Capo Santa Monica - Buy Reservations

A hot spot for agency folks on shoots in LA, have always heard great things. This place truly impressed. Impeccable service, amazing wine list; beautiful fresh food. The outside was magical. Loved everything about my experience here.

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Very few restaurants continue over the years with the same level of service and food quality. They are indeed a rare number. Sadly, Capo is not one of them. Our first visit was admittedly more than several years ago. Also, it was long before Covid years. So, we do take that into consideration. Still, we have to say this Italian restaurant let us down in several respects, though not totally.

Of course, we made our reservations long in advance through the Concierge at Shutters on the Beach where we were going to stay. One would think that would assure us some level of professionalism. We had no reason to expect any issues. On our day, we walked to the restaurant for our dinner and arrived on time, if not a little early.

It was clear right away that this was a busy evening. We saw that other people arriving were talking to someone outside the entrance regarding seating. The host was seating people outside and inside. When our turn came, we asked to be seated inside because that was what we reserved. Instead, we were asked to sit outside. Now, "outside" to them was actually Cora's Coffee Shoppe (which is also owned/operated by Capo). We told the host that we had breakfast at Cora's that same morning and did not want to sit there. The host then notified the supervisor who continued to insist that we dine outside. We insisted that we dine inside Capo, not outside at Cora's. Once he knew we knew the difference, he then began to make seating arrangements for us inside Capo. We could go on and on about how bad an impression this was, but will spare you that.

We finally were seated inside and were elated to get in. We anticipated no further issues. The dining room was packed of course, so we expected that service would be on the slow side which we did experience. What we didn't expect was that the food would be less than exceptional.

My wife ordered the Mista Salad as a starter, and Salmon for her main entree. I ordered the Rigatoni and Romaine salad. For dessert, we shared the Apple Tart. Of course, we had plenty of beverages in the beginning and along the courses (capuccino and glasses of Bollinger champagne). Unfortunately, my wife's Salmon was extremely raw, not medium rare as she ordered. I mean it was quite raw. She did not want to complain and have the order taken back since we experienced such a problem even getting seated. My Rigatoni was actually exceptional! The Apple Tart was pretty good too. Both our salads were also excellent.

So, in terms of the food quality it was mixed. Of course, the restaurant was very expensive (not the most expensive we've experienced). However, one must be careful about what you order, particularly seafood/fish.

Make sure you are actually going to be seated INSIDE the restaurant (if that's what you want) and if ordering fish, don't hesitate to be as clear as you can about how it's prepared. Apparently, just saying "medium rare" (for example) isn't enough.

Since we've been there twice, we'll probably not return again. We would return to Cora's Coffee Shoppe for breakfast/brunch.

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..with outstanding food, romantic ambience and stellar service. Food selection is outstanding...all amazing choices for appetizers, fresh pastas, various meats, seafood, and of course desserts. We loved their cocktails and the server suggested some fantastic bold red wine that we enjoyed, and our favorite dishes included:Octopus 'al forno' PiccanteRomaine 'alla Griglia',Tartufo Bianco Caesar (wonderful smoky flavor)Corn Ravioli, TartufoBucatini Lamb RaguPrime Rib ChopShort Ribs ChiantiHot Apple TartThe atmosphere at Capo is intimate as it is a smaller restaurant - and I recommend dining in the main, formal dining room. Capo is not a restaurant to be missed when in Santa Monica. Amazing food, great service, awesome cocktails and wine, with a fantastic near-ocean Santa Monica location.

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Very pricey, but well staffed and very attentive. Food was excellent! We had chicken parmesan and gnocchi pomodoro and a house salad. Greens were fresh and food came out hot! We sat outside. Outside seating is a tent in the parking lot. Well heated and decorated for being a tent. Looks like a hole in the wall place, but don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Gratuity was included in bill for 2 people.

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The food was very good and we knew it would be expensive, so no issues there. Our reservation was for 8:15 last Sat night. We did not get seated until 8:45. With this restaurant having strict rules that say, party of 2 has xyz time frame to complete dinner and a party of 4 has xyz timeframe, why didn't we get seated closer to 8:15? The host offered our party of four free cocktails, which was nice. But when the bill arrived at the end of our dinner, the four drinks were on the bill. We told the waiter and he said he'd speak to the host. We didn't see anyone again for 15 minutes. I finally flagged another waiter and asked him to get our server. Another five minutes rolled on and the host came to our table with the revised bill. No apologies or anything. Consumers shouldn't have to endure this crap especially when spending north of $750. Proof of Covid was never asked of us (which clearly states in their site that they will check). We are all vaccinated, but what about others who might not be? Also, in a high level restaurant wouldn't you think they would offer a wine list? We had to ask the server for the list. This server needs training, again....especially at a very high end LA restaurant. Bright lights from their valet parked cars constantly glared in our eyes. It obvious we were brought to a somewhat undesirable table. Good quality is very important, but so is ambiance and service. Won't go back there again. By the way, never did see the waiter again.

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The evening started well with a perfectly made Negroni and fresh bread served high quality oil but devolved into one of the most disappointing meals I've ever had in Los Angeles. Living in Santa Monica I was curious about Capo (4 stars on Yelp and fine dining prices, it must be good!) and decided to give it a try last week. What a mistake. The amatriciana was awful; the pasta was overcooked by at least 3-4 minutes, the chunks of guanciale were too thick and the chef added so much pepper to the sauce that it completely overwhelmed its flavour. The concept of "salt enhances flavor, pepper changes flavor" should not be complicated, but I digress. Moving on, the gnocchi had an off putting texture while the ravioli with shaved truffle were not as bad as the rest, but were still unremarkable. We then moved to a 75$ dish of grilled Salmon which was cooked almost raw, over-seasoned and served with a tiny scoop of "Joël Robuchon mashed potatoes" (the only thing good on that plate and a good approximation of the pomme purée served at l'Atelier de JR). We ended with a raspberry tart. The raspberries were delicious and were best picked off from the soggy, overly sweet cream and pastry that they lay on top of. A fun thing about dessert is that we were told that it "must be ordered at the beginning of the meal because all desserts take a long time to prepare". When however due to an allergy we asked whether a dessert included walnuts or not the server said that he had to check as "they bring them in". I suppose that asking you to order dessert at the start of the meal is a smart way to upsell something many customers would not get after trying the dismal pastas and mains. Service was very friendly, but slow and inattentive at times. The total came to 326$ for 2 pastas, 1 salad, 1 salmon, 1 dessert, 1 bottle of sparkling water and 1 Negroni. Capo is where abundant disposable income and mediocre Italian food meet and form a perfect union.

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Loved every bite. And so did my husband.. he's a picky eater as well! We've have recommended our dear friend to bring his date Andrew over here in friday.. I know they'll love it!

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