Obica Mozzarella Bar

The cocktails & food are quite pleasant, & the all-​Italian staff is considerate & delightful. Price points are higher than the look & feel of the location dictates, & the service is definitely leisurely.

I’ve dined with Obica a few times, including hosting family for a small rehearsal dinner prior to my wedding. I’ve sat in the patio each time, which has a great ambiance and is heated if needed. The service is always impeccable — staff is friendly, attentive and goes above and beyond expectations. plus many of them have beautiful Italian accents to set an even more authentic dining experience! Haven’t had a dish that I don’t like — make sure you try the mozzarella!

Rating food, ambience, service
Food: dinner average: 4.125 stars
focaccia bread: 5 stars! must have! Totally worth the $, it was delicious! Highly recommended!
Burrata with truffle: 4.5 stars! one of the best burrata i have ever tasted! Super creamy and delicious, but we couldn’t taste the truffle that much… So i would come back for the creamy burrata without the truffle
Speck A. Adige: 3 stars uhmm… Not my favorite, it was kind a dry to me…
The duck pasta: 4 stars, everyone from the restaurant recommended it but It was alright to me, the taste was very good but not «WOW»
Ambience: 4 stars it’s nice :) the lighting was dimmed, the space was nicely arranged :)
Service: 5 + stars service! Wow! I am amazed by the service! They gave us so much attention and helped with deciding what to get…
Restaurant average :) 4.4
I would definitely come back for the buratta !

You got me at mozzarella bar.
Food:
— Burrata al Tartufo: so fresh, moist, creamy, delicious, and just slightly sweet. The quality is similar to what you’d get at Osteria Mozza (my top favorite is still the one with prosciutto over there but this is very good too). The truffle, however, is a bit lost. Next time I’d order only the burrata.
— Speck: good quality cured pork, smoky and not too salty.
— Focaccia bread: MUST GET! It totally complemented the burrata and speck so well and really brought the whole meal together. Spend your $ 5 on this instead of the truffle: D
— Pappardelle with duck ragu — a good pasta dish but not mind blowing given the fact that it was so highly recommended to us by the staffs.
Service was extremely friendly. We got seated within a couple minutes without reservation on a Sat night. It’s probably still fairly new and not too crazy crowded yet. We chose to sit at the kitchen bar because I love watching the chefs cook. 2 people with an Italian accent whom I believe are the owner and/​or manager of the restaurant were incredibly warm and welcoming, your typical Italian hospitality.
Intimate ambience, trendy and modern décor. They also have a back patio that looked cute and cozy. Easy and free street parking after 6PM.
Definitely coming back to try their pizza!

What I had was great but this place does not have many if any dairy free options. Drinks are great atmosphere was great.

I’ve been here several times but tonight they surprised me with New summer plates… Burrata&Pesche is to die for. Very attentive service as usual

The drive to Santa Monica on a sunny weekend afternoon was pretty unpleasant, but once I sat down in Obica, the day immediately improved. My husband and I knew what we wanted and got the smoked mozzarella, carpaccio and a nice glass of rose to start. Their Mozzarella di Bufala definitely is the star item. If you like fresh mozzarella — they have a few types to try. I tried and loved the Bufala Affumicata (naturally smoked according to the menu). Something worth noting is that their complimentary bread in the basket is @#$%^& * delicious! So crusty on the outside and super soft and doughy inside. They also have an olive loaf in addition to the regular ciabatta. Seriously, that bread! We even asked about it and they said they make it in-​house.
Their pasta is handmade and hand rolled. I will say they come in small portions — so be aware you will have to order a few small plates to have a full meal. They have daily specials too and our server pointed out the outdoor menu on the sidewalk we missed. Service was actually very good here and everyone from the host, server, bussers were very attentive. Honestly, we came in knowing exactly what to order and our server really didn’t even have to try to sell us on appetizers, wine or dessert. We just kept ordering more! lol. I did enjoy this place. I’m not a fan of 405 traffic to Santa Monica, but I had a wonderful, calm meal here. They have other locations in L.A. so I would check those out too.
Also, I think Obica got an image makeover and removed the ‘k’ in their name! So this is the same spot I was recalling from Century City.

Great place with an authentic Italian feeling. Most of the people working there come from Italy.
Food is great, we have been there several times for lunch or dinner.
The patio looks also very nice! Will be there soon again.

