Élephante - (Near Santa Monica, CA)

4 /5 Cindy W: Our meal was delicious, and the service overall was pleasant, but the hostess was not well trained and thus ruined the overall experience for us. The cocktails were decent, but nothing out of the ordinary. Some must-get food items are “whipped eggplant”, “octopus salad” (even though I have been avoiding eating octopus given the Netflix show), and the various pasta dishes (gemelli and ragu). Reservation is a must here. We were here to catch up with friends, so it didn’t bother us that we were seated in the garden section (no exterior view) of the restaurant rather than the lounge area that gets packed with patrons there for the sunset views. The restaurant is in partnership with GreenPlaces to reduce carbon footprints by charging a 0.5% fee per check. It was a relatively small amount but goes a long way to make the guests feel good that we get to participate in something positive.

5 /5 Mike Sperando: Elephante was one of those restaurants that instantly stood out when searching for top Italian spots in the area. I can confidently say this experience was an absolute 10/10 from start to finish. I started with the Caesar salad and ordered the vodka sauce pasta. The Caesar was incredibly flavorful and generously portioned, and the vodka sauce pasta had some of the best flavor I’ve had in a long time — easily the standout of the meal. We sat outside by the window, which was perfect, but the indoor space is just as impressive. The interior has a bright, airy vibe that almost feels like something you’d find in Arizona (even though I’ve never been there), which made the atmosphere feel unique and memorable. I would go back to Elephante again and again without hesitation. This was my first real meal and true taste of Los Angeles, and I couldn’t have picked a better place to start.

4 /5 Hungry J: Surprisingly not hard to get a booking on a friday night. Overall the experience was positive but for the price, the food overall fall a bit short of expectation. Salad was good, meatballs can be better, calamari was decent but the sauce does not seem match. The bread and dip was good too but the eggplant was hard to taste. Cavatelli pasta was good but i think the balance was off due too much cheese. And the sausage was a bit too mushy. The vodka pasta was solid, the the Squash Agnolotti was the best pasta I had in a while. Steak is crowd favorite but the special duck dish is not there. The duck smelled a bit off but unfortunately it happens once in a while. Not much a restaurant can do. Sides was good too. Service is nice an chill. Its worth a try for sure.

1 /5 Lily Zhang: Horrible experience. Everything was bad, especially the service and the food. First, we asked for iced lattes and they gave us all hot lattes. When we pointed this out they dumped the hot lattes into another glass with 3 ice cubes; the lattes were still warm and now, watered down. Our waiter was SUPER un-attentive. It took us forever to order our main dishes. To give the restaurant credit, the food came out fast and looked tasty. However, looks can be deceiving...the food was horrible too. The ocean view was nice, but it was hard to even look at it because the pasta tasted like it had been dunked in the salty ocean water. Our cacio e pepe and ragu tasted so salty we thought the whole salt canister was dumped onto the dishes. Since the waiter was no where to be seen, we only had one measly cup of water that was finished and our whole table was extremely parched. The waiter didnt check up on us once and was sitting at the bar chatting with her co-workers. We had to waive the waiter over to ask about alternative options with the food, she was dismissive and spoke so quietly we could not hear her over the chatter in the restaurant. The best part of this experience was leaving the establishment.... unless you are handicapped then good luck leaving because the exit points down to three flights of stairs.

4 /5 Shanru: Beautiful restaurant with great views of the ocean from the windows. We were able to be seated before sunset — highly recommend getting a reservation. The whipped eggplant was unique and delicious as well, and the service was friendly. It felt a bit crowded inside the restaurant, with the seats and tables crammed next to each other, and it was harder to talk as it was very loud inside. The food also took longer than expected to come out, but it was nice to sit and enjoy the views.