Locanda Del Lago

Worse service! We waited 20 minutes before being attended by our waiter. To top it off, our waiter got our orders wrong. The food was overpriced for what it is worth. Terrible experience, not coming back

This place was okay. Sarah, the server was really sweet and was very kind. Besides that, I wouldn’t say the sea bass was particularly worth $ 39 — it gave me a slight headache. But if you’re just taking a bite or two and then sharing it with others, that would probably be a good idea. On another note, the ahi tuna with plantains was really good.

Great risotto and pasta. I will recommend this to any couples or single families

Lovely and a very good food!!! l Like it ! The «Lasagna «is very tasty and less cheesy .very hearty ! Like it ! And the «Tiramisu «is very delicious !! Love it here ! The food, the service… everything. .are awesome. first time here. definitely coming back !!!

The 3^rd Street location undoubtedly draws a decent crowd here. My Scottish salmon in dill sauce was outstanding, and the stuffed chicken breast also got kudos at our table. Would like to try lunch here sometime.

Location is great, and the décor inside is amazing! The menu/​food was authentic and prepared well. I tried the white fish and some pizza someone at my table ordered. Both were good. We also got gelato which was delicious. Our server was really nice and attentive. I would definitely go here if you’re in the mood for Italian food and good wine!

For the price I thought the food was subpar, it’s expensive simply because it’s in the Promenade but I think there are a lot of better options for the same pricepoint. It’s truly very average Italian food, the pasta isn’t fresh. The sauce is bland and service was slow. Not sure why anyone would want to go out of their way to eat here.

Stopped by Locanda Del Lago while hanging with a friend who was traveling through Santa Monica. The original place we originally wanted to eat at had a longer than usual wait, so we decided to walk around and just see what we could find.
It’s all about location as this spot sits not only in Third Street Promenade, but it’s on Arizona street that gets heavy foot traffic from people walking back and forth from the pier area. They have a good amount of outdoor seating with heaters if you want to stay semi-​warm during our chily months, or ample seating inside. On a Monday night, it was pretty dead, so we were seated right away.
Service is on the cold side. We tried making conversation with our waiter, and rather than responding, he just kept asking if we were ready to order. The actual restaurant itself had nice dim lighting and provided perfect people watching views if you were seated by the windows.
For drinks I went with the Jasmine Manhattan which was pretty spectacular. Not only was the cocktail fragrant, it cut down the bite of the whiskey, so I could have probably downed a few of these things super quick. At $ 14, I decided to take it on the slow side and savor it a bit, but I did enjoy it immensely.
Spaghetti Allo Scoglio was my dish of choice for the evening mixed with a variety of shrimp, clams, and mussels. The dish lacked some salt, but everything else was pretty good otherwise. My only gripe is that they should watch how they cook/​serve the shellfish because I had a couple of broken shells hidden in my spaghetti that didn’t feel great when I bit down into them.
There was a big bread basket to accompany the meal which came out warm and soft. Really enjoyed that.
Overall, it was a decent experience and cost about $ 50 for my main, cocktail, tax and tip. On the pricey side, but to be expected for the touristy area of the shopping center. I’d come back for the Lavender Manhattan again though!

The only good things about this place are the outdoor seating and location. Service very poor, over priced ($ 20 for a bowl of minestrone soup), and food mediocre. It took about 25 minutes to get 2 plates and 1 plate was missing. That took another 10 minutes. My husband ordered a bowl of soup. The waiter suggested an entrée portion as the $ 10 bowl may not be enough as a meal. He did not mention it would be $ 20! Waiter did apologize for long pizza wait and mentioned that people could no longer order pizza, as they could not fill those orders. Overall, it was not a pleasant meal.

