Italian is perhaps my favorite of all cuisines. Unfortunately, my favorite go-to, cheap Italian place closed down a couple years ago. Ever since then, I’ve been looking for something to really take its spot, and I think I may have found it in Il Capriccio.

I went to Il Capriccio with my family the other day on a recommendation from my brother. Driving through the neighborhood, I can’t say I was too impressed. Los Feliz isn’t my favorite neighborhood, after all. Nor is the interior of the restaurant much to note. I can’t say that it’s located in one of my favorite neighborhoods, nor is the interior of the restaurant much to note. It’s a little small and cramped, without much space among tables, and it has very little decoration to it. To be fair, though, you don’t come to this restaurant, and especially to Los Feliz, for the ambience. Moreover, the service more than makes up for the ambience. Our waitress was prompt, amiable, funny, and just very welcoming, putting us at ease.

As for the food, I really can’t complain at all. Most everything was at least good and there were a variety of options, including both the classic American favorites as well as more unique Italian dishes you won’t typically find at other places. And it really wasn’t that expensive. In fact, we got a decent bottle of wine, 3 entrees, an appetizer, and dessert for about $100, and the portions were rather large, too. That’s a value, especially in LA.

Overall, it was a great experience, and Il Capriccio is quite the find. It serves very simple, high quality Italian food at a low price. It’s not the best food you’ll eat, but at the price point, it would be hard to find better food.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Fried Calamari: The calamari was fried on the lighter side, which was nice, but it had a feeling of greasiness to it. It wasn’t too crunchy, but the meat was tender and delicious nonetheless, and the saltiness was just right. The sauce provided was also very good—a spicy, somewhat sweet marinara that really added a nice kick. 8.0/10
2. Pollo Vesuvio (chicken breast oven roasted with white wine, garlic, and rosemary), served with (plain) capellini—This is the health food dish that my brother ordered. For what it was, it was quite good. Just a nice moist chicken breast drizzled in a very, very light, herby sauce. If you’re looking to keep a diet, it’s an extremely good choice. In comparison to the other dishes, it’s really monotonous, since it lacks almost any saucy flavor. The capellini, on the other hand, was delicious beyond belief for something that was literally just pasta drenched in olive oil and cooked with some garlic and pepper. The pasta was perfectly cooked and incredibly light but with a very fresh flavor to it. 9.0 for health food. 7.5 otherwise.
3. Tagliolini Neri con Gamberi (black squid ink pasta sautéed with shrimp and caramelized onions in an ocean pink sauce): This was my dish, and it was very good. The black ink pasta really stood out with a bold flavor to it—like a bitterness in the pasta. And it was complemented really with the pink sauce, a light, cream and tomato-based sauce, as well as the sweetness of the onions, which was rather subtle. The shrimp was also very well cooked and great with the pasta. 8.5/10-8.8/10
4. Chicken Parmesan: This is a light chicken parmesan, with little batter, sauce, and cheese. It really doesn’t lose much in flavor, though, and it doesn’t leave you feeling as greasy as others. The chicken really comes through, too, since so little sauce is used. Personally, I prefer a richer, stronger tomato and cheese flavor, but this wasn’t bad. 8.0/10-8.5/10
5. Cannoli (filled with chocolate and vanilla Ricotta cream with orange zest): This was the one mistake of the night. I thought, “Hey, Italians love cannolis. This must be good.” Unfortunately, the restaurant decided to change the traditional recipe to make it a bit more flavorful, I guess, adding in an orange zest flavor. The zest was not only so overpowering that it overshadowed the flavor of the vanilla and chocolate, but it added such an unsatisfying bitterness that my brother couldn’t even swallow his piece of cannoli. Moreover, the cream, specifically the chocolate, wasn’t really flavorful. The chocolate didn’t taste much like chocolate, nor did it have much sweetness to it. To be fair, though, the dough on the cannoli was very good—fried to a crisp, and with a nice sweetness from the sugar. 5.0/10

For awhile now, my brother and I have been hearing a lot about a new Italian restaurant, Little Dom’s, that supposedly serves more authentic Italian fare. Normally, I’m not one to fall for the hype, but quite literally everyone has been talking about this place. One of its dishes, the Breakfast Pizza, was even mentioned on Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”—now that’s some cred, if you ask me. Needless to say, my bro and I had to head over to get the scoop on this place, so we headed there during the weekend for our family dinner. What we got was really a mixed bag of some good, some bad, and some just plain ugly.

