Angeli Caffé

I was here last night, it was my first and last time I will ever be able to set foot into Angeli Caffe. Sadly, they are closing. Its really sad to see a restaurant with so much history and loyal customers have to close its doors due to the economic downturn.
My brother frequent this place alot. and I mean ALOT! I’ve always had the privilege of enjoying Angeli’s food because my brother always brings home togo orders of her Fettucine Bolognese.
We were lucky enough to get rez here last night before they close their doors forever.
First off, they have amazing piping hot bread. Crunchy on the outside, soft and hollow on the inside. I can keep eat this bread nonstop, had to stop myself from filling up on bread to eat their other delicious food. Just knowing this place will not be around anymore made the people in my party of 6 want to order everything on t he menu.
This is what we ended up having…
To start:
Ricotta Gnocchieta w/​sage butter — Soft ricotta filled little balls of dough. Creamy and delicious
Antipasta plate — mixture of 3 cold sides (lemon thyme button mushrooms, green beans tossed in tomato sauce & carrots)
Calamari Fritti — there was a bit of a raw flour taste to it, with that said, I wasn’t a fan
Entrees:
Tagaliata — nicely seasoned and flavored thin beef steak, soft and tender served w/​roasted garlic potatoes, and steam broccoli. Dish was good but the meat was a little on the cold side.
Lasagna Bolognese –Delicious as always. Bolognese anything here at Angeli has always been good.
Linguini Vogole — linguini in a seafood broth with fresh clams
Lasagna Angeli-​vegetarian version of the lasagna.
Calzone Parmigania — veggie filled calzone.
House special pizza — artichoke, sausage, carmelize onions.
By the end of our meal, we order 3 more orders of Fettucini Bolognese for old times sake with 3 orders of their wonderful fresh bake bread because we know we won’t be able to taste their food again.
Overall, the food was great as always, we were able to take a pic with the chef herself. Hopefully we will see her pop up with another restaurant sometime soon.

I did not go to Angeli Caffe in the ’80’s or ’90’s, my parents were not adventurous foodies. I’ve listened to Evan Kleiman on Good Food over the years on KCRW and honestly just went to Angeli Caffe recently when we were in the area. My first thought was, wow, why did we wait so long to come here? I’m not a regular but I’m still very sad to see it close because the food was delicious and the service was terrific!
Here’s a previous review since we will most likely not be eating here again before the closing on Jan. 13, 2012 (all booked up until the end).: (
The piping hot bread was delicious! So good that we had to order another one even if we had to pay for it. The scallop special salad was so fresh and and the roasted garlic was amazing. My husband had the Petto di Pollo alla Griglia which he was completely happy with. I had the Fettuccine Bolognese. The noodles were so fresh and cooked al dente. The Bolonese sauce was so good that I sopped up every last bit with the bread.

The STARTER BREAD is still amazing. But my newest amazing discovery is their POLPETTE DI MELANZANE. The soft crunch of breadcrumbs gives way to a piping hot center of roasted eggplant purée mixed with herbs, garlic and parmesan. These croquettes are wonderful!!! Good to share between two people, although you might not want to after you take a bite.

Came in on a Saturday night, late for our reservation, but we seated right away.
The staff was very friendly, and I loved that it seemed like there were only a few waiters.
The bread. O.M.G. I cannot say enough. It tasted like it was brought DIRECTLY from the oven to our table. Absolutely amazing.
We split a half carafe of white wine, a pesto pizza, and the gnocchi, and were the happiest we had been after a meal since our month we spent in Italy. The gnocchi was unlike any gnocchi I’d ever had. It was light and fluffy, not heavy whatsoever. Unexpected, but a great suprise. The pesto pizza was great and we left paying around $ 60 including a 20% tip!
We will definately return.

Food: The Gnocchi was very soft, tender and very good for the first few bites. But I would not get it if it is the only thing you’re ordering. Towards the end it seems to be too much even for such a little plate and really needs something light to cut the richness.
Pizza Angeli: A very basic pizza that wasn’t bad but wasn’t great. I would probably try another pizza that has more flavor to it.
Service: The service was very good. Never had to ask for refills and the waitstaff was willing to answer any questions we had. Also we were seated without any problems or waiting with our reservation.
Atmosphere: It gets a bit noisy inside since its such a small restaurant but the noise level was still acceptable.
If I had another blackboard eats coupon I would come back.

After a failed attempt at Unilocaling a dinner venue we came to Angeli. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a very friendly host.
Don’t be fooled the place is shaped like a U. The middle of the U, which most people think is the entrance, will take you to a tattoo parlor. The front door is all the way at the end of the U. You’ll see what I mean when you go there.
We beat the dinner crowd so we got seated right away. The seats are are pretty close together but overall its a pretty good size restaurant. We started off with the Gnocchetti. When it came out, two girlfriends and I finished it in about. hmm…10 seconds? Hahaha it was really delicious. I can’t for the life of me remember what I had. When I remember I will update my review.
Overall, the service was excellent. Everyone was really friendly and quick to respond to our needs. I would definitely go again. Only downside is the parking. The parking is never good on Melrose with all resident parking so we parked 2 blocks down and just walked.

Damn Good Italian
Don’t miss the cheap Malbec either. Must have.

