We are so sad this wonderful restaurant has closed. The food and service were always exceptional. The bruchetta appetizer, pasta, steaks, and the fabulous veal parmigiana kept us coming back over and over again. We brought our many out-of-town visitors there, because they always picked it as their favorite place to dine. Good luck to you all in the future. Sincerely, Barb and Jeff Hansen read more

Nikki C reminds me of a more down home version of Smitty's both in the city of Pasadena. Bar showing various sports on their screens. Dining room takes the majority of the floor space. Very dark and fine print menu will be challenging unless you have the eyes of an owl. 0) Complementary basket of very light version of warm Foccacia with olive oil-Aceto Balsamico and powdered parmesan dusted with herbs. 1) Kale & Avocado Salad: Dark green kale is fresh with nice springy, fibrous texture. Match stick, crispy Jicama, Pepita/roasted pumpkin seeds, shaved Pecorino cheese, almost non existent chile flakes. Very delicate lemon-garlic dressing to the point that I dumped some of the Aceto Balsamico on the salad. Perhaps a bit more assertive dressing would enhance the salad. 2) Veal Marsala: Very nice cuts of veal, not over cooked and hard. Soft, moist, meaty, with a slight chaw. Seemed coated in bit of flour while being gently panfried. Marsala sauce is pleasantly not too cloyingly sweet. Bits of button mushrooms in the sauce for touch of earthiness & texture. Overall, a good Vitello a la Marsala. Only wish would be that the sauce needed a bit more meaty Umami. Perhaps adding in beef bouillon would create a more satisfying sauce. Accompanying French Fries I requested to be a bit more crispy. Creamy inside with the outer skin more crispy for a good textural contrast. Ketchup, but I dipped the fries in the Marsala sauce. 3) Tiramisù: Standard Tiramisù that lacked a more dairy dulcet flavour of a good Mascarpone cheese. Instead of Savoiardi/lady finger pastry soaked in bitter Espresso, it seems closer to a sponge cake with only a mild application of Espresso. Sweet-sour strawberries strewn on top were a nice touch. The chocolate squiggles looked like Jackson Pollack's signature painting. However, did I smell Hershey's chocolate syrup instead of chocolate being melted in a Bainmarie? Generally, Nikki C is competent enough. Most diners would be happy with their food here. Staff is cordial with a more home spun feel. For me, 3 stars, but the decision of my party of 10 was closer to 4 stars so majority rules. PS Very small parking lot with limited street parking. There is a Benjamin Moore paint store next door where you may park after they close. read more

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I'm so sad to see this place close I loved coming here with family the food & drinks were AMAZING and considering the fact this place was literally around the corner from my house was incredible... my family will definitely miss coming to Nikki Cs and I wish them the best in the near future read more

Nikki C’s - Chicken Fettuccine - Italian Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Love this place so much. Miss you. Hope there's a reopening update soon :) Drinks are awesome, as is the staff that we hope are doing well with the temp closure. Prosciutto de Parma was my favorite! read more

Food and service are both very good. I highly recommend the cioppino. The soup was piping hot and delicious - definitely one of the better ones among other SGV Italian restaurants. Inside is dark and loud. Parking is very limited. After 5pm, you can park next door at the paint store and the body shop but people double park and block entrances. read more

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Intimate spot, small venue, amazing food! Came here on a Friday at 5pm with some colleagues. Service was quick. It seemed to be a family owned business - they were quick to refill my Diet Coke which I loved. Let's talk about the spread.... Everything was delicious. The calamari sticks were fresh and crispy. So flavorful! Sliders were juicy and cooked to perfection. Garlic bread was complimentary and sooooo buttery! I want to go back and try their pasta. Definitely worth it. I will be back. Until then 5 stars for service and food! read more

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The food here is always delicious. Nice cozy atmosphere with a nice bar. The service is just ok. They are limited staff so the wait is a little long but they are doing the best they can. Great place to hang out and be incognito. Very Good drinks. Note: They have a great lunch menu, and happy hour. I did not take pictures of my food or the menu because I forgot lol read more

i've been eating here for 20 years plus great thing about eating here is the food's always been very tasty my favorite dish is what they make for me is a fusilli well Alfredo sauce and chicken. I also have the lasagna . I like going to the lunch special for lasagna . The Parmesan cheese is fresh the chicken taste great with my meal The bartender does a great job with your drinks you get really tasty, their steak is great also, service from them the interior is a really nice Italian style feeling like you could be bumping elbows with an old-fashioned mobster. Or young couple hanging out enjoying the food, it reminds me of home Brooklyn New York. You will not be disappointed going here for good Italian food. Once in a while I wanna bark out Āye-yō...(lol) because real Italians come here to eat!! read more

