Rao's

At some point  in your life, you may or may not have heard of the famous Restaurant in New York called Rao's pronounced Raiyos.  It apparently is very hard to get in a reservation as they only have 10 tables, and is open only 5 days a week and closed on Sundays.

Rao's opened about a month ago in Hollywood, California. The only experience I have had with Rao's is their Puttanesca sauce which I often buy and is available at some supermarkets. I have heard good things and everyone seemed to talk about their meatballs.

I was excited and decided to celebrate my friend Jody's birthday there. I called a few weeks ago and made a reservation for 5:30 p.m. I picked her up at 4:00 p.m. to make sure we get there on time. We did arrive at 5:15 p.m., a bit early but better than being late. We walked in and a few employees were startled to see us. They looked shocked and I did tell them we realized we were early. I told them our reservations were for 5:30 and the lady told us they don't open till 6:00 p.m.
I was irritated because I made the reservation myself with someone at the restaurant; not on opentable.com which I normally do. Then the truth came out. They admitted that they used to be open at 5:00 p.m. but recently changed it to 6:00 p.m. So they told us we could sit at the bar and have drinks while we wait. Thank You...... There was no apology but I thought this was their way of apologizing....buying us a drink.

At 6:00 p.m. we were promptly seated outside at very inviting & charming garden. It was a warm evening and was perfect for outdoor dining. We started with an appetizer of Roasted Peppers. I don't know what was in there but this is not to be missed. Jody and I loved every bite. We of course had to order the meatballs. Without thinking we both imagined meatballs with spaghetti. The 2 giant balls came (no spaghetti) but I must say that we both agreed the meatballs were moist and tender. The other entree we split was the Eggplant Parmesan. That was not as good as expected.  It needed more flavor. In fact we asked for more marinara sauce, poured it all over and topped it with parmesan; then it finally started to come to life.

The birthday girl opted on the Tiramisu which was enough for the two of us.  That failed to excite us mainly because the lady fingers or whatever base they had in the bottom was not soaked enough therefore making it heavy.

It was a good meal, sometimes you can't expect perfection on all dishes. Lou, our waiter and "Captain" was very nice and friendly. He did ask how we liked everything and we did give him our honest opinion.
I was surprised to see that we were charged for our drinks at the bar. If I were the manager, I would have been very apologetic for the mix up which was the restaurant's fault, and the least I would have done was to buy the drinks for the inconvenience. That would have been the proper thing to do. I have to note that I did purchase a bottle of wine with our dinner. Oh well.........

Rao's is located at 1006 Seward St. in Hollywood, California.