Great and very authentic! Wonderful service and recommendations
We got the smoked bufala plate, which was very smokey (which makes sense), but it kind of overwhelmed the mozzarella taste. Would recommend getting bufala classica or burrata instead for a more classic mozzarella.
For entrees, we got ravioli freschi and trovie al pesto, which were both delicious.
When in doubt, listen to the waiter’s recommendations. He was very informed and helpful!

Thanks Rick! This is ridiculous– if you haven’t been to Obica — make the time this is the spot. So Fresh

Second time there today and second order of mozzarella al tartuffo already! It is so good I could easily make it the number one ingredient of my diet.
Add a touch of olive oil and a few slices of fresh bread and you get this heavenly combination that will make you seriously consider moving to Italy.
The place in itself is okay. It is clean, service is fast, prices are fair (I didn’t say cheap!). Nothing special to report on my end except for the mozzarella al tartuffo («mozzarella with truffles» in case your Italian is limited!).

the food is actually quite good here, with a solid list of wines. it’s very casual, so don’t expect the ambiance of fine dining establishment, but it’s got a cozy feel to it, making it a great date spot or catching up with an old friend. there’s also an outdoor patio area, so if you can score seats out there, even better.
solid food, don’t miss their abundance of mozzarella. we went for the traditional with olive oil, basil and some added tomatoes. for entrees, I could not resist the squid ink taglierini, which has roe, crab and uni. you would think that i would get tired of this (as SO MANY other LA restaurants have similar combinations with obvious distinct variations, aka Republique, Mozza, Bestia…) but it never gets old. This was pretty up there with my other faves.
oh, and the service was phenomenal. for being just a couple of months open, the service was spot on… in fact, they were super, overly attentive, but not a nuisance.

Obica is one of those spots where nothing is really bad, but nothing is really great either. The best part is probably it’s location, right at the corner of Broadway and 6^th, just enough away from the touristy 3^rd street and close enough to the beach. The hostess and server were friendly and the food was good but nothing stellar. I felt that the place was trying to be modern Italian (furniture, colors, lighting, etc.) but the food wasn’t quite modern Italian. They raved about freshly sliced meats and cheese, but the selection of wine was kind of limited. Not sure what to pin point, but something felt off overall.

Made reservations for our group to catch up over dinner. Food was pretty standard, atmosphere was fancy. But the worst part of our experience was that after eating here, our friend started having fraudulent charges from Italy show up on his credit card. Seriously?! Such a nice establishment, and then credit card fraud?
As for the food, my friend ordered the duck ragu papardelle and was underwhelmed. I had the proscuitto crudo pizza, which was pretty standard. They made a big deal on the menu how their crust is prepared, and the quality of the crust and ingredients were nice, but didn’t elevate the taste THAT much for us. We shared a mozzarella bar assortment and that was nice. It wasn’t that memorable in terms of food, but truly scarred by the bad credit card charges that likely came from here.

This is a long overdue review of this restaurant. I have been three times now and each time is just as delicious as the first. Parking can be a bit tough as it is on a corner with several other restaurants and also not far from the promenade. However each time I was able to find a metered spot within walking distance. I believe they also have a valet option.
For lunch they have an option to have a 3 course meal. They give you a variety of selections to choose from for the appetizer, entrée, and dessert. For dinner it is a set menu but they have more options to choose from.
From my three visits I have tried one of the salads (forgot the name but have a picture), the mushroom pizza, the AMAZING pesto pasta, and a few of the desserts. Both the mushroom pizza and pesto pasta are absolutely delicious and the true reason why I keep coming back here. The hospitality is amazing as well and you feel very welcomed from the moment you walk in.

Great service, awesome space.
We ordered the smoked mozzarella, pomodoro pizza, the rapini side dish and the squid ink taglierini.
The smoked mozzarella was not great, too smoky and not cheesy enough for me. The rapini was ok.
The squid ink dish was very tasty and decadent. I would get it again.
But the real star was the pizza. The cheese on the pizza was so fresh and tasty, it’s crave worthy for sure. Next time we go, I’m definitely getting more pizza.

