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Zaytinya

4.1 (195 reviews)
PriceyGreek
Closed • 5:00 pm - 9:00 PM

Zaytinya Photos

ZAYTINYA ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Moderate noise
Trendy
Classy
Upscale

Recommended Reviews - Zaytinya

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Reviews With Photos

THE LAMB SHOULDER
Kevin H.

Zaytinya absolutely delivered. I showed up a little late for my brother's birthday dinner, but apparently I arrived right on time for the star of the night: the lamb shoulder. When I first saw the $125 price tag, I'm not going to lie--I thought that was excessive for lamb shoulder. Then I tasted it and immediately shut right up. It was breathtaking. The flavor, tenderness, and texture were incredible, and the three sauces served with it somehow made an already amazing dish even better. It was absolutely worth it. The Brussels sprouts were another surprise. I don't even know exactly what they had going on with them, but whatever it was, KEEP DOING IT. They were amazing. The margaritas were also tasty, balanced, and really well prepared. I arrived after my mom and brother had already eaten some of the other dishes, so unfortunately I didn't get to try everything they ordered. But judging by the fact that their plates had been absolutely OBLITERATED by the time I got there, I think it's safe to say they were pretty happy too. A special shoutout to the manager, Mosin (and I hope I'm spelling his name correctly), who helped make the experience even better. Great food, great drinks, great birthday dinner, and one lamb shoulder that completely changed my opinion about spending $125 on lamb shoulder. I'd absolutely come back to Zaytinya.

OLIVE OIL CAKE
Candice L.

Had such a great dinner at Zaytinya at The Shay! I came in with a friend because I was craving Mediterranean and everything we ordered was packed with flavor. We tried the halloumi, baked eggplant, and lamb chops to name a few and each dish was delicious in its own way. Our waiter was also incredibly knowledgeable about the cocktail and drink pairings and made great recommendations to complement each dish. The cocktails themselves were beautifully crafted and really high quality including the deconstructed martini. The atmosphere was just as enjoyable as the food, upscale without feeling stuffy and a great setting whether you're coming for dinner or just drinks. Biggest downside is the lack of parking options/validation. Definitely a spot I'd come back to!

Shish Taouk is a chicken kebab. Delicious!!!
Lindzy G.

Had an amazing dinner tonight! The hospitality and service were exceptional, and every dish was made to perfection. Zaytina at The Shay in Culver City exceeded my expectations. A special thank you to Mr. Muñoz, Mr. Moss, my bartender Ozzy, and my wonderful server Jacobo for taking such great care of me. The ambience was very welcoming as well. I'll definitely be back soon with friends and family! Thank you to all who made my dinner, a warm, welcoming, Experience!

SOUTZOUKAKIA*
Mel D.

Where should you celebrate a special occasion? Zaytinya should be at the top of your list. We finally made it out to check this restaurant out and to be honest I kept holding off because a 4 star review for a celebrity chef restaurant seemed a bit low. I thought maybe they had some kinks to work out and finally decided our 10 year anniversary is going to be a special dinner here. Best of all they have a pet friendly patio so our mini golden doodle joined us and loved all the attention she got.. Ambience: the interior is gorgeous and the exterior is so cozy and green. Five star. Food: I'm not sure why there are patrons who don't seem to like the food, but we absolutely loved it. It's Mediterranean - Turkish, Greek and Lebanese. We did the tasting menu which was so reasonably priced & had plenty of food for both of us to feel full. The lamb was absolutely to die for. I could eat 10 chops myself. We also tried the beet salad, hummus, meatballs, salmon and Brussels sprout. I enjoyed everything. Service: our server Alex was fantastic. He gave us the perfect amount of attention without being intrusive, check on us regularly and made our special day extra nice. My most important quality for a good restaurant is good management and their manager. Alejandro was amazing. The entire staff made sure to wish us a happy anniversary, made us feel extra special and appreciated. Alejandro went above and beyond. Not only did he have the best personality, he made sure we had the best possible experience and we did! We've already told so many of our friends about it and I'm not sure if it's because of the location that people aren't aware of it, but I'll be telling everyone about my experience. The one thing I should mention is since the restaurant is part of the hotel (The Shay) they have valet parking and no validation. If you're like me and hate valet, there are plenty of street parking if you're willing to walk 5 - 7 minutes. Otherwise, you can park at the Ivy station lot but you'll have to get a validation at one of their stores (2 hrs). Taking the metro is also super convenient as it stops right next to the hotel. Oh, and after dinner, you should head upstairs to the rooftop bar and grab a drink and enjoy the beautiful view. I'm sure you can tell by reading my review that I love this place and looking forward to going back again soon. Thank you for making our special day even more special.

