Caffe’ Delfini

The best! Just like Roma these guys know exactly what they’re doing.
Greeting, atmosphere, service and the food!

Romantic. Small. Quiet. Good food. West Channel is a busy street and you can drive by this place if you blink. Ha…

Absolutely fabulous! The pasta is homemade and the basil pesto was delicious! Wonderful service in this authentic family restaurant.

Veal Milanese is extraordinary, most of the pasta is handmade, staff is wonderful, and the atmosphere is romantic

My favorite local Italian restaurant ever! Intimate, candlelit, authentic… Like something on the Amalfi Coast. Generally speaking, unique setting for LA/​Santa Monica Canyon. Their Zinguini (special zucchini pasta) al Norma is to die for. I eat there once or twice a week. They are friendly and there is valet.

This place is the most charming, adorable, fresh and delicious Italian I’ve eaten in all of Los Angeles. You feel like you’ve left LA and walked into a little charming Italian eatery. I asked for their best pasta dish, and am still dreaming about it. You can spend hours in there really enjoying your company, food and the ambiance.

This place was a rip off! The bill was not itimized. 119. For two apitizers total 30. Two angel hair pastas 30. Two glasses of wine 20. One bottle of water 7. Total = 119? it was hot as hell. Just thieves. Food was crap.

I was hoping for so much more after reading the reviews, but left feeling meh.
Nice folks but neither of our dishes stood out, and the service was a bit stilted.

This place is absolutely the best. Not only do they have the best Italian food around but they also offer a zucchini pasta, brown rice pasta, quinoa pasta, and an Italian detox pasta. I get an appetizer portion of the ‘zinguine’ arrabiata (no picture) and the most amazing Bronzino I’ve ever had (pic shown). We live nearby and go often, it’s dark, romantic, and really you can get away from the crap of LA and find yourself in what reminds me of a small place in Rome.

Awful service last night. Not sure if it’s because there are anti gay but it sure felt that way. Stuck us in a corner and rarely came back to check on us. Aside from hearing them talk about us. Would not come back

Last night we tried Caffe Delfini for our first time! I cannot believe (being born and raised here in this town) that I have not been here sooner, it was incredible. The food is out of this world and the ambiance is fantastic. The servers don’t miss a beat and cater to your ever need. One of the owners, GP served our table and fell in love with my daughter, Isabella. He even held her and walked her around the restaurant while we enjoyed our meal. Everyone is so friendly there and they really make you feel like you are one big happy family! Thank you GP for such a lovely experience, we can’t wait to come back!!! — Jamie, Joey and Isabella

Hadn’t been to Delfini in many years and decided last minute to take some friends for dinner. From start to finish we had a great meal. Our server suggested an outstanding bottle of Italian red. It was so tasty we had two! We had the Burrata salad and Bruschetta to start and both were excellent. Then we all ordered different pastas for our mains. I had the Fettuccini Bolognese… a pretty basic pasta. However, the fresh pasta and how it was perfectly cooked was just amazing. Some of the best pasta I’ve eve tasted in Los Angeles. Dessert was a fantastic Tiramisu along with Orange flavored gelato. I won’t wait as many years to go back again.

This is a quaint Italian restaurant which is the only restaurant, I am aware of in SM, that serves «zucchini pasta «or zinguini. I make this at home and it’s the a better substitute than pasta as it holds the flavor the sauce and is clearly more healthy.
To start my fiancé had the Caesar salad as a starter. Was ok but the best part was the fresh tomato. So good. More of them in the salad please!
My fiancé also had the Fettuccine Bolognese– Flat egg noodles with delicate lean, ground free range veal in tomato sauce. Really tasty and amazing.
I had the Scaloppine Ai Funghi now $ 32 (not$ 28) (Free range) medallions of veal, sauteed with a white wine mushroom sauce, served with rosemary roasted potatoes and sauteed mixed vegetables. The veal was so lean and tender, while the wine sauce was so rich.
The service was pretty good, and the food was served pretty quickly. It took longer for us to get the check!

I really love how quaint and intimate the space is and how the waiters remind me of my travels to Italy. It’s our weekly go-​to place near our house. There are healthy pasta options that actually taste delicious. It is a relaxed atmosphere with a local flair. bellissimo!

