Locanda Veneta

Pros:- if you are around Cedars-Sinai, this place is REALLY convenient- it is sooo understated (which I love). Small and friendly and it does have a classically Italian feel to it- pastas are done properly... al dente. some bite and not mushy. A real must for me- wine selections are good and pair nicely with the foodCons:- parking is pain off of 3rd street to plan accordingly or just valet- despite its simple appearance, you pay BH prices. However, for the quality of the food, it is more worth the price than most Italian places in the area.

Easily 1/2 of my favorite Italian restaurants throughout the city. Locanda is very small but the intimacy is what makes it more special. Marco was always wonderful and remembers frequent customers. Absolute favorite is the Cappellaci al Manzo Stufato! Second favorite raviolo d'aragosta, and third is the linguini al frutti di mare. The minestrone is tasty and wine list consists of some fine local wines.What makes this place an easy favorite is how quiet/lowkey/intimate but spectacular the food and service is.

A charming and traditional style Italian restaurant that feels authentically Italian, but not contemporary. The food is well crafted and tastes homemade. We opted for the Lasagna and Carbonara, both were solid in construction but flavor wasn't out of this world. The service is very friendly and professional however the interior feels dated.

Sometimes you want classic Italian food that is well prepared. Locanda Veneta delivers that and more. The atmosphere in the restaurant is warm, if a bit dated, and the staff is knowledgeable and welcoming.My wife and I ordered the prix fix meal:--Grilled octopus salad: the octopus was tender and plentiful. There was a bit too much dressing.--Burrata and tomatoes: Delicious burrata. Hot house tomatoes were used. We're in fresh tomato season. --Tartufo ravioli: Wonderful flavor. Lots of shaved black truffles.--Pappardelle in wild boar sauce: Wonderful, some of the best I've had in LA.Both of the pastas are house-made.Parking in the neighborhood can be tough and the restaurant's valet service charges a steep $15.It's been years since we dined at Locanda Veneta. I forgot how good its food can be. We'll be back.

I'm disappointed. I wanted to like this place a LOT MORE than I did. However, I can give it a solid three stars. While the food wasn't bad, it wasn't great, either. Perhaps, my husband and I just ordered the wrong dishes, but it shouldn't matter what we ordered. Everything should have been sublime, and it just wasn't.The restaurant was really tiny, which shouldn't have bothered me, but it was more that the tables were crammed together. Thank goodness it wasn't crowded, or I would've been upset to almost be eating on top of other people/tables. Which then begs the next question... why was this place with so many empty tables on a Saturday night? At its most crowded, there were only three other tables utilized besides ours. Again, I liked that, given how crowded the tables were jammed in there, but it didn't speak well of this restaurant's ability to attract diners. Perhaps that is also why Locanda Veneta runs a Travelzoo special offering $100 worth of food for only $55. That is what brought us to the restaurant. They are not bashful to charge steep amounts for their dishes, so even while I secured that offer, a food bill for three of us easily went well over $200, and that was without any alcohol. One glaring strike against this restaurant is that in our online reservation, we stated that we were celebrating someone's birthday. The restaurant had the information in print, but they failed to say or do anything about it while dining. Our friend knew that the dinner was in his honor anyway, but it would have been nice for the restaurant to say or do something on their own... but they didn't. And I didn't remind them. I shouldn't have to. Most restaurants are good about it when we have provided the information in our reservation. A 5-star worthy restaurant certainly would've been on top of that.Now for the food. I will say that our friend, the birthday boy, was very pleased with his food. There's always a chance he was just being polite and appreciative and didn't want to hurt our feelings because we were treating him.... BUT.... he said he loved his dishes, so I'll take him at face value. I didn't try his food, so I don't really know. He ordered the soup of the day, which was minestrone soup, Venetian style, made with chicken and corn in a tomato broth. For his entree, he had pappardelle pasta with beef tenderloin, wild mushroom in a barolo sauce. He finished his food, so I guess that's telling.As for my husband and I, that's another story. My husband ordered a Caesar salad, which he said was really good. However, the chicken parm was not. The chicken was pounded really thin, and they overcooked it, so it was really tough and even dried out, which made it difficult to not only cut, but also, to chew. He didn't finish it. He said there was enough sauce and cheese to help it along, but it didn't fix the underlying problem.I ordered the most expensive entree on the menu, which I only mention because the waiter said it was also their "signature" dish of the restaurant. It was "fresh Chilean sea bass." For $56 and it being their "signature" dish, I expected to love it. Also, because it was a favorite fish of mine. The fish wasn't noticeably seasoned and was in a very sweet balsamic glaze. It said balsamic sauce on the menu, but I didn't know how sweet it would be. Not all balsamic products are served outright sweet; every restaurant does it differently. Theirs was very sweet and not to my liking. Plus, this fish was strange to me and didn't taste or have the texture anything like Chilean Sea bass. I honestly don't know what I was given. As for the lentils, I loved them, BUT they were swimming in the runoff balsamic glaze/sauce, and I didn't want ANY sweet or balsamic flavor competing with the wonderful flavor of the lentils. I was able to eat about half of the lentils, and the rest was inedible to me. As for the accompanying arugula salad, I unfortunately saw a tiny bug fly out of the salad, and that ended my interest in eating it. I squashed the little bug on the tablecloth, so it was not my imagination.I did save the best for last, though. We ordered an apple tart, which was very cutely made in the shape of an apple, dusted in powdered sugar, served with caramel sauce and amaretto gelato. The gelato was outstanding; we all loved that, and we thoroughly enjoyed the apple tart. I probably would've rated the tart as outstanding were the apples not as tart as they were... would've preferred them to be sweeter, but we still really enjoyed it.Unfortunately, this is not a place I will be returning to. I don't mind being charged a lot of money, but the food should be commensurate in quality with what I am being charged. This clearly was not.

