La Bruschetta Ristorante

For years, I have driven past La Bruschetta dreaming about all the delectable food that could possibly wait inside-- it's named after my favorite appetizer, so it has to be good, right? Not so much.

La Bruschetta Ristorante is like an upscale neighborhood joint. We arrived at around 6:00, when the restaurant was empty, but we were assured by our waiter that the place usually starts filling up at 6:30. When people did start arriving, most seemed to be members of the AARP (it's not a place known for its atmosphere).

When I opened the menu, the first item I looked for was the bruschetta; it wasn't on the menu. But the wily owners behind the restaurant were one step ahead of us: the bruschetta is complimentary. With my fears assuaged, I eagerly dug into the the restaurant's namesake.

To say I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. In Italy, bruschetta (let's class it up and start pronouncing it with the "k") was the solution to the problem of dealing with day-old bread: grill it, toast it, do whatever to it, add tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil, and you've replaced once-stale bread with a tasty treat. The problem with the bruschetta at the restaurant was that the bread actually tasted stale. Adding insult to injury, the tomatoes had a bland taste, with little to no seasoning. This was certainly not a good way to start the meal.

As for the entrees (pasta priced between $12 and $20, "second piatti" priced between $20 and $30), I was again underwhelmed. I initially ordered the linguini al pesto e capesante... linguini with bay scallops, basil and white wine sauce. That's not what came to my table. I think I was just completely engulfed in my conversation with Stephanie that I didn't really pay attention to what I was eating. It wasn't until after I finished my plate that the waiter mentioned I was given the wrong order. Notice the absence of anything really green, like the basil sauce; I just assumed that I misread the menu (there were lots of italian words, and the lines were close together, I got confused). I was served linguini (I think) with fresh crab meat and zucchini. The crab was rather bland and practically non-existent. In fact, the flavor of the pasta (which probably needed another minute or two to be al dente) and the olive oil seemed to overwhelm what little flavor the crab meat may have had.

I was hoping our meal was going to get comp'd because of the chef's mistake, but instead, they gave us free dessert-- tiramisu.

The tiramisu was slightly above average, but not memorable. It was a little too creamy for me, and the espresso was by far the dominant flavor (in a bad way). The raspberry "sauce" complemented the tiramisu well, but the lemon "sauce" did nothing for me.

I must admit, the service was pretty good. Our waiter was very friendly and very knowledgeable about the food, although I did feel a little uncomfortable staying around well after our meal was over, but that's customary of nearly all restaurants in the U.S.

I was going back and forth with this, but I'll wuss out and give it a C-/C.

La Bruschetta Ristorante
1621 Westwood Blvd
Los Angeles, Ca. 90024