While La Famiglia was a bit expensive and the portions on the small side, the inside of the…read morerestaurant is just so beautiful that I have to give it 4 stars. If this was somewhere in LA, I would 100% use it as a party venue. They have bottles of wine adorning the walls, and it is designed with a rustic charm. The back outdoor patio is gorgeous, and there was an event going on there the night we dined there.
Outside of the private event, the restaurant was pretty empty except for us and 2 other tables. I gather that it's a hard place to fill, so the prices need to be a bit on the higher side. All of the food is imported (mostly from Italy). The ground pepper had a spice to it that is amazing - be sure to ask for some on our salad and pasta if you like it a bit spicy.
I had the seafood pasta which was good and had a fair amount of seafood, but could have used a bit more flavor. Adding the pepper helped.
Because we were still hungry after each having a pasta dish and sharing a salad, we ordered an appetizer made of small stuffed peppers, which was very good (but small).
Still hungry, we each ordered a dessert. I had chocolate ice cream that came out with like 3 scoops.. the most I've ever seen at a fancy restaurant like this. That sufficiently stuffed me. My bf had an amazing lemon dessert that was served like a piece of cake with layers of lemon sorbet and wedding cake. The best thing there for sure.
We shared a bottle of the local Chamran Carmenere which was good but not great, but great for the price.
We didn't eat at Vino Bello, which is the one in all the guide books so I can't compare, but I highly enjoyed our visit to La Famiglia.