Finally i get to try Nikki C which has been around for years. Food is great. Service is friendly and attentive. Ambiance is lively and charming. Not a quiet place. it also has a bar area with sports playing on televisions. Interior is very dark with dim lighting. Came here around 6:30p on a weekday night. We were seated at a booth by the wall. Once sat down, bread and vinegar oil mix were served right away while we checked out the menu. Everything tastes great and fresh. We ordered clam linguine, Margherita pizza and a Cobb salad. I am delighted to see minced clams and huge clams with shells in the pasta. There is limited parking in the front lot and back lot of the restaurant. Their website states that after 5p, customers can park next door at the Catalina paint store and auto shop (both front lot and back lot ok). Street parking along Rosemead works too read more

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Very good! No complaints at all! Upon seated bread is served, warm bread and the vinegar was perfectly tasted. We started with a Cesar salad, and all the main courses are very good and the portions were big!! Don't miss their tiramisu too! The people are friendly, just they didn't come by very often. The dining room is dark, music is a bit loud .... read more

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Enjoyed a quick dinner in the bar area last night. Decent crowd as I noticed the restaurant business seems to have slowed down in the SGV. The antipasto salad was 5 stars. It's a great salad for 2 with a nice light salad dressing. It was really good. I ordered the pizza which I normally order. It was cooked perfect with great generous toppings. Most times I order pizza here and it's not cooked enough so I asked for a couple more minutes in the oven. It then always comes out over cooked. Did not say a word last night and it came out great. Still think they could work on the crust recipe to make a really great pizza since the toppings are good. Nice Vodka & Pinot pours! Definitely Recommend!!' read more

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Pretty good food. Pretty good service. Can't say I had the best Italian meal or service here, but there were definitely some highlights that will have me coming back. For one, wine Wednesday! Half off up to $40 bottles and $20 off anything more than $40. They had a wine from prisoner under $40 which was really nice for under $20. Jordan would be a great deal for under $80 next time. The other drinks were pretty good, meaning strong and not outrageously priced. I suggest the Dirty Nina and my GF the Petite Poire. Food wise, I tried the Ciopinno Pasadena which has a lighter broth than I'm used to, but very good. Price was reasonable, but didn't have crab so there is the trade off. Other seafood was fresh and nicely prepared I asked for spicy, which they accommodated as well. GF enjoyed the lasagna and rest of the group seemed to enjoy the other dishes, like calamari, shrimp martini, burrata and pasta. Service was pleasant. Had a small issue when I asked for bread, but not major. This place is old school and clearly has a process :) read more

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My husband and I with 8 family members came here on 9/8/25. My husband and I just got married and wanted to treat our guests to some yummy food. The ambiance was perfect. The music playing in the background was great. The service was above and beyond. My apologies for not remembering the bartenders name but he was amazing. Thank you!! read more

Nikki C’s - Italian Near Me - Pasadena, California

Nikki C's is great! They staff is so nice and friendly. It is a small restaurant and many seem like regulars there. It has a darker ambience so it's perfect for a date. They have a full-bar in with a couple of tv's with different sport programs on. They have some great appetizers. My favorite is the buffalo wings and meatballs! You can spread it on the bread that they give to the table. My all time favorite thing to eat there is, the French dip sandwich with homemade potato chips. They are so crunchy. I have been going there for a few years now and the sandwich NEVER disappoints!! My son's usually go for the pizza or the pastas!! read more

We've been going to Nikki C's for awhile now and there's a reason. You always are guaranteed good food in a nice, cozy environment with great service. The price is a little high for the pastas but I guess that's what I get for just ordering oil and garlic pasta at a restaurant lol Everyone always leaves happy with their food. They have a very small parking lot in the back that gets busy and street parking in the front (but make sure to read the signs). read more

I was excited to try this place out with all the good reviews, however I was disappointed in the food here. The complimentary bread was hard, the balsamic garlic dip was something I could make at home and didn't look pleasing. The pasta was good but the marinara sauce didn't have enough flavor and the vegetables were all mush and overly cooked. First off, they brought out the wrong dish I ordered, so they had to send it back and "quickly" make me a new one. While I waited and watched everyone at my table eat, I had a chance to try out the Zyatta pizza. The pesto didn't not taste fresh, no flavor at all. I make fresh pesto at home all the time and this was not it, seems like they used dried basil leaves or something else. I wasn't impressed with the very slow service, and the waitress didn't take our appetizer plates after we got our entrees, which made less room on the table for 14 guests. read more

First time here. Dim with an old style tavern ambiance. Was not busy on a Saturday night at 7pm. I know what I came there for - Linguini & Clams! We got both styles, enjoyed both very much. I love places that give chopped clams in addition to shelled on your plate. Their clams were massive, first time seeing that. Caesar salad was great. Will try new dishes the next time. Our bread was cold and over-baked, burnt on the bottom so we just picked at it. Hopefully it was just an off day looking forward to trying it again the next time. read more

Nikki C’s - Italian Near Me - Pasadena, California

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Great spot if you like a low key environment with great food and beer and cocktails. I recommend the salmon.