First, the ugly. So we got there about 15 minutes before opening, not knowing that the restaurant opened at 6 pm. The restaurant was unlocked, and waiters were crowding around the entrance doing some work. We entered to request a seat and were promptly told that the restaurant is not open and that we would have to wait outside. Now, having to wait outside isn’t so bad, but another family that did the exact same thing not only got to wait inside the whole time without even a complaint, but also was allowed to use the restroom. Seeing the family waiting inside, we entered again 10 minutes later to see if we could wait inside with them, and not only were we sent outside, but a waitress even locked the door on us, right in front of our faces, with just a few minutes before opening. It was just plain disrespectful, to the point that I was on the verge of leaving and would have if I hadn’t had to drive all the way to a new area to get to a restaurant I liked.

Anyway, 6 pm rolled around, yet the restaurant failed to open its doors. Quite a long line of people had begun to form outside, and pretty much everyone was shocked that the restaurant had chosen to lock its doors. It finally opened 5 minutes later, but it just seemed rather unprofessional for such a seemingly good restaurant to leave a whole line of people outside even past opening time.

Once we got inside, though, things did get a little better. Contrary to my expectations about the service, our waitress was actually very nice and rather helpful, giving us some very good recommendations about dishes and liquor. The ambience, too, was okay. Gone was the cocky air that the staff had given off at first, and instead we found ourselves traveling into the past, in a very classic style eatery. The restaurant was small but comfortable Italian eatery, with pictures of famous people on the walls, dim lighting, and simple but kind of a festive charm. It wasn’t bad, but it did feel a bit artificial.

As for the food, I really can’t complain too much. It was just decent Italian fare—nothing extraordinary, nor nothing too bad. One thing to note is that it the food is very simple. It has very fresh but very few ingredients to it, giving it somewhat of a more authentic, simple, home-style Italian cuisine, which is nice. The portions are also rather small compared to the traditional Italian place, and there really isn’t too much cream or sauciness to the dishes, so the food is much lighter than what you find at most Italian restaurants, and you really leave the restaurant feeling a lot less bloated. At the same time, some flavor combinations were not right and some things were not cooked well.

All in all, this restaurant really was a disappointment, not because it was so bad, but because it really just failed to live up to the expectations. My brother, my father, and I all left somewhat dissatisfied. While the restaurant is decent, there are just so many better restaurants, even at this price range.

What I had (recommendations in bold):

1. Fried Rice Balls: The rice balls themselves were a bit too rich for me. It was just some rich, cheese, and batter, but the rice tasted more like a risotto, as though they had added some cream or something to it. While that’s fine, it was just way too heavy and fatty, especially added onto the fried outer layer. Moreover, the rice balls were rather burnt, overshadowing the other flavors. 1.0/5.0
2. Capellini w/ Wood Oven Roasted Tomato, Oregano, Garlic, Crushed Red Pepper, & Parmesan: This pasta wasn’t bad, but the flavors were just a bit off. The tomato really came through, especially since this pasta actually was a bit saucy, unlike some of the restaurant’s other offerings. It was a very fresh, zesty sauce, probably prepared inhouse directly from the tomatoes themselves. It was, however on the very sour side, overshadowing all the other flavors. 1.8+/5.0
3. Pappardelle w/ Housemade Sausage, Fresh English Peas & Ricotta. This was a fantastic dish in almost all ways, especially in the flavor combination. It wasn’t saucy, yet it was incredibly flavorful. The greasy, spiciness of the sausage really complemented the very well-cooked, starchy pappardelle and the freshness of the peas and the ricotta cheese. It had a heavier, protein component and a lighter, balancing cheesy and vegetable component, all brought together by the pasta. 3.5/5.0
4. Beef Brisket with vegetables: I just had a taste of the brisket, and I must say it was a very well-cooked cut of meat. It wasn’t the best, but it did have a nice tenderness to it, falling apart very easily. The one downside was that it was slightly dry, largely because it was only very lightly sauced. 3.0/5.0
5. Anniversary Fritters (Sweet squash fritters with crème fraiche whipped cream): These are basically just sweet dough bolls, topped with powdered sugar and eaten with whipped cream. The whipped cream really didn’t add much in terms of flavor, being just a light, largely unsweetened, flavorless cream. Still, it was an okay accompaniment, especially balancing the doughiness. The fritters, though, were just outstanding. They had a very good, light fluffiness to then, the outside was nicely soft with a slight crispness, and the powdered sugar really gave it the sweetness it needed. Best of all, each had a great slight squash flavoring to it (directly in the batter I think), giving it a bit of a kick that really distinguished it. Still, this is only for people who really love doughy creations. 3.0/5.0