You can definitely skip this place… The service was horrible and the food was even WORSE! This restaurant is the culinary equivalent to a car pileup on the 405.
The location makes it appear promising but this had to be one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. To begin with, they took about 25 min to get our food to the table and brought out half our party’s order, then they took another 8 minutes to bring out the rest of the orders. When they finally brought out the remaining dishes, our salad was not the caprese salad that I had ordered but rather some sorry excuse of an appetizer that contained one ingredient similar to that of a caprese salad. To add insult to injury, they tried to blame us on the mistake. We also ordered the red snapper with a pomegranate sauce and wilted vegetables… INEDIBLE. First of all there was no pomegranate sauce, the «fishy» tasting snapper was topped with a few pomegranate seeds, what I’m assuming was a garnish and totally irrelevant to the fish. The dish was tasteless, bland and genuinely unappealing, I took one bite and could not continue. My friend ordered the filet mignon medium rare, it came out well done. Totally unacceptable. The highlight of the meal was the bread that we had to remind the waiter to bring us midway thru our meal. The only thing going for this place is that it’s located at the heart of the Santa Monica promenade with a lot of foot traffic.

They consistently have good food here. Not the standard Italian that you will find elsewhere. They hit the various regions of Italy and put there own twist on the preparation. It works most of the time. Definitely worth checking them out if you are in the area.

Location, Location, Location… Locanda del Lago is situated on the corner of Arizona & the 3^rd Street Promenade where massive foot traffic abounds, & it seems Locanda can sell used hula hoops & people will come. It helps that there is patio street dining on 3^rd St. & Arizona, & the interior is done w/​a tasteful bucolic, comfortable touch. Locanda in Italian means an inn & lago refers to Lake Como, a glacial lake in the foothills of the Alps of Lombardia. One of the villages by the lake is Bellagio, the same named casino in Las Vegas. Purportedly, the cuisine is supposed to be around Lago di Como, but for the most part, it is a pan Northern Italian ristorante w/​concessions to American tastes.
Fall tasting menu, Wednesday, ½ off price for a bottle of wine:
1) Speck con Insalata di Rucola e Uva: Arrugula leaf salad green refreshingly bitter w/​a peanut oil scent & halved seedless red grapes dressed in light lemon dressing. Speck is ultra thin flat pieces w/​an earthy, porky, fermented salty-​sweet meatiness. Speck is not found near Lago di Como but is native to Alto Adige/​Sued Tirol which used to be part of Austria until WWI. Speck’s cousin is Schwartzwald Schinken/​black forest ham of southwestern Germany. It seems that many of the lands controlled by the Romans such as Spain’s noteworthy Jamon Serrano de Bellota have some form of dry cured ham, and the big granddaddy of all is the Prosciutto di Parma in Emilia-​Romagna, Italia. Nice salad to start the meal. Have it after the main meal to refresh the palate before dessert.
2) Tagliolini Verdi con Granchio e Zucca: Spinach green thin pasta w/​Kabocha/​Japanese pumpkin & Dungeness crab meat in a white wine parsley sauce. Sauce would be better based on a seafood fond de cuisine/​broth for deeper Umami. White wine & parsley alone did not flavor the pasta so it tasted rather bland & insipid. I had to add more salt, black pepper, bit of Aceto Balsamico de Modena to add agrodolce/​sweet-​sour flavor to awaken flavours inherent in the ingredients, unorthodox as it may be.
3) Filetto di Branzino al Melograno e Spinaci: Branzino/​Mediterranean seabass is grilled w/​a heavy bodied sweet olive oil until the skin side is crispy & the flesh is soft, pleasantly fishy w/​its own fish oil infused in the white meat. Sweet sour Melograno/​pomegranate seeds when eaten together w/​the Branzino was a synergy of meaty flavours w/​the fall agrodolce, fruity flavor of the pomegranate. Spinach was lightly sautéed in olive oil for a soft lush texture & herbal-​earthy fragrance. This was the signature dish which indicates the highs that the kitchen at Locanda del Lago can achieve.
4) Costolette d’Agnello, Rape Brasate, Patate Arrostite in Timo e Aceto: Two nicely executed grilled, medium rare, moist yet enjoyably chewy lamb chops, braised rape/​cross between broccoli & turnip, roasted ‘new potatoes’ in a vinegar thyme sauce. It was a simple hearty dish, but I felt that the red wine vinegar & thyme infused demi-​glacé/​reduction sauce was too harshly acidic & overpowered the gentle gaminess of the lamb. Again more fond de cuisine/​stock added to the acidic sauce would mellow the sauce also adding a more meaty, rounded flavor profile.
1−4a) Since Locanda took pride in its inspiration from the Alpine lake region of Lombardia, I chose Garda Classico, «Negresco» 2010 Ca Maiol winery, which is situated near the glacially produced largest lake in Italy called Lago di Garda. It is made from Gropello, Marzemino, Sangiovese, & Barbera grape varietals. Negresco means black, & indeed, it is a very dark red. Fragrance is dark fruits, bit of oak, shoe polish while the flavours tend towards Blackberry, blueberry, dark cherry balanced by some bitter tannins & acidity to keep the wine from being «flabby». Different varietals, but it reminded me of Valpollicella. Negresco paired well w/​the above dishes since it was midpoint in flavor profile.
5) Crostata al Limone, Sorbetto ai Frutti di Bosco: Mini-​pie shaped, heavy crust pastry w/​sweet, fragrant butter filled w/​lemon curd & a smearing of raspberry confiture & lemon curd under the Crostata. Accompanying the drier textured Crostata was a sorbetto/​granita of «fruits from the forest» such as strawberry & raspberry sweetened w/​a good dose of sugar.
Enrico, my waiter, was excellent in a low-​key, subtle, thoughtful manner & generally stayed one step ahead of me ensuring my stay was pleasant especially in ways to take advantage of special deals. Mirko, manager of Locanda who is originally from Bologna, Emilia Romagna, home of Aceto Balsamico de Modena, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, came by to chit chat a bit about Italia. Perhaps catering to average American tastes creates a bit of culinary dissonance so that the flavours don’t quite lean all the way to «la moda Italiana». Nice atmosphere, proficient service, food that can hit a few high points…3+ Unilocal stars.