We were the first and only table when the restaurant opened. Service was slow and mediocre. The food was great, but with the subpar service I’d recommend spending your money elsewhere. If the service matched the quality of the food, I’d give them 4 – 5 stars. When paying these prices you want the service that should go with it… Not having to ask for you bottle of wine 3 times, having food «auctioned off» at the table when it’s only 3 people at the table, semi-​rude impatient staff… I wouldn’t give it a second chance when this city is full of great restaurants with amazing staff.

Zucchini pasta! Amazing. All the splendor of pasta without the carbs. Great wine list too.

Great food, great service, amazing desert. This place is simply amazing. The staff were super friendly, we’ll definitely come back. Thank you

Very good, authentic Italian food with a very nice wine list. The service was quite good. The place is unnecessarily dark, but they provide little flashlights so you can see the menu. Overall, worth a visit.

Had not been here in 10 years but went with friends that go 3x per month. Not sure what went wrong but the food is way down in quality. The linguine portofino had no taste, with bland shrimp and the linguine itself was improperly prepared — it was in small pieces and portions were al dente and portions were overcooked. The ensalade cardioffini was too pureed, and lacked robust flavor. The signature giant langostinas baked in shell were now just regular shrimp in shells and lacked the taste and wow factor of a decade ago.
Add poor waiter service — they completely stopped servicing the table nor asking if patrons were in need of anything, never asked how the dinner was, and seemed to abandon the table of six for long periods of time. They were thrilled to pour pellgrino at $ 7/​bottle but could not figure out how to keep still tap water glasses filled without being asked. Great bread but never refilled after the first one despite six patrons and an empty basket on first round. Still a charming space, but with one bottle of wine and few deserts, the bill was $ 80 pp including a robust tip. They need to refocus — unless the gathering is more important than the meal or the service.

When my boyfriend and I first started dating in 2010, he brought me here. I remember really enjoying it but we hadn’t gone since then. I told him I wanted to go again so he made 8:15 reservations. We ended up wanting to dine earlier so we gave them a call and the woman at first said she couldn’t fit us in but then said she’d make it work. We showed up at our new time, 7:00 and within 4 to 5 minutes were seated. There were two tables available right by the front door, but they managed to seat us in a corner which was much more private. The waiters were amazing, the wine was spectacular, service superb… I had the Ravioli special (ricotta and spinach in a butter sage sauce). The portion was just right for me — but if there was more on the plate I would have scarfed it down too. My boyfriend had a veal marsala, I believe. He loved it.
I truly truly recommend this place. Call ahead for reservations though!

A gem of an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica. I have been dining at Caffe Delfini for about twenty years and I am amazed by the consistency of the fantastic service and stellar food. Not much has changed in twenty years other than an expansion to accommodate more diners. The quality of food is consistently good as is the amazing service!

I love the food and ambiance here. I enjoy Italian food so was delighted to find this high quality, low key spot on Channel Road. I highly recommend trying it. Good date spot and acoustics are, for once in this town, quite good.

Had a very pleasant experience at Caffe Delfini.
Not sure if I would describe it to be the most romantic restaurant; it certainly is very dim in there where the waiters carry around a compact flashlight to help you to your seat. There’s also that flashlight at your table in case you need to go to the restroom and that jazz.
We, a party of two, were a little early for our reservation for 7:45 on a Friday night, but were seated pretty soon after.
I thought the setting is more cozy and comfortably intimate, rather than outrageously romantic, which suited me just fine in any case.
First of all, their bread was good. And that matters to me as it really sets off the journey of dining on a good note.
Ordered a bottle of red; started off the meal with BRESAOLA, which is very thinly sliced aged beef with some cheese and rugola on top. It was a great pairing choice with the wine.
For our meal, we had FETTUCCINE BOLOGNESE – by Unilocalers’ recommendation – and ZUPPA DI PESCE IN GUAZZETTO, a broth of various seafood, which I really really enjoyed. More than the fettuccine. The pasta dish was okay, but it tasted a bit too «tame» for my taste buds.
There was a large group of about 10 sitting next to us, and a family of 4 in front, so I think it’s safe to say that the atmosphere is pretty suitable and casual to most parties.
Overall, both food and service was good, and price reasonable. I wouldn’t mind going back if I were in the neighborhood; I docked off a star only because I wasn’t madly in love and looking to go back soon as I was leaving the restaurant.