Came here for dinner on a Friday night around 7 and was seated fairly quickly. By 8, this place was pretty packed. The place is really nice. Feels very modern inside. Some seating was table style and some were bench style along the walls. There’s also an outdoor seating patio area for seating as well. But more importantly, let’s get to the food.
Here’s what we ordered:
First they serve bread and oil — the olive oil is on the table and self serve. It was actually really good. The bread was slightly disappointing. I was expecting hot bread but it was cold and underwhelming.
Burrata — if you like fresh mozzarella, you’ll love this. Super soft and creamy with just a bit of saltiness. It was really good. Thought it couldn’t get better until.
Burrata al tartufo — truffle mozzarella! This was SO good. I could’ve had multiple orders of this. The black truffle on the cheese made a world of difference. Both very different but man, this was an instant favorite. Definitely get this!
Meats — prosciutto, speck affumicato, and bresaola. All were really tasty. My favorite was probably the speck. It was smoky, salty, and just really good. You need to get the Burrata and have it with the meats. Both on bread and some olive oil and you have a great appetizer.
N’Duja e Burrata pizze — flavors were good. Everything was seasoned well. But the crust was lacking. It’s a thin pizza which was enjoyable but it just seemed a little too bread-​y with no real texture. I wish there was a bit more crisp to it.
Lasagna — when a friend suggested ordering this, I was a little on the fence because it’s something we can make ourselves and is readily available anywhere else but it was a good choice. It was just layers of flavor which cheese, spinach lasagna. It was really good. If you want a dish that feels like home, this is a good choice.
Taglierini neri — squid ink pasta. I’ve had squid ink dishes in the past and have never liked it. This place, unfortunately, wasn’t able to change that. I’m just not a fan but the others at the table did enjoy it. To me, it’s a bit too fishy. But I did taste it and the pasta was cooked perfectly.
Tiramisu — I was expecting a really good tiramisu here. The waiter recommended it and I love it so it was an obvious choice. I am sad to say that it was disappointing. There wasn’t any soaking with espresso and rum. There were lady fingers I think, but they were dry. It seemed like a cheap supermarket version of pudding cake labeled tiramisu.
They also have an extensive wine menu which we did take advantage of. Service was really good. Very friendly server who checked on us quite often.
Overall, I would rate the food 3.5 stars but the service bumped this rating to a 4. I would come back here to try a few more things on the menu.

I could sing the praises of this cheese place or you could just go order the truffle cheese and pita bread and see for yourself? Feels casual but service and quality make it not. Huge extensive wine list and did I mention TRUFFLE BURRATA? Yeah I thought I didn’t.
Major key alert: these guys are on my favorite service, LAbite. I think it’s a $ 40 minimum and they will deliver on the westside. Awwww yeahhhh burrata in bed.

My fiancé and I have been meaning to try out this place since it has opened and since we live in the area.
We originally were just going to get late night drinks and couldn’t decide on a place to go to. We both had a glass a wine and shared a appetizer. We had the fried mozzarella, it was delish! The mozzarella was very fresh and the fried outer layer was light and crisp!
The location is perfect for us since we live in the area and is a walkable distant to our apartment. Though, I can see it being difficult to find street parking if you don’t live in the area (BUT they do have valet!)

Not impressive for me at all. I ordered the lasagna — don’t get this expecting lasagna lol. Their own spin on it. Hardly any sauce (if that matters to you) — small portions. Wasn’t awful but nothing to write home about, nothing I would order again. My boyfriend liked it though. He thought it was pretty good and much better than what he ordered (gnocchi).
Maybe we just ordered the wrong thing but I would not be too eager to head back here. The bill was over $ 40 before tip for our meals. Had water, no appetizer or dessert.
Off to get more food somewhere else lol. Still hungry.
I will give them one extra star though because I forgot my lip balm here and they didn’t throw it out — it was about 30 mins until I realized it and when I called they had saved it. (Considerate service) Won’t mean much to some people but it was a limited edition MAC lip balm that they don’t make anymore AND I was staying over my bfs house for the weekend and this was the only lip product I brought with me. lol. (And we’re going out tomorrow for super bowl Sunday so I’m glad my lips won’t be a mess)

I am in love with the risotto with shrimp and asparagus: you can really taste that they used fish stock for it and it’s beyond delicious. I could eat it all the time.
I also tried the duck ragout pappardelle. Yummy!
The beef was also amazing, not to speak about their desserts and the extensive wine list. Someone there really knows wine.
Will be back soon!

I hope I really wanted to like this new place but… Mediocre food, Great atmosphere, Great service.
We were too excited to try this restaurant.
We ordered mozarella appi, pasta and steak.
Mozarella appi was great which served with salad.
Pasta– well not the best not that bad.
Steak– we ordered medium rare but it came almost like a well done so we sent it back and our server brought another one. It was literally like a rare. We ate all btw but I really didnt know what I was chewing though. It was really not for $ 34. Anyway service was great. They tried to bring new one for us but Too mediocre food.

