Luigi C.
Yelp
The R.O.I. deserves 3 's
Had dinner here Saturday night [3/1], with a good friend. It looked quaint and cute enough for a beach town eatery and as they all are, quite busy so we took a table outside.
The Wine List: It wasn't overly extensive which is understandable for a small restaurant, but looking at the prices of wine is where I almost swallowed my tongue. A bottle of a Barolo that I am very familiar with and can buy for about $70 was selling for nearly $200. Another from Montepulciano, that is typically around $80 is selling for $275. The Far Niente Chardonnay? $140! Whomever priced the wine list is completely out of touch with wine pricing, or is banking on greed to be profitable. Incidentally, Far Niente roughly translates to "Doing Nothing," and that's about right for this list.
At these prices, they should rename the list to "Whine List," because that's what it'll make people do.
There were very few wines by-the-glass and many of those were woefully overpriced. The typical 300% mark-up on wine is for by-the-glass prices and not ALL wine, but the by-the-glass pricing was nearly 400%
The Food: The food was pretty good. Not phenomenal, but good. My friend had the lasagna, which apparently is her favorite. I had a $28 sausage pizza that boasted about 14 small scraps of sausage sparsely tossed around the 8 slices of pie with some fennel sprinkled about the cheese. Hardly worth the price. The cost of making it was pribably about $2.15. Add cost of eggs in today's market, it might go up $3.00.....but the taste was good. Little Caesars has more sausage on their pies.
We also had garlic bread and Brussels sprouts which were the best part of the meal.
The Service: It was great! No complaints there [25% tip], but when the bill came and I saw a total of $140 for a small pie, lasagna, Brussels sprouts, bread and a couple glasses of grape juice, I realized that Jesse James no longer rides a horse. He is alive and well in Manhattan Beach. "Slay"? Yeah, this joint will absolutely "Slay" your wallet.
If I ever DO go back, I'll pay the corkage fee to bring my own bottle, and I'll feast on the garlic bread and Brussles sprouts.