Authentic Italian cuisine — no wonder they have survived on 3^rd street this long. The happy hour is fantastic — wonderful options and great prices. Monday night free corkage and Thursday $ 8 pizza.
Mirco and Neno — the managers are so charming and gracious. Ivan, the Beautiful Spanish waiter was funny and attentive. Leo bussed our table and he was helpful, quick and friendly. We come every Monday and love it.

So disappointing. Such a great location and awesome interior. The entrees looked appetizing and my mom was so excited to try the seafood pasta, However the service was awful. I wasn’t severely underdressed but I was in beach attire (shirt and shorts) and I could just see the hostess starring my family and I down like we were nothing to her. The waitress was «nice». It honestly felt like she couldn’t wait to take our order and leave. She didn’t tend to us at all thank goodness for the busboys who brought our drinks and entrees. I felt like they deserved the tip not the waitress.
What was upsetting to me is that I was a waitress and we were taught to treat all all customers equally. Dirty looks are a big no no. if I’m dining in your establishment it’s because I can afford it. Decent food does not make up for a shitty experience.

I’ve eaten here a few times over the years. The food is generally good, service ok. It’s nice to eat outside and people watch. The part of the experience that is missing a bit is the menu says authentic northern Italian cuisine? Have worked with many Italian chefs this one throws me. I would think there would be more polenta and risotto. Though many of the dishes are prepared well I wonder if things get overlooked based on the tourist activity on the promenade?
For instance my lasagna today was good but the noodles were mushy and it lacked seasoning. The bread was fantastic with a great hard rustic crust and no need for butter. The server Pio was wonderful. He read my table perfectly and gave me time to enjoy my meal.
Overall a good experience and I’ll be back. We’ll see what else Chef comes up with.

I’ve dined here a few times and it’s a pretty convenient restaurant if you’re shopping or catching a movie at the promenade.
Last time I was here I had the fritto misto del lago for appetizer and spicy seafood pasta, and my boyfriend had the filet mignon. The spicy seafood pasta was very tasteful and just the right amount of spicy. My boyfriends filet mignon was delicious as well. The service wasn’t superb but it was pretty decent.
All in all, I recommend this place it is a convenient Italian restaurant in the promenade.

My friends and I were looking for somewhere to get out the blazing Santa Monica sun for an hour and stumbled across Locanda del Lago.
Although I only had a couple of beers that day, a couple of the guys had pizza and said they were tasty.
The service was good with the servers/​manager being quite fun, chatty and inquiring why this motley crew of Brits were hanging out in SM that day.
4 stars is fair I think; other patrons seemed friendly and there was a nice vibe.