The food was good. I got the burger, a bit pricy but not a long wait for take out. Staff was nice place was packed inside.

10/2025 UPDATE: OK this is my third review of this restaurant in 9 years. This most recent time was for my birthday, my spouse asked where I wanted to go and I chose Nikki C's. I ordered the filet mignon and my spouse ordered the ribeye. Although the dressing was good, my salad was pretty basic "out of the bag" simple iceberg lettuce & 1 cherry tomato halved. My rice had no flavor to it, (I've had better rice out of a box.) My steak was dry and tough, and wasn't served with the béarnaise sauce listed on the menu. I would've mentioned this to our waitress Ronie, but for the most part during our meal she was MIA/not on the floor. We waited for her to return for about 10-15 minutes and then we finally had to grab the busser/bread man and ask him if he could get our waitress. When she finally returned to the table I asked her isn't this supposed to be served with béarnaise sauce. She looked at my plate and said "Oh you didn't get it?" I replied "No." Once she returned with the béarnaise sauce, I smothered it on my steak not realizing that it could be different from the regular béarnaise sauce they'd served me in the past. This time the sauce was sour (like too much lemon/Vinegar?) and very oily. Now without realizing it, I'd ruined my steak with whatever this sauce was that she'd brought me. when I asked Ronnie about the béarnaise sauce, she replied "Oh he ran out of béarnaise sauce and they had to make it make it from scratch tonight." What? You have a chef that doesn't cook from scratch & uses prepackaged sauces? Well, in this case, he surely doesn't even know how to make the sauce because it was terrible. My steak was unedible at this point, so I just left it for them to take away. My spouse's steak was overly fatty and we basically just wrapped it up to take home for our dog. Sadly, this place is not what it was 9 years ago; the menu, quality of food and service has changed dramatically in the last 9 years ; it has steadily gone downhill. This place needs to fire their chef and hire new management, or I don't see a lot of longevity in it's future. The only thing that remains the same here from 9 years ago is the ambiance. Sadly, we no longer recommend this place . We probably won't be back. :( read more

Great old school steakhouse/restaurant. A bit dark inside but feels like a throwback to the 80's. Attentive service and the food was delicious. We had pasta and pork chops. read more

Excellent food, wide variety of menu choices and great bar ambience Fast service . Clean bathroom. read more

I've been coming to Nikki C's for years, and it used to be my absolute favorite spot. The warm atmosphere, consistently great food, and friendly service kept me coming back again and again. Unfortunately, after today's experience, I won't be returning. The service was shockingly poor -- inattentive, disorganized, and unprofessional. What used to feel like a welcoming neighborhood gem now feels inattentive and careless. But even more disappointing was the decline in food quality. Dishes that were once flavorful and well-prepared were bland, greasy, and clearly not made with the same care or ingredients I'd come to expect. It honestly breaks my heart to write this, but something at Nikki C's has changed --. I truly hope they turn things around, but as of today, I'll be finding a new go-to. Santos , the water-boy, is the only staff member that cares about the clients and takes pride in his work! read more

I love the staff, always friendly. Food is yummy and inside is so comfy, the lighting is perfect. Not too bright & not too dark.

Great sauces, pasta, and service! As the Terminator says, "We'll be back." I wasn't expecting much from the place. It looks like a neighborhood bar on the inside, and nondescript outside. But it's great, and next to my fave Thai food too. read more

Our server Mel was great (Hope I have the correct pronunciation ) Nice cozy local establishment and the food was really good. The Cioppino had so much flavor and my wife completely enjoyed it Service was great and it's easy to miss this spot as you wiz by on Rosemead Blvd but with all that they have to offer on the menu I'd rate this a good stop. read more

Nikki C’s - Todays menu offering - Italian Near Me - Pasadena, California

The ambience was amazing it felt like Christmas Very clean food and was fresh and hot the service was perfect I loved it will come back for sure for sure read more

