19 Seventy Lascari's Italian — Restaurant in Whittier

We came here for lunch on a Saturday. As I walked in, I was surprised to see that it was nothing more than a modern diner. It was very plain and nothing special to see. My hopes were high that it would look and seem like a fine dining establishment but it definitely wasn’t that. I saw the desserts to my right as I walked in and definitely was not impressed. It would’ve been nice to see something a little bit more unique like zabaglione. We sat down and looked at the menu and became even further unimpressed. Their drinks were nice, but the food menu had a lot to be desired. I saw very little seafood and nothing that stood out and was really appetizing me other than just average Italian dishes that they make look a little prettier. We ordered the Bruschetta and it lacked flavor and only came with four tiny pieces of dried, thin toast. There was not nearly enough toast for the amount of tomatoes that came with so it went to waste. The plate looked good with the different types of heirloom tomatoes, but definitely had no flavor. It was a very cheapened version of bruschetta.

I ordered the chicken marsala and as a dish that I normally order in an Italian restaurant, I can say that the chicken was cooked very plainly and the noodles were thick and unappetizing. I only had a few mushrooms sprinkled on the marsala sauce. The sauce was too thick and made with too much flour. It also had a slight kick which I don’t find appropriate for Marsala.

When we got there, it was very quiet, but soon after a bunch of people came in with a lot of loud kids and it became unbearable to even sit there and enjoy a meal together as the space is wide open with no place to hide.

I definitely don’t think we’ll be back and it’s too bad because I really had high hopes for a new...

I want any readers of this review to know that I have been eating at Lascari's since before I moved to Whittier in 1995. In the perhaps 100 times I have been there, it has been almost always wonderful. But, the food last night was terrible. Since, I quite often order the lasagna, which, except for one time, has always been great, I was determined to try something different. I have had the eggplant and the Chicken Marsala (loved them both). The specials on the blackboard listed a "pork loin" special. So, I asked the waiter whether I should order the pork or the Beef Stroganoff? Without missing a beat, he said "Oh, the Stroganoff for sure." It was the worst meal I have paid for in at least 2 years. The noodles were phenomenally tough. The tiny wafers of postage stamp size paper thin beef over cooked. What really bothers me is that my very elderly step mother (I am fairly elderly myself) also ordered the Stroganoff. The Saturday night dinner I take her out for is often the only decent meal she gets all week. She was able to eat her soup and some spumoni ice cream. But even cutting the Stroganoff noodles into small pieces with a knife and fork did not make it possible to chew. Why would the waiter recommend such garbage when Lascaris offers so much wonderful food? I am at a loss. My impression is he just didn't like getting stuck with old people (figuring we would be bad tippers.) Now I wish I hadn't given him a $13.00 tip on a $43.00 tab. But, I just wanted to get out and didn't want to wait for change. Oh, well, Lascari's won't lose that much business as a result of us not going back. But I will tell our Whittier friends...

Oct 9th 2015 7:00pm Met friends for a men's social dinner, there was about 35-40 of us. I checked in the group and the girl I the front had no record of our reservationwhich wss handles by a girl named ANGELA, so the manager came and spoke with us and said I can place you guys in the patio which mind you it's humid outside. I went to check the patio seating which only seats about 20 people comfortable. Came back in and told the manager it's not gonna work. He said we'll the section we have the ac is broken so can't really seat y out all together but we break your party up and seat you all separately. I said no that's the purpose of our reservation. So spoke with everyone and said that's fine we can sit at tables and booths in the same area. Everyone was seated, the girl who was in charge our area named ROSIE was very rude and had a attitude. She told us we could only split the whole dinner party on 3 separate checks due to the fact that she doesn't have all night to cash them out. So we got up and left cuz the manager was no help at all either and he didn't care about loosing the business so we up and left to the ORIENTAL NOODLE HOUSE a block or 2 away who was very gracious to have all our dinner party...