Jason C.

Came here for a dine la special and it was very good! Loved every dish and all the different dips and spreads that came with it. The environment is also very chic and very aesthetic which makes sense cause they also have a location in Vegas. Think high end Mediterranean food! Service was also really nice and accommodating with a baby at the table

TURKISH COFFEE CHOCOLATE CAKE
Corie D.

Tasty food and great atmosphere! The restaurant has great ambiance and service was great. Our group had never been so our waiter took the time to walk us through the menu and some of his favorites. We ordered a few dishes to share and everything was super tasty. We really enjoyed the kabob plate, the hummus, Brussels sprouts and the flatbread. Great spot for a group dinner!

Chocolate cake with ice cream
Carolyn K.

My hubby and I went here for the first time. We decided to do the tasting menu. It was a lot of food but great to sample a number of great dishes.i loved the Greens. The wines were very good too!

CRISPY BRUSSELS AFELIA
Emily L.

Zaytinya is a Greek/Mediterranean restaurant inside a hotel, and overall it felt pretty quiet and relaxed. I went with a big group of friends and we were by far the largest table there. The food was great for sharing, especially the dips. I really liked the brussels sprout too. The only downside was the service. Our waiter kept pushing us to order around four dishes per person and made a few snarky comments when we didn't. You definitely do not need that much food. After we ordered less than he suggested, the service noticeably dropped off and our waters stopped getting refilled. Still, it's a solid option for a group dinner and it was easy to get a reservation for a larger party. Pro tip: Don't feel pressured to order four dishes per person. Start with less since the plates are meant for sharing, and you can always add more.

Olive oil cake and TURKISH COFFEE CHOCOLATE CAKE
Veronica H.

Finally got a chance to eat here during a stay at The Shay hotel which it's connected to. The $70 tasting menu is a terrific option. 1 - We got the hummus and baba ghanoush. It comes with the most delicious pita. The pita alone is worth a visit, and they will bring out more if you eat it all! Both appetizers were delicious and the portion size is generous. 2 - Next we had the brussel sprouts and olives. The brussels were great. Olives are good too but not worth getting for this option IMO (the S.O. chose it). 3 - Then, falafel and meatballs. Meatballs were great. Falafel was good but not the best I've had. 4 - Lamb chop and halloumi. The lamb chop was delicious but it is just 1 chop. We were pretty full by now so not a big deal but just know it's only 1 chop. Unfortunately I was not a fan of the halloumi. I would've rather had another lamb chop. 5 - Olive oil cake and Turkish coffee chocolate cake. Surprisingly the least favorite parts of our meal. Kinda disappointed by the desserts. There was a graininess to the coffee cake that I didn't enjoy and overall both were underwhelming. Overall I'd give the food a solid 4/4.5, and the service and ambiance get the 5th star. Beautiful restaurant, lovely staff, and wonderful meal. We are also big fans of Jose Andreas and have been to many of his restaurants. Just happy to have the chance to try yet another of his places, and while a couple items surpassed expectations and a couple did not, overall we had an excellent meal and would highly recommend.

HALLOUMI PIDE
Laurel A.

Absolutely obsessed with this restaurant, an incredible selection with very knowledgeable staff

Crispy Brussels Afelia
Meghan T.

