Eataly - Los Angeles, CA (Century City)

I heard about Eataly from my friends and they had mixed viewings for this place. I thought about going many times but never made it due to its distance. Finally slave girl and I were in the area and we decided to see for ourselves.

Parking here sucked bad. There was a structure to park but there were so many people no matter the time of the day. Once parked, finding Eataly was also challenging for first timer. Eventually we found it but we also saw the whole mall. Lol. It was located on the 2nd and 3rd floor by the parking garage.

Eataly had two types of food vendors, food stands with counter service and sit down restaurants. Food stands were all over the place from the 2nd floor to the 3rd. We tried some desserts and gelato, we also saw a butcher shop and a pasta shop. It was basically a big over priced market place with a lot of imported items.

After walking around, we decided to try the sit down restaurant located on the 3rd floor all the way to the end. We heard there was usually a line, but we were lucky and got seated right away.

We started our meal with bellini, and we took our server's suggestions on capricciosa pizza, tagliatelle al ragu pasta, and spaghettini cacio e pepe.

The pizza was tomato sauce based with prosciutto cotto, mushrooms, artichokes, olives, fresh mozzarella, and extra virgin olive oil. It was Napoletana style so the crust was doughy on the outside and soggy soft in the center. It was a little bigger than the personal size and tasted good. If you don't like the soggy soft dough, this might not be for you.

Tagliatelle had good flavor but the brisket was chewy. I wasn't sure if that was the intention, but I like mine more tender. The pasta was also thicker than my liking. The dish was kind of whatever to me.

The black pepper spaghetti was interesting. The flavor was very mild and the pepper flavor was strong. I liked it a lot but slave girl wasn't a big fan. The noodles were VERY al dente. The server warned us about it before we ordered since people were complaining about it, but I enjoyed it just fine. It was an experience for sure.

Overall, I liked our visit but probably wouldn't go back again. There were way too many children running around without parental supervision, and the whole place was packed with crowds at every corner. The food was decent but not amazing. I would have been pissed if I had to wait in line for the restaurant considering the price point and the food quality. I would say it is not worth the drive unless you are local residents. However, if you haven't been to this place yet, you should go at least once for the experience.