The overall dining experience was great! Melissa did an outstanding job taking care of us on a busy Saturday night. Once our group showed up, the hostess was very nice and gave us the table in the corner that had a little iron gate around it. Loved that. Melissa came right over and taked us throw the menu and gave us time to look through the menu and then came back over and took our drink order. BTW the drinks were so good. We ordered like 4 apps and again, so good. Every one in the group loved their food even the short rib glutten free pizza was one of the best they had. The only reason why this wasn't a 5 star was that my steak was a tad bit over cooked. I ordered it rare and it was more like med. Would I come back here, YES! BTW Melissa if you are reading this, my friends are still upset that they didn't pay for the dinner. We are that one table that have a few people to ask for the bill and I beat them to it. :) read more

Lovely small Italian gem. Delicious food and beautiful atmosphere. The wait staff is friendly and pleasant. EVERYTHING on the menu is so tasty. Drinks are spectacular as well. We have been back multiple times and we will keep coming back for more! read more

We love Nikki C's. Hoping it reopens soon...We have celebrated many occasions here and the food is always excellent.

Great find, decided to try Nikki Cs on Yelp reviews alone as I am not a Pasadena local and had never been. The place didn't disappoint, great local spot. The bar was playing the baseball game but the rest of the restaurant was still quiet enough to make for a nice dinner. The complimentary bread was great. We ordered the lasagna and the pescatore. Big portions and very yummy. Service was great, we were checked on constantly, our server was personable and funny. I'm sorry I don't remember his name, but he was a Hispanic young man. Will definitely visit again when in the area. read more

We literally live 5 minutes from this restaurant so we decided to try it for lunch. The ribeye cheesesteak sandwich was pretty tasty. My son tried the meat lasagna and mentioned it was really good. The interior is dark and intimate and has a 60's vibe. The next time I want to try their pizza. read more

Came here for the first time this past Saturday. We definitely would not have noticed this place if it weren't for Yelp. There is parking in the front and the back, though very limited. The entrance to the back lot is to the left of the building and is one way. Upon arriving, we were seated right away and the hostess was friendly. The waitress dropped by and greeted us and friendly as well. After grabbing our drink orders, this gentleman came by to drop off the bread basket and waters. At first, when he dropped the bread basket onto the table with a loud thud the first time, we thought it was an accident. But it seemed every time he came by, it was the same type of attitude. Instead of grabbing any empty plates from the sides or along if we were done, he would squeeze his arm in between my husband and friend to grab the empty plate s and not say anything, even though he bumped them. Than a we were asking for more water, he didn't respond and we never got it so we asked the waited when she came by, the gentleman than came by and dropped down the pitcher of water loudly and walked off. Needless to say we were having mixed feelings on our service. The food came out and it was agreed Yom that the Santa Anita Pizza and Lasagna were the best dishes on the table. The ribeye was overcooked, but the spaghetti with the tomato sauce was delicious. The Risotto was a little undercooked and bland. Would I come back again? Maybe, if someone wants to try they food. read more

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One of my favorite places for Italian Food and ambience. Service is great and prices are reasonable. read more

Ate here with the wife for the first time a few days ago. I drive by all the time since we moved to the neighborhood but never visited. Food was great, service was attentive and most importantly-they kept my drink refilled . It's a small metric, but important to me. I like to drink a lot of water or iced tea. We'll definitely be back since I want to try the ribeye. read more

I ordered the risotto rare and it came well done. I threw it out it was so dried out and tasteless. Normally it is excellent. So disappointed with my delivery. Had i been there i would have made them remake it right. read more

Nikki C’s - Risotto Risotto alla Bistecca way over cooked - Italian Near Me - Pasadena, California

We had a great meal tonight at Nikki C's! The "Dirty Nina" martini was the perfect start. The Caesar Salad was top notch and the trio of pasta and the pork ribs were wonderful. We'll be back!!!! read more

We havent eaten here since we moved from the area. I was pleased that the food was as good as ever. Ambiance is nice. Wait staff is attentive. Its a great place for pasta and pizza. I was also pleased that it is still a very reasonably priced restaurant. I look forward to the next time I am in the area read more

I am so glad I picked up dinner from here on Christmas Eve in December. My hubby called in the order for chicken parmigiana and rib eye dinner with rice pilaf and anti pasta salad. The wait was 20min and parked in their lot. It is easy to miss this place because I always zoom on Rosemead Blvd. The staff member was nice and friendly. The chicken parmigiana was a huge size and thick in size. The thin spaghetti was not overcooked but needed more sauce on it. My hubby loved their anti pasta salad. I would go back and try other dishes. I forgot to check in on time to get 15% off the total amount. read more

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Love the food and the quint atmosphere....the drinks aren't bad either! Reasonable priced meals....love the potato chips!