Zaytinya is a Jose Andres restaurant located in the Shay hotel in Culver City. We went for date night, but it seems like a lot of big groups dine there for company meetings or just family get togethers. Our servers were super attentive throughout and always happy to answer questions. It's a tapas style restaurant, so they recommended getting a few plates to share. They also start you off with complimentary house-made pita and olive oil with a pomegranate reduction. Delicious olive oil! The pita is great because it's fresh, but in general I wouldn't say it's my preferred type of pita. We started with the baba ghannouge which was perfectly creamy with a nice, fire-roasted flavor. It went well with the pita bread. Next, we had the seared halloumi. The portion was pretty small but the texture of the halloumi was perfect and the dates were delicious; I'm not sure if they were soaked in mint, but the flavor was perfect. The cauliflower tiganites had beautiful preserved lemon. The crispy Brussels afelia had good flavor as well with coriander seeds and barberries. The Adana kebab was very delicious but was much smaller than we anticipated. Overall, delicious food but nothing that blew me away. Everything was presented beautifully and service was great.

Natalie L.

I highly recommend ordering the octopus! Very cute inside, service is ok but dishes come out very fast and portions are decent.

Turkish coffee chocolate cake on the left, Olive oil cake on the right
Candace C.

Zaytinya is a very decent restaurant with standout dishes and also some "good but not mind-blowing" dishes. We were a party of 2 and wanted to try as much as we could, so we went with the 5-course Mezze Tasting Dinner ($70 per person and the whole table has to do it). There were 2 standouts for me: h'tipiti (course 1 - marinated roasted red peppers, feta, thyme) and the grilled lamb chops (course 5 - served with smoked labneh, tzatziki, harissa chili crisp). Now THE GRILLED LAMB CHOPS!! Wow. This dish was perfect. The lamb could melt in your mouth! It was tender and juicy, and incredibly seasoned. I am not always a lamb person - I don't like it when it's gamey. And everything on the plate is delicious. The smoked labneh, which also goes really well with the pita (more on that next), and the tzatziki were fresh and delicious. Course 1 was served with their house-made pita, which is puffed! There is also olive oil with balsamic on the table. The h'tipiti was super flavorful. We also got the hummus, which was good but honestly nothing special. I know hummus is hummus to an extent, but I HAVE had really incredible hummus, so I'm definitely comparing it! Everything else: crispy brussels afelia (these were okay, relatively large portion), fattoush (very nice and fresh), soutzoukakia (very good, small dish with 3 meatballs and kind of a marinara sauce), soujouk pide (good, it's served like a flatbread and the sausage is tasty), olive oil cake (delicious, a small bite, served with citrus), and Turkish coffee chocolate cake (okay, this almost had the texture of a brownie). It's a beautiful and clean restaurant, and it's attached to The Shay Hotel. The bathroom is by the lobby and is also clean. The service was great. The cost is definitely on the high end - nearly $100 with tax and tip, and we did not have any beverages. Of course we didn't have to get the tasting menu, but it seemed like we would end up spending that amount anyway. But the portions were more generous than we expected, and we both had enough to take home. The ingredients taste fresh and the dishes are thoughtfully prepared. Parking options are limited - valet for $18 up to 3 hours. We found street parking nearby, but there isn't a lot available. All in all, I would return to Zaytinya for a treat meal. The grilled lamb chops alone are enough to bring me back!

Olive oli cake

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6 months ago

Amazing!!!!!! The food is exceptional and the wine was vibrant! We will be back soon!

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I highly recommend this place! Great food, good service and a nice ambiance! The fish was superb!

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Zaytinya Reviews in Other Languages

Ask the Community - Zaytinya

What is the volume level ? Is it difficult to hear your guests?

Medium- neither quiet nor too loud that you have to shout.

Are the mezze plates small? The entrees are crazy expensive here so I'm wondering how much I need to spend on dinner if I stick with mezze.

