overall, I think he did a great job. The music is quite loud here so if someone has hearing issues they will really struggle to hear others at their table.

They have a fairly large menu with a lot of great options on it. We started off with a Squash Blossoms, which were absolutely fantastic. I have ordered these all over town and this is definitely one of the better versions. I was a bit disappointed that it only comes with three which is a hard number to share so I wish the portion size would’ve been a bit larger for this. Next we followed with the Caesar Salad and it was great. Again, not a very large sized portion, but still tasty flavorwise. For my entrée, I chose the Creste Di Gallo because having the bone marrow scooped in right before you eat is an unbeatable addition to me. It was a true treat. I love bone marrow anything so this was great pasta. The bone marrow itself added a great flavor and a crunch to the meal, which I truly loved. We also ordered the special for the day, which was the Dungeness Crab Tagliatelle. It was absolutely fantastic and had a ton of crab on it. The sauce was truly what made the dish and the pasta was cooked perfectly. For dessert we topped off the meal with the Brown Sugar Budino and I definitely would recommend it. It was sweet and salty and actually a great sized portion. it was a great end of the meal.

Overall, I would say Olivetta is a great date spot. It’s very lively and very noisy but in a fun way. They play the music quite loud so it has a very Friday night kind of feel to it. I would recommend and will try it again sometime in the...

Visited pre pandemic and had such a great experience. So difficult to see how restaurants like this will make it going forward. Where to start? The hostess was lovely. We were seated promptly. Our waiter, Ryan, arrived with menus. We were hungry, so we put an order in pretty fast for the fried green beans, the grilled octopus, a lamb Bolognese pasta, followed by the pork chop to share. After complimenting our selections and telling us they were all fantastic he disappeared to get drinks. Returning swiftly, he apologized that the pork chop was already sold out at 7: 00pm Busy weekend. He then suggested the fillet mignon that he said was fabulous. In the same sentence he then said he was regrettably sold out of the fillet. I joked that this was like a comedy sketch. Immediately, Ryan got very defensive and said "I'm just doing my job!" I don't know why he was so uptight, and told him to relax I was just joking. I wasn't interested in a fillet anyway. It was a very strange reaction both me and my dining companion remarked on how stiff and uptight he was. It's almost like he didn't want to be a waiter. Food that followed was all pretty good. The grilled octopus was fine. Fried green beans tempura style were great, if a ridiculous portion for two. The pasta was good. Though The Bolognese was a little watery. The Branzino was perfectly cooked and filleted. And it was served with.. nothing. It would have been nice to have been told that for $42 you just get a piece of fish. Then we could have at least elected to have spent another $40 on a couple of side dishes! The upside down cake is instantly forgettable. And like many places these days don't try to extract yourself quickly by leaving cash because they are cashless. Even though it says this nowhere. And in my opinion should be illegal. Since cash is legal tender and I think by law, has to be accepted anywhere. What's the point of currency if it's not current? But I digress, our waiter, and his defensive attitude throughout the evening, made us feel unwelcome and therefore it was impossible for us to relax. It's the opposite of what anyone is looking for when they go out to a restaurant. Such a shame if this is the best service one can find in a restaurant where you'll struggle to spend less than $200 p/person in. Enjoy...

READ FULL REVIEW: Extremely terrible service from BLAKE, the manager. This is the service your 20% included gratuity gets you:

After being early for our 9:15 reservation, 4 of us waited 45 minutes to be seated at an EMPTY rooftop. (The rooftop is not the main dining area on the first floor).

The rooftop is so windy that the heaters are falling onto the empty tables. They seat us at a table with no heater, even though there are empty tables with heaters next to us. We asked to move to a table under the heater and are denied. We asked to move the heater from the empty table and they denied us AGAIN! Their excuse? "Sorry the tables are reserved" Yes, you're reading this correctly, FIVE portable heaters are heating empty tables, yet I can't get one on a windy rooftop. NO ONE WAS SEATED AFTER US!

We order $300 worth of food that is all brought at the same time. 4 of us are seated at a 2 person table, so that means the food doesn't fit on our table. They don't take the food back or bring an extra table. I had to STACK THE FOOD, and give back the plates it's served in!!!

IT GETS WORSE!! I explain this all to BLAKE the manager, and he interrupts me to talk to other people!!! He doesn't APOLOGIZE ONCE and goes, "yeah we're low on heaters and are ordering more." Blake, if you tried to listen, you aren't low on heaters, you just didn't have the human decency to move 1 heater from any of the 5 empty tables to mine.

Blake should not be a manager, talking to him just made me more upset. You don't interrupt someone to talk to other people....