DineLA hit #3! Was definitely looking forward to CommeCa but it was over an hour wait and I had to get back to work. Found Angeli Caffe and decided to give it a try, eventhough I wasn’t too impressed with their DineLA offerings. Boy am I glad I did, their gnocchi really IS little bits of amazing x_​X I dream of it still… GOTTA BRING YOU HERE BETH X)!!!
Appetizer:
— Antipasti plage: This was a deal, and allowed me to taste a bit of everything =) My favorite must’ve been the ricotta tart =d I loved the fresh mozzarella too but… when can you ever go wrong with cheese? Yummmm
— Smoked mozzarella with tomatoes: I thought this would be like a caprese salad but the mozzarella was melted. It wasn’t bad but I might’ve liked it more as a caprese salad.
Entrée:
— Gnocchi in sage butter sauce: This was… a…ma…zing…it was so good, that I’m still in awe by it’s amazingness and I can’t even muster the strength to type in caps… seriously. This is the best gnocchi I’ve ever had. It was light as air and so very soft, unlike other places that have a firmer consistency and border gummy sometimes D=
— Butternut squash lasagna: This was also very good. The lasagna noodles were of a good consistency and the squash did not overpower the rest of the dish. It didn’t feel as heavy as some lasagnas do.
Dessert:
— Chocolate chunk bread pudding: Oops, my bad! I thought it was chocolate bread pudding. I don’t like chocolate chunks =T Not so great here… but I may just be biased…
— Tirimisu: This was okay, from what I remember. It didn’t wow me…
The gnocchi absolutely stole the day and I will DEFINITELY be back for it! Thanks for introducing me to an awesome eatery DineLA =D I never would’ve come here otherwise D=

what a surprising little stumble. Monday Madness… who would’ve known, love the concept! it’s such a sweet sweet little secret.
my favorite on the menu? just about everything.
the fresh antipasti… GRILLED EGGPLANT — perfectly tender and sweet. the RAW CORN SALAD — so sweet, fresh and crisp, as if it had been shaved off the cobb just before it got to my table.
the AGLIO E OLIO SPAGHETTI. perfectly al dente, perfectly sauced, perfectly spiced just as it finishes from your tongue. perfectly seasoned, perfectly hot! loved the thinly sliced garlic. mmm, i could have multiple multiple servings of this. did i say perfeto!!!
the PIZZAS — perfectly sauced, the pepperoni deliciously spicy and scrumptious, the crust perfectly thin. all of them blistering of hot cheese as they’re delivered to my plate.
what makes monday madness so awesome is that the freshly cooked food comes straight out of the kitchen to your plate. it’s just like home, only without the prep, cooking and cleaning! perfect anti to my monday blues.
Evan Kleinman really knows what she’s cookin’ about. she’s fresh, she’s real, she’s rustic. absolutely delicious! bravo for amazing italian!

I listen to KCRW and I’m a great fan of Evan Kleiman’s Good Food show. I’ve only recently learned of this restaurant and had been dying to go for the past few weeks especially when it serves different food or changes menu every Monday. I love that change and I appreciate it. This allow the restaurant to evolve and experiment. Allowing it to throw you the best shot, either a punch in the face or a punch in the gut with diverse ethnic flavors to what the chef makes best base on what the staff feels like making.
I finally got my chance to sit in last Monday. It was ‘Street Food Mondays’ and it was Sri Lankan night.
My date and I ordered the Sri Lankan appetizer, which was a fish cutlet croquette and a beef roll. Unlike Japanese koroke, the fish cutlet croquette is not as crunchy, crispy, or zaku zaku, what Japanese would say. Instead, it’s lightly breaded with crumbs, lightly fried and top with an unknown sauce. It was small and delightful. However, not memorable since the other food on the table were much more amazing.
We also ordered a string hopper. rice noodle patties with sime sambal, a spicy condiment and curry chicken. The Sri Lankan curry chicken was not deboned. The curry was heavily spiced and very flavorful. It is different from Japanese curry, which is more like a stew, Thai curry and Indian curry. The rice noodle patties resembles of those serve in Vietnamese cuisine. This was bomb.
Aside from those two appetizers, we ordered two entrees and a dessert. For entrees, they were chicken biryani and lampreis. The chicken biryani consists of chicken molded with rice, eggplant, hard-​boiled egg, and cashews. The cashews didn’t really make much difference for me. At best it seemed to be served as a crunchy garnish. The entire dish, however, was subtle but still flavorful especially after having the string hopper. The eggplants were divided into two heaps. One is seemed subtly sweet, the other was subtly tangy. Both were really savory and served well with the rice. The chicken that came with that dish were lightly fried and not memorable. The eggplants, however, were the star of this dish. I really enjoyed it.
The lampreis is a dish with chicken curry, shrimp sambal, fish cutlet, sime sambal with green banana curry wrapped in banana leaf. This particular dish kind of reminds me of the nasi bungkus at Simpang Asia. Bold flavor with lots of spices. The heat from the sime sambal is just amazing. I can’t get enough of it, as spicy as it maybe.
Finally, for dessert, we had the watalappam, a Sri Lankan coconut custard. This dessert highly resembles a flan. Except, it was jacked up with spices and solidified with cashew nuts. It was very tasty.
For that night, our service was great. Not too crowded, kinda noisy, but the great food made up for that. I can’t wait Angeli to throw the next punch. $ 10 pizza night tonight? ;) Till next time.

Met with friends for a «business lunch.»
Food good
Atmosphere ok
Service decent
Bread to die for
Prices were ok, not too great but it IS on Melrose. Nothing too spectacular, everything good. But the bread… oh the bread.

It was pretty busy so that was a good sign. We had reservation but were seated in their more casual room. We could have waited another 30 minutes for the «big kids» dining room, to that I say F-​off!
Our server was great, friendly and helpful with the menu. We had a 30% discount and I still didn’t think it was anything special. We tried the antipasti platter, the gnocchi of the day, and the fresh fettucini bolognese. The only thing I would go back for is the gnocchi, but beware they are not real gnocchi