I enjoyed dinner here so much that I came back for brunch the next day. All 7 other people I dined with were equally delighted as I was with the fresh organic ingredients and the imported Burrata, prosciutto and Salame. The service was fantastic. The atmosphere was comfortable, yet sophisticated without being at all stuffy. The sommelier was very knowledgeable about the 160-​label wine list and the cocktails were perfect and unique. Of the 17 dishes I sampled during my two meals (we all shared bites of one another’s meals because they were THAT good), there isn’t one that I wouldn’t order again. I’m sure I will be back over and over again for more authentic Italian food and service.

I used to love Hosteria del Piccolo and now I’m even more thrilled with Obica’!! All their food is super fresh and tasty. The cocktails are on point and they have a HUGE selection of wine. It’s a paradise for an Italian transplant like me. It seems a bit like being back home!
My favorite things were the fresh burrata, caponata, the very unusual and tasty ‘Nduja pizza (with Nduja sausage and burrata) and the AMAZING panna cotta. It really dosen’t get better than this!!!

Obica is a fantastic restaurant. There was something delicious on the menu for everyone. We had a hard time choosing between the savory meats, homemade pasta, a variety of bi-​weekly imported mozzarella and burrata, perfectly crafted pizzas, and perfectly prepared vegetables. The basil martini was a wonderful surprise to start. The burrata with black truffles, and the duck ragu with fresh rosemary pasta were off the charts!
Finally, the wait staff was knowledgable about the menu and very attentive. Obica is our new favorite and we’ll be going back soon.

Wow! This place just opened where Piccolo used to be on Broadway and 6^th in Santa Monica. I had heard about this place in Century City, but had never been there before.
OK, first off, the bartender really makes tremendous drinks. Really unique takes on some classic cocktails. This was followed by an amazing meal. Killer appetizers (oh my God the truffle mozzarella on their amazing bread!), great pizza, amazing pasta, and wonderful fish entrees (we all got something different and shared the plates). The inspired deserts that followed were truly remarkable. Beautiful presentation, excellent service. in a warm and intimate setting. Really a fantastic find. We will certainly be back soon!

OBICA Santa Monica has great food, great ambiance, great people and the nicest manager who makes THE BEST cappucino. Gracie Tommaso Staico (manager), tutto benne!
#OBICAMozzarellaBarPizzaeCucina #OBICA #OBICASantaMonica #ItalianRestaurants #RomaFirenzeMilanoLondonNewYorkLosAngelesTokyo

Probably one of the best Italian restaurant in town!
Fresh and flavorful
Great service
Highly recommended

I have no doubt that this Obicà is one of the best Italian restaurants currently in Los Angeles. All of the items I’ve tried tasted super fresh and flavorful (mostly organic, homemade, and imported from Italy– makes sense right?) I had the pleasure of tasting several items and I fell in love with all of them. Some of my highlights (one from each section) were the naturally smoked mozzarella di bufala, prosciutto San Daniele, the smoked wild Alaskan salmon (it has no sugar added!), caponata, bruschetta, tuna tartare, RISO NERO E POLIPO (i could eat it everyday!!), pomodoro pizza (I LOVE simple), taglierini with bottarga/​crab/​sea urchin (WOW), seared Amberjack (my new favorite fish), the Panna cotta with passion fruit AND the semifreddo (reminds me of ice cream cake) … Their variety of food is outstanding but take a look at their cocktail/​wine list. It’ll blow you away! Can’t wait to feast again!!!

EVERYTHING is delicious! Everyone was attentive and service was warm. Get the ‘Nduja pizza!

New Obica in Santa Monica! One of the best Italian restaurant in town! Amazing food and great service! Chef Samuele is one of the best chef I ever met!

Menu has a lot of variety. My husband and I both really enjoyed the squid ink pasta with crab meat and sea urchin. Our daughter had the simple pizza off the child’s menu and finished it all. Some of the familiar faces from Hosteria are back, which makes it feel a little nostalgic. Will definitely be back.

Finally an Obica in the West Side! Their cuisine is the closest to Italy I’ve found in LA.

For an authentic Italian foodie experience, Obica’ is great. I was fortunate enough to dine at their new Santa Monica location and I was not disappointed. The mozzarella is fresh off the plane from Naples, the pizza is made with a light and crispy home made organic crust, infact all the pasta and bread are made in house. I loved the veal cutlet, the roasted calamari, the beef tagliata, and the tagliolini with bottarga. The wine list is curated by an in house somelier. I will be going back!