Piccolo - Santa Monica

The unassuming front at the corner of the busy Lincoln Blvd and a small residential street, Pacifica, this eatery, like its name, may seem small, but the warm hospitality of their staff and the idyllic backyard patio transported our dining experience to the origins of its cuisine... somewhere in the Mediterranean! We came to celebrate an event and got a nice large table at the back of their patio- a beautiful yard with passion fruit vines on trellis. It's small but cozy. Our waiter was attentive and charming with a sweet Italian accent. He recommended many things and they were mostly good; though my favorite is the Linguini Mare e Monti - the succulent shrimp and the al dente black ink pasta were a great combination! Oh, we also ordered a few Capesante Pancetta e Scarole - their scallop appetizers but they were gone before I could snap a photo. Our waiter also recommended a lovely new wine from Sicily to go with the food. Portions were not big but prices were reasonable for the quality of food. The ambiance made the experience worth the money!

Came here for DineLA and we had a reservation for 7:30pm on a Saturday. Was able to find parking in the alley in the back of the restaurant. There's only about 2 regular spots and 2 handicapped ones. Otherwise, you will need to find parking on the street.Walked in and there's inside and outside seating available. We chose to sit outside and it was warm with heaters on. The restaurant is pretty loud when crowded, so you might need to speak up. When asked, make sure you tell the buser that you want tap water. He's going to ask if you want carbonated or flat. Those come with an up-charge. so tell him you want tap. Unless you want to pay $7 for bottled water. Not everyone has to order from the DineLA menu if they don't want to. I decided to go with that option and ordered the octopus appetizer to start, Pici Guanciale for my main and tiramisu. My wife ordered from the regular menu and opted for the daily special which was the black ink pasta with lobster for $45 (I think??). We also ordered the prosciutto with burrata. We initially ordered the bread basket ($4), but that never came and we were not charged for it. So I can't comment on it but I did overhear one of the other tables mentioned how good they were.The cocktails were reasonably priced and were just ok. Our food came out at a pretty good pace. But the poor couple sitting next to us waited a good 20-25 minutes after they placed their order for the appetizer to even come out. But the server was good enough to comp them the burrata.Not sure, but the octopus we got was pretty small compared to the other tables. I don't know if it's because I ordered from the DineLA menu and it's smaller portions or not. Either way, it was a little dry and tough. It did have good char flavor though. Just wished the portions were a bit bigger. The Pici pasta was really good, but again, the portion size was pretty small. Don't come here hungry because you will leave hungry. Good thing there's a Chick Fil-A right across the street. The prosciutto with burrata was pretty good and they gave you a good amount of prosciutto with it. My wife's black ink pasta was bland, though a little bit more than my pasta dish. The tiramisu is homemade and you can tell. It was soft, airy and pretty good. Overall, I would not come back here because there was really nothing here that wowed me. Their service was just ok and definitely understaffed. It was hard trying to flag down our server. Pricewise, it wasn't too bad, but again, if you order the pasta, you will leave hungry.

Pictured is the Aperol spritz and the tortellini patate e fichi (potato & fig tortelli with parmesan fondue, brown butter & sage). Both the pasta and the Aperol spritz were great. The service was also great. The reason I'm only giving three stars is because there were a ton of ants and flies crawling next to me on the wall and our table, which was very upsetting for me!

My boyfriend and I went for our late valentine dinner and it's a 10/10! The food was amazing, the drinks were top tier, and the desert was the icing in on the cake. Super delicious. The service was just as good as the food. Everyone was super friendly and the food came out nice and hot. If the food didn't bring us back the service would! The ambiance is nice and intimate, perfect for Valentine Day. Can't wait to go back

We had a large group reservation (8 people), and though the restaurant is not very large, they fit us in decently comfortably. Bread is not free, which is noted at the bottom of the menu, so just make sure you're aware, because our server initiated bringing it to us without us requesting. Portion sizes were not as big as I thought they might be, but they were still satisfying. I'm a big pasta fan so I'd say I could've probably eaten more and generally expect to be super full at the end of a pasta dinner. I tried the pici with eggplant and tomatoes, which was quite tasty. The eggplant in particular was delicious. My boyfriend got the orrecchiette which came with spinach and was also pretty good. Nothing particularly wowed me to be honest, but the food was still tasty and our party enjoyed the dinner. The tiramisu honestly didn't really taste like most tiramisu I've had in the past; the espresso flavor was almost nonexistent, and the moistness of the cake reminded me more of tres leches. It was still good, just not what I expected. One minor complaint we had was that at the end, our bread basket was taken away with still a couple pieces left. We had affirmed having our empty pasta plates cleared but the waitstaff was very quick to remove the bread before we could object. It's a small thing, but seeing as they charge per basket, this was pretty disappointing.

Cute little spot in VeniceThe Pici alla Pancetta e Cipolle was delicious. A little on the rich side but very tasty.

The pasta and service were amazing. No dish was mediocre everything was top notch and we would definitely go there again when we visit LA in the future

Food was OK mainly because two of our dishes were too salty. We ordered Jamon Barrata salad, polipo ala griglia salad, 3 pastas- pici pancetta e cipolla, linguine mare e monti, orecciette salsiccia e cime di rapa. Only the squid ink pasta was good. Service by Ernesto was excellent and would want to go back to restaurant for his service. Ambiance was also very good for outdoor seating. We were there at 5:30 when they opened. It was empty of course when we got seated but by the time we left around 7, outdoor seating was completely full.

Mixed feelings about this place but I'd definitely say that their pastas saved this experience. We got seated within 5-10 minutes at 8 pm on a Saturday night, which was really nice considering it looked like a very fancy dress up kind of place. The outdoor seating wasn't too cold or noisy thanks to high fences and heaters. We ordered the Insalata di Cresciono which wasn't really for me but others in my party really enjoyed. We also got the bread, which we didn't get until we reminded them. The bread then came burnt. The Orecchiette was about a 7/10, the specialty ravioli of the night was a 9/10 and the Pici Pancetta was a 8/10. While in general it was a nice experience, I would say I kept getting the feeling we were not paid as much attention to compared to other guests. Maybe because we weren't dressed up or because we were one of the only non-white people in the restaurant?

Stumbled on this lovely restaurant a tad under dressed and still received great service, tasty food, in a relaxing ambiance. It was a nice experience :)