Obika-Mozzarella Bar

This was my 2nd time at the Mozzarella Bar. The 2 locations in Los Angeles are in shopping centers; one at the Beverly Center in Beverly Hills and the other at the Century City Shopping Center.

If you are into fresh mozzarella, especially the the ever so light and creamy burrata, you cannot get it any fresher than this since it is flown from Italy everyday (so they say).

For starters, we had the Tasting of 3 types of mozzarella, Classica, Affumicata (smoked) and the Burrata. They serve little pieces of bread to go with them, some balsamic vinegar accompanied by 3 kinds of sauces; pesto, olive, and sundried tomatoes. All 3 of them had their own character and were all delicious.

For our entree, we chose the Taglierini, thin egg pasta with their homemade pork ragu. This too was delicious, though I have had better (at Osteria Mozza). It was salty which I like and this was the first time I did not ask for parmesan cheese. The Parmigiana which was grilled eggplant with the mozzarella di bufala was outstanding.

Dessert was a trio of samples: Tiramisu which was light, we both liked this as you could really taste the espresso; their Torta di Nona was one of the best I have had; the last one was a slice of chocolate flourless cake, this was our least favorite as it tasted like a regular brownie.

Service is not the greatest. We were there early, at 4:30 pm when there were just 2 other tables.

Though we were seated promptly, it took awhile before the waitress came to take our orders. After we got our food, no one came to ask if we needed anything else or how are food was (fortunately it was very good and we didn't need anything else) In fact, the chef came out to the bar and talked w/ the one of the Italian waitresses while she was folding napkins.

Call me spoiled, but at a restaurant I like to feel important and appreciated . The chef didn't seem to have any interest in any of the few customers.

So, the next time you have a craving for Mozzarella di Bufala and you don't care much for great service, give Obika a try.