Von aussen gesehen machte das Del Lago einen sehr guten Eindruck! Ziemlich gemütlich eingerichtet und ein typisches italienisches Restaurant! Wir wurden (5 Pers.) an einem Tisch geführt und ein Kellner zugewiesen! So fing jetzt alles an! Der Kellner war derartig schlecht gelaunt, dass er sich extrem Mühe geben musste, um ein kleines schmunzeln herbei zu zaubern! Nachdem wir bestellten und ich und meine Begleitung uns für einen Weisswein entschieden (62 $ halbe Flasche), fragte der Kellner insgesamt 3x nach ob wir wirklich diesen Wein wollen! Nicht etwa weil er etwas besseres vorschlagen wollte, Nein, er war wohl der Meinung dass er zu teuer für uns war! Er erwähnte nämlich stark betont: «Sie wollen sicher den 62 $ Wein?»
Der Salat als Vorspeise war einfach nur Grünzeug, kein Dressing, kein Salz oder Pfeffer, nichts! Und ja viele wollen jetzt denken, man soll selber würzen! Ich dachte dies auch aber mit was? Nichts war auf dem Tisch und vom
Kellner kam auch nichts! Der Hauptgang war okey, das Risitto war nicht schlecht! Wieder zu erwähnen ist, dass der Kellner immer wieder mit herab blickenden Augen an uns vorbei huschte und so den Abend vermieste! Am Schluss entschied ich mich noch den Manager des Lokals anzusprechen und ihm über diese Bedienung und unser Wohlbefinden zu informieren! Er nahm es zur Kenntnis und fand es gar nicht gut! Punkt! Nichts! Da kam nichts!
Kann dieses Restaurant bei gutem Gewissen nicht empfehlen! Preisleistung ist viel zu teuer für das woman kriegt!

Was supposed to go to Sugarfish on a date but the wait ended up being an hour. Took a chance and walked in here without checking Unilocal first.
We were served some sort of tuna on bread to start. The bread was a little stale and it wasn’t great. We kept seeing these white mounds of salt getting served to other tables. After some investigation we realized it was the salt encrusted chilean sea bass. Decided to get that because I love sea bass. The presentation was A+ and it was super moist and delicious. Would definetly order it again.
The environment is a little more formal at night. Probably not the best date for a first date (whoops!).

My Uova Dela Mamma (open face sandwich with salami bread served during brunch) had burned bread. It really ruined the whole sandwich. I feel partly responsible like I should have told them that it didn’t taste good and have them fix it. But I hate doing that– mostly because I don’t know what they will do to the food afterwards. But then I also feel like it was noticeably burned– so they should have done something about that.
The reason I give a 3 and not a 2 star is because the service was relatively good. The waiter was friendly and even though he wasn’t hispanic– he went out of his way to speak Spanish to my family.

I am assuming this place is still in business because of its location. Other than that I didn’t like the food and the service was just eh…
We went there on a Saturday afternoon. The restaurant was not busy at all. The waiter came to get our drink order. Having seen that they bring tap water in these blue cute bottles, my husband said just a bottle of water is fine. Two minutes later the waiter come with a bottle of water which he had opened before he got to our table so there was no time for us to say that we meant tap water!
As for appetizer, we ordered calamari which I thought was a bit undercooked. I mean being at an Italian restaurant, you would be hoping for that perfect calamari but this one I thought was a failure…
As for the main dish, we ordered the lasagna and chicken club sandwich. My husband really liked his lasagna but my chicken sandwich tasted bland. It was supposed to come with bacon ofcourse but they forgot to put it in. So that was not cool at all.
The highlight of my dining experience was the side salad that came with my meal. The dressing was rasberry, lemon dressing that was very light and amazingly delicious.
One more thing that I did not appreciate about this restaurant was that the owner (or the manager) was talking to a waiter saying that if your patrons asked you for this, just mix this and that and they won’t know the difference… As a customer I was shocked of what I was hearing… The worst part of it was that he could see us seating 2 feet away but he didn’t care…
Anyways, to top everything off, when we got the bill, the water cost us $ 7.95!
The bottom line is that we are not going back to this place. I do hope that they run out of business and be replaced by some other restaurant that doesn’t think their customers are IDIOTS!