The Santa Monica Dinner Guide - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

"The food at Via Veneto is, in a way, background food - and we mean that as a compliment. All the Italian classics here are fantastic, it’s just that you won’t be talking about them all through dinner, mostly because you’ll be having too much fun. This place knows how to do atmosphere with white tablecloths, servers who are probably talking about you in Italian as they serve you, and great music. The crowd is a mix of couples who’ve been eating here every Friday night for 15 years and people having four-hour birthday dinners. Sure, it’s expensive here, but after a few bottles of celebratory prosecco, the pricepoint will fade into the background too." - jess basser sanders, amy clark