Via Veneto

"Via Veneto is an expensive spot in Santa Monica that seems custom-built for memorable special-occasion meals. The servers wear ties and call you “Signora,” and the dining room is dark, loud, and wouldn’t feel out of place in Lower Manhattan. You’ll eat things like lobster carpaccio and veal chops the size of your head, and have two too many glasses of wine from the massive wine list. If you’ve got a birthday date that you want to be low-key (but also kind of not), Via Veneto is your spot. " - brett keating

"Somewhere along the way, a malicious ex-New Yorker started a rumor that there were no good Italian restaurants in LA. Probably in a moment when they were homesick for “real” pizza or just wanted to be sitting in a room full of red checkered tablecloths eating penne alla vodka. While we will concede that you cannot get anything like a NYC slice in this town, we’d also like to state for the record that excellent Italian restaurants do exist in Los Angeles - and not just all those new spots making pasta in climate-controlled rooms or playing rap and serving thin, crusty pizzas. There are plenty of classic Italian restaurants that stand up to the red sauce-filled places in New York. One of them is Via Veneto. In an old building at the end of Main St. in Santa Monica, Via Veneto feels like a different world from the nearby bars filled with people celebrating their first night of legal drinking. It’s a small, white-tablecloth restaurant, that is equally suited to a romantic candlelit meal and dinner with in-laws you actually like. Actually, this place works for most special-occasion scenarios, thanks to its enormous menu and an atmosphere that guarantees you’re going to have a great night. photo credit: Jakob Layman A Via Veneto night starts with being greeted in Italian and ordering a glass of prosecco the moment you sit down. From there, go for a mix of classics like fritto misto and spaghetti bolognese, plus a wildcard like the excellent lobster carpaccio, and maybe a veal chop the size of your head to share. The food here is fantastic, but not in a way that means the entire table will spend the whole meal talking about how good the burrata is. You won’t feel the need to analyze Via Veneto’s food - you’ll just want to keep eating it until you can’t anymore. In an ideal world, we’d treat Via Veneto like the Italian place our NYC friend misses so much. We’d be there once a week, eating pasta and making friends with the staff. But dinner for four here can easily get to $500, and since this is the real world, and we weren’t early investors in Snap down the street, Via Veneto is too expensive for that. Via Veneto is proof that the East Coast doesn’t have a lock on this kind of classic Italian spot. Save it for a special occasion, preferably one where someone else is paying, and you’ll almost certainly leave feeling like you celebrated appropriately. Even if the New Yorker at the table complains about the lack of penne alla vodka. Food Rundown photo credit: Jakob Layman Fritto Misto You’ve had fritto misto a million times, but rarely as good as this. Light batter, calamari that tastes like it was caught that day, and a lightly-spicy tomato sauce to double dip every bite in. Lobster Carpaccio Lobster proving again why it’s the king of the sea animals. This is citrusy and refreshing, and we would like all carpaccios to be lobster carpaccios from now on. photo credit: Jakob Layman Polpette If you go to an Italian restaurant and don’t order the meatballs, you’re usually doing something wrong. But you can skip them here. Ravioli Tasting This involves four different types of ravioli on one plate, and we don’t turn down any opportunity to eat multiple types of pasta on one plate. But $38 is too much money for the four small portions of ravioli you get here. Amatriciana There are many bad amatricianas in this world, but this is not one of them. The regularly-changing pasta menu is where you should focus your attention, and if this is on there, you need to get it. Steak They change the menu often, but if you’re going to have an entree, a steak or piece of veal is a good way to go. One of the best things we’ve eaten here was a fantastic, paper-thin steak covered in cherry tomatoes. Veal Milanese Big, but in a manageable, I’m going to eat this giant piece of meat in one sitting kind of way. It comes with some arugula and cherry tomatoes, and is delicious, but is also mostly just a lot of meat on a plate. Get it to share if you need something other than pasta." - Jess Basser Sanders

"If you’re looking for a very fancy night out on a very nice patio in Santa Monica, Via Veneto is a great bet. This upscale spot has been a local staple since 2001, serving handmade pastas, risottos, and grilled meats on Main St." - brett keating

"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

"This classic Santa Monica spot is offering takeout for the first time, so take advantage of it - they serve upscale Italian food that matches any on the Westside, where there are plenty of contenders. The can’t-miss dishes are the crispy shrimp and calamari fritto misto, the beautifully marbled beef carpaccio, and any of the ravioli (the lobster and zucchini is our favorite). Order pick-up or delivery online, or call (310) 399-1843." - brett keating