I met a friend here for lunch who works at Cedars Sinai. It's location right across from the West tower makes it convenient for people working at Cedars to get to. And for people like me that are driving up being across from the West Tower parking structure makes an easy place to park although it expensive place. I was there for just under 2 hours and it cost me $18 to park! There is street parking if you can find it but of course that's easier said than done.The service is welcoming with friendly and attentive servers. They had a lunch time special for $20.95 you get to pick an appetizer/soup and an entree. I got the minestrone soup which was full of vegetables and a delicious broth that wasn't too acidic, not spicy at all, not too salty either. It was perfect for this chilly winter day. And for my entree I opted for the Rigatoni Bolognese because it was described as a lean meaty sauce. It was hearty and delicious and topped with Parmesan cheese, was amazing!

Locanda Veneta (Italian for Venetian Inn) is an intimate, quaint, charming, romantic Italian restaurant that has been around since 1988 and for good reason. It's just such a treat to eat here. Prior to this visit, I had been here for dinner a few times over the years. The food has always been consistently good and I've even spotted some celebrities. This time around, I came to Locanda Veneta to try the DineLA lunch menu. It was a wonderful deal for a three course gourmet meal. Another thing I really liked about the menu is that the vegetarian options were clearly marked. A vegetarian can order from every course of the Dinela menu.The meal came with complimentary bread served warm and a side of pesto. A definite must-try. It's so, so good!! For my appetizer I chose FAGOTTINI MELANZANE which had eggplant rolls stuffed with mozzarella and basil and baked in a delicious tomato sauce. The presentation of this appetizer was stunning. It came baked in an individual cast iron baking dish and there was a fresh piece of basil over the top. The serving size was very generous as well. As an appetizer, you may want to consider taking some home as this definitely could be a meal in itself.The soup of the day was also vegetarian (red pepper soup that had a vegetable broth base). So there is was another lighter vegetarian option to choose from on the menu. However, I went with the eggplant as I thought it was more unique. For the main course I choose PESCE BLANCO AL CARTOCCIO which was white fish wrapped in parchment paper with julienne vegetables, capers and spices. It did take some time for this dish to come as they make it from scratch but it was 100% worth the wait. The fish tasted so fresh and melted in my mouth as I ate it. The julienne vegetables were also cooked just right. I would come here again just to eat this fish. It was so, so good and a pretty healthy option as well. For dessert there was a choice between the BISCOTTI and SORBET. One of us ordered the sorbet and the other biscotti so that we could share them both. I'm not usually a fan of biscotti but this biscotti was so special. The chocolate chips melted in my mouth and the texture was just right and not too hard. I see why they are called "famous" biscotti on the menu. This is a winning cookie! The sorbet came with 2 scoops of your choice: mango, lemon, and raspberry. We chose lemon and raspberry and it was a delightful end to the meal. Locanda Veneta has seating outside as well on the sidewalk but I prefer the inside of this establishment because it is just so cute and part of the fun of dining out for me is the atmosphere. There was a large party of 8 sitting across from me in the middle booth. This is a lovely place to have a small party. I also spotted some solo diners as well as parties of two. It did start clearing out around two o'clock and I believe they close at two instead of two thirty (as listed on Yelp) so I suggest going early for lunch. Since it is a small place, our waiter was also the host, so it was a little bit of a wait to get our seats but once seated the whole experience was wonderful and first class. We felt very special and also loved where we were seated by the window in a comfy booth. Parking can be a bit tough to find. There's metered parking on the street but it does fill up fast. We parked a few blocks away and walked. They do have a valet as well ($15). Other cool facts:The head chef and owner of the restaurant was honored as one of the culinary talents in Best Chefs America. Won Opentable Diners Choice Award 15 years in a row.

I was craving authentic Italian and saw some promising words and pictures on here so I ventured out to try this place. I ordered:1. grilled calamari (for one person)2. squid ink lobster ravioli3. panna cotta with fresh berriesBread was complimentary and came with a yummy pesto sauce.Grilled calamari was juicy, grilled to perfection and tasted so fresh with lemon, and the squid ink lobster ravioli was the start of the show - the magic yellow sauce on top of the black ravioli filled with fresh lobster was delectable, each magic puff filled with a the perfect blend of umami. Panna cotta with fresh berries was the best I have ever had - the panna cotta had specks of vanilla bean, not too sweet - it was light, refreshing and perfect tart/sweetness ratio in the housemade fruit compote that the panna cotta was basking in.Service was delightful, friendly and very attentive. This special restaurant knows authentic Italian cuisine without being pretentious. I can't wait to go back during my next trip to LA.

Amazing Italian food, attentive service and very friendly vibe..Used to take clients here but also frequented LV for lunches and dinners because it's really fantastic..And I believe they still have valet parking making life way easier..Enjoy!

Perfecto! Italian food at it's finest. Maximo was our server, and he was fantastic His jokes were hysterical, and he's quite the charmer.My friend enjoyed the artichoke soup and I enjoyed the ahi tuna salad. The salad dressing complimented the tuna so well, and it was incredibly fresh. We ended our lovely evening with dessert with a panna cotta I cannot wait to come back for and our server Ciao!