Kind of small - we spent around $30-$35 each on food when we went and were full

Is there a corkage fee? if so, how much?

30.00

Is this fine dining and dress code?

No, casual is perfectly fine

Parking for Zaytinya in culver city?

Valet at the Shay or self parking at the Shay

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Taverna At The Mar Vista

Taverna At The Mar Vista

4.2(739 reviews)
3.1 mi•Mar Vista
•$$
Casual dining
Free WiFi

Came back from vacation missing Greek food, and my husband found this spot that is said to be the…read moremost authentic Greek food in town. As soon as we sat down, our server (who happened to be from Athens) explained to us that this was authentic Greek food, and was not going to be American Greek food or Mediterranean Greek food, and it was music to our ears. Ordered the lamb, octopus, fries and saganaki. Overall, it was amazing. The service was amazing, the food really took us back to vacation and ample seating. The lamb was cooked perfectly, the beef tallow fries and saganaki were great but the real star was the octopus. It might've actually been better than most of the octopus that we ate in Greece. It was perfectly seasoned, drowned in olive oil and cooked PERFECTLY. Like not even a hint of chewiness or toughness at all. The only downside was parking. I'm not sure if they have a designated parking lot, but we ended up finding parking in the nearby neighborhood. Will be back to try more dishes the next time a craving hits.

I made it back to Taverna Wednesday evening with two colleagues and they did not disappoint…read more We sat in a booth and George was our server and waiter who did an excellent job explaining the specials as on of my guests is Greek too. The interior is very inviting, clean and cozy as there is a mix of young and old who enjoy spectacular Greek dining. The parking is pretty accessible and the neighborhood is safe with a few homeless, but nothing of concern. Tonight I had the Lemon Chicken Soup which is a favorite along with Lamb Chops and French Fries which is my favorite. We had some sampling of desserts and all were delighted as my two guests indicated they would be back again for more! The prices are reasonable and the menu is extensive with a full bar as well if you like a drink. Located on Venice Boulevard in the heart of Mar Vista, there is no wrong choices or bad selections at Taverna! Great for a business dinner or a dinner for two on a date, they also accommodate large parties as well! When in Mar Vista, consider TAVERNA! HIGHLY RECOMMEND - A TOP MAR VISTA VENUE!

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Taverna At The Mar Vista
Taverna At The Mar Vista
Taverna At The Mar Vista

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Crimson

Crimson

4.1(1.2k reviews)
3.9 mi
•$$

We came to Crimson to meet some friends, and it was a great experience from start to finish. The…read morefood was absolutely delicious, full of flavor and clearly made with care. I ordered the chicken with salad and a side of sweet potato fries, which were OMG so good and definitely a must-try! The ordering process is simple: you order and pay at the cashier, receive a number, and the staff brings the food directly to your table. It was smooth and efficient, even for our group of eight. They were very accommodating and made sure we were comfortable, which we really appreciated. There's street parking available, which made it convenient as well. Overall, a great spot for both small and larger groups. I'd definitely come back!

I ate at Crimson tonight and for the most part everything was OK. I had the chicken kebab with the…read moreside order of the lentil soup and the Greek salad combination. The chicken was OK, but I would've preferred it with a little bit more seasoning/flavor and a little hotter as well. It was not bad, but it didn't pop like it was outstanding. As far as the lentil soup goes, they're very light lentils so they're not the normal lentil soup that you may be used to. That could've viewed a little bit more seasoning as well. As far as the Greek salad goes, it was just an average and ordinary small Greek salad, but it was tasty and the vegetables did taste fresh. They gave me two little slices of pita bread so I had to ask for more, but when I came out. Those were not heated like they should've been. Therefore, the bottom line is the food is good not outstanding and memorable and there's definitely room for improvement. We will definitely give them another chance and hope for the best. I wish Crimson the best!

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Crimson
Crimson - Falafel Wrap with Lavash Bread!!

Falafel Wrap with Lavash Bread!!

Crimson

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Zaytinya - greek - Updated October 2026

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