Il Pastaio

Last weekend, after seeing the delightful movie "Lunchbox", Sandi, Ana and I found ourselves in Beverly Hills walking by Canon Dr. at around 2:00 p.m. and starving to death! We came across Il Pastaio which is one of the restaurants of the Drago empire.  I have been to some of his restaurants but never at Il Pastaio. It was time to experiment with Chef Giacomino Drago; the youngest of 8 children from Sicily.

Since we all are pasta lovers, we had to order 3 kinds to split among ourselves. Sandi picked the Fettucine Bolognese, Ana's choice was the Arrabiatta with Shrimps and I had to order the Cacio E Pepe. For appetizer, we had the Carciofi Salad; baby artichoke hearts tossed in oil and lemon with arugula and shaved parmesan. This salad was healthy in a good way and refreshing. It was terribly simple yet satisfying.

All the pasta entrees were aldente "e perfetto", real Italian indeed.  I especially liked the Cacio e Pepe, lots of fresh pepper sauce and Pecorino Siciliano.

The only complaint we had was the service. Our waiter who shall remain nameless for now, was not attentive at all and not very friendly. I had to ask for my drink 3 times from 3 different people. One busboy that finally brought my drink was most helpful. We had to flag several waiters for our check. Needless to say, tip was minimum though I looked for our busboy and gave him an extra tip.

Il Pastaio is a very good restaurant though service will have to improve. Chef Giacomino Drago will have to train his waiters to be better servers as the restaurant business in not just about the food but the service. Il Pastaio is located at 400 N. Canon Dr. in Beverly Hills.