Hostaria Del Piccolo - Venice

This spot is a gem and my new favorite place in Santa Monica! It has a great ambiance for every situation with high top tables for happy hour, a main dining room, and a romantic patio in the back. Fantastic place for a local, but not break-the-bank date or a good conversation spot for catching up with friends. Friday night is happy hour ALL night long (otherwise, 4-6pm weeknights . I'm in love with the fried risotto on the happy hour menu that I typically get two orders of it because fried cheese is the best thing ever. Last time, two of us topped it off with a side of grilled romaine and split the schiaffoni di gragnanov (tube pasta with mozzarella di bufala and walked away happy from the deliciousness. Customer service is also one of the best in the area to the point where the employees make you simultaneously feel like a rockstar and like family (shoutout to the nicest server Leon as he remembered me even after months of not being there! . Will be back soon!

Stopped in here for a casual Saturday bite to eat. We were doing a little food crawl around Santa Monica, stopping in places and only ordering a few things to try it out. We were the only ones in the entire restaurant the whole time we were there, which was a little concerning. We got the classica mozzarella and the Bolognese. The mozzarella was good but it wasn't any different than anything I have ever purchased in the grocery store. We were also stunned by the fact that the menu stated they did not use garlic or onions. What Italian dish does not have those two things. The Bolognese was also just OK. The sauce was decent but again not unlike anything we have ever had before. The pasta was extremely plain. It reminded both of us of pasta with meat sauce from the school cafeteria or something from a box. Worth $20? Absolutely not. We ended with the tiramisu, which was pretty delicious. Very creamy and booze soaked. The service was also just fine. Overall as you can tell by my review nothing was above average or too far below average but I don't think we will visit again.

Went there for a drink as Dessert. Great service. Friendly atmosphere. Pizza looked amazing. Thought wine list would have been more extensive. It was ok. Panacota was terrific!!!

I was strolling around Santa Monica last Sunday, when I walked by Obicà and thought, hey, why not treat myself? I ordered an n'duja and stracciatella pizza with a glass of white wine, with the latter falling under happy hour pricing (since it was house wine . I haven't had n'duja (a Calabrian sausage with the consistency of a paté since I lived in Italy. Full disclosure: I used to work at Obicà Firenze, in Florence, Italy, while I was at uni. I have fond memories of my time as a mozzarella server. (It's also why I'm rather insufferable when it comes to discerning quality mozzarella. When you've had the best, everything else pales in comparison . So, here I am, eager to have a taste of delicious Italian nostalgia. My pizza was diviiiiiine. Amazing. The crust was crunchy, yet light, and held up very well despite the weight of the generous dollops of n'duja and stracciatella. (However, as both ingredients can also be rather gloppy, I ate the pizza with utensils . My lips burned afterwards, and I only wanted more. The house wine was, likewise, perfect. What I mainly found lackluster was the overall service. Perhaps I do not fit the visual description of a typical client (Model thin with a permanent frown? Rolex and white linen shorts? , or maybe I was diving in a bit too hungrily into my pizza. (A likely possibility, actually. Hehe . Whatever the case may be, despite the locale being half-full, I found myself having to flag staff down for basic service. (Like, you know, water . I was essentially ignored throughout the meal, and it was a strange and disconcerting experience. It's the main reason I'm giving four stars instead of five. I'm accustomed to chatting with waitstaff. I used to do it as a server myself, with the clientele at Obicà Firenze. I often found that it put the clients at ease, and they were more likely to enjoy what we made and come back again. If it weren't for the excellent food I was served, I would have felt far more ill at ease. As it were, though, my level of discomfort was tempered by spicy deliciousness. In any event, I haven't quite given up on this Obicà yet. My caponata never turns out quite right when I make it, so I'll have to eventually come back and sample theirs (it used to be one of my favorite dishes with mozzarella affumicata.

Had a late lunch in the lovely outdoor area of this restaurant. Had a glass (or three) of the pinot nero and it was heavenly. It paired perfectly with the prosciutto cotto pizza which was incredible. The dough was the perfect amount of chewy and the prosciutto paired so well with the fresh buffalo mozzarella and crisp arugula. Very attentive service, my only qualm with sitting outside was that as lovely as it was with the breeze, some neighborhood dogs got a little friendly because the patio is adjacent to the door of an apartment building.