LAVO Los Angeles

A bit slow on the service but i believe it’s a corporate image choice so you “ slow down” and truly enjoy the truly fantastic food.
It is just a little hard to adjust to that mindset for me… but

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: 20 Layer Chocolate Cake, The Meatball, Chicken Parmigiano, Yellowfin Tuna Tartare, Handmade Burrata

A sophisticated vibe ✨️ 🔥

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

LAVO The perfect place for an unforgettable moment

I recently had the good fortune to propose to my partner at this lovely Italian restaurant, and I couldn't have chosen a better place for such a special occasion. From the moment we entered, the atmosphere enveloped us with its warmth, elegance and an unmatched romantic touch.

The decoration was exquisite, with dim lights, candles on each table, The staff was incredibly attentive, helping me coordinate all the details for the big surprise. They even went the extra mile, giving us a table in an intimate corner with a perfect view of the restaurant.

The food was simply spectacular. We started with a beef carpaccio and a fresh burrata that seemed to melt in your mouth, the prime meyer Ranch porterhouse is exquisite.

The staff handled everything with discretion and professionalism. In the end, they even gave us a glass of prosecco to celebrate our new stage together.

I recommend this restaurant not only for its exceptional food, but also for its impeccable service and romantic atmosphere. If you are looking for a special place to celebrate or, as in my case, to make an unforgettable marriage proposal, this is the ideal place.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Disappointing and Overhyped
I wish I had read the reviews before dining here. We were seated fairly quickly, but it went downhill from there. We were placed at high-top tables in the bar area, where they’ve crammed as many tables as possible. It was impossible to have a private conversation—everyone’s chatter overlapped, and servers constantly bumped into us with their elbows while serving other tables.

The service was impersonal at best. No introductions, no warmth—just a straight, “What would you like to order?” The acoustics of the restaurant are terrible, and they play outdated 90s R&B, which made the noise level even worse.

We started with red wine, but the server hesitantly brought us samples, placed them on the table, and disappeared for five minutes. We weren’t even told what we were sampling. Then, another server informed us our original server was on her break.

The food was mediocre at best but came with five-star prices. The salads we ordered as appetizers were soggy and drenched in dressing, completely over-salted. For my main course, I ordered a filet mignon, only to find out they charge an absurd $5 for steak sauce—which I assumed was included. The steak itself was overcooked and incredibly chewy.

Overall, the experience was not enjoyable. I fell for the Instagram hype, but this place does not live up to it. There are far better dining options in LA for the same price point. And to management: please don’t bother with a generic copy-paste reply. It’s clear you don’t care about your customers, or you’d put in the effort to fix these glaring issues. I won’t be returning.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Fabulous place. Delicious food and super prompt service. Expensive like everywhere these days. But not as pricey as many other places. Without cocktails and dessert it would have cost a lot less. It was Christmas so we binged a little.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Always the best quality food and amazing spot

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: 20 Layer Chocolate Cake, Lava Cake, Margherita Pizza

Parking: It’s valet parking. $18 for validated. $22 for non validated.

Recommended dishes: Fritto Misto

Never again. Looks fancy and all but service and food horrible.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

It was just ok food, nothing remarkable. For the price I expect at least some dishes to be really good or unique, but I guess you're just paying for the ambience. I wouldn't recommend to go for a date night tough, because it can get kind of loud and the couples tables were so close together that didn't give us any privacy. I wouldn't go back.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 5

Incredible food, staff and ambiance! LAVO is an amazing upscale Italian experience. Went here for my aunt’s birthday and we were all treated like high end clientele. The staff was beyond attentive for every course. Never an empty glass nor ever a request left unattended to. The lighting, layout, plating, cutlery, art, and overall acconciare of the restaurant made you feel excited and happy you were dining there.
The real review needs to be the food. From the seared prime rib, the charred octopus, the branzino fillets, the pizza, were all top tier offerings. Everything was served elegantly and and perfectly prepared. Will make sure to come back again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We placed a reservation for 9:15pm, as it was an option on the website, they proceeded to seat us 25-30min late, by the time the waiter came to us, it was technically already closing time. When they took our orders, it took them so long to place them that they used the excuse that the “kitchen staff threw away all our food”. Then proceeded to say that in light of the unfortunate news, the restaurant with “take care of us” and “everything is taken care of”. Without asking for anything, they brought out 6 pizzas, some salads and drinks. After thinking “everything is taken care of” they came out with a bill saying they could only “take care of 3 pizzas and the salads”, mind you we didn’t order 6 pizzas to begin with. We were the last people to leave the restaurant and it was incredibly embarrassing. Also the pizzas were cold, so we believe they just gave us the left over pizzas that they were going to throw, and charged us for it. ☠️ btw we ended up having to pay the same amount we would have paid had we gotten what we wanted.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 1

Service: 1

My mentor brought his colleague to meet me and suggested this restaurant, having been to Lavo when it had just opened. My mentor is 89 years old and is a retired business man.

When we arrived 10 minutes early, we asked if we could kindly be seated and were told that restaurant policy only allowed seating after everyone had arrived. Our table was ready, we were told. There was no one else waiting. But we weren't allowed to sit. For me it's difficult when arbitrary restaurant policy intervenes with general kindness and being empathetic to an older man vs having him stand in the louder bar area. The 20-something Maitre d' was firm and cool about this, like they can be at the Apple store.

We were seated and ordered. Our waitress was outstanding. The group seated next to us was celebrating a birthday (and in influencer style). They had brought powerful LED lights to shoot their entire dinner and the lights were flooding our table like when an SUV with high beams pulls up to your campsite in the middle of the night. It wasn't pleasant. At one point their waiter was holding the LED high above their table and we were blinded. This went on after multiple requests for them to be more considerate or dim their LED's. It started to feel like Chuck-E-Cheese for influencers. My mentor realized that this place had changed a bit so it was our bad for not realizing that sooner.

The food itself was mostly pleasant, when it would show up. I had the shrimp crudo which had a fresh zesty sauce that everyone enjoyed. The filet was somewhat normal and maybe forgettable and had cooled in waiting. The wine was good. But the food came in 45-minute increments. Our understanding waitress was tracking it and apologized by offering us complimentary dessert for having to wait more than 2.5 hours for the courses to complete.

Could have been an off night.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 3

Service: 3

Exquisitely prepared, authentic Itailian cuisine with outstanding service. The Staff is Stellar!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food is absolutely incredible coming from someone who has lived his whole life in New York moving to Los Angeles I haven’t had such great pasta since I’ve been here, but this place does it! Thanks to our amazing and awesome waitress/bartender Elizabeth, & Jessie ! This is absolutely an outstanding experience! Will come again!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Pretty pricey but worth the money.

The meatball and garlic bread were delicious. The best around.
Their desserts and drinks were amazing as well.

We had a small issue with the side potatoes having ingredients no one told us about that we were allergic to but the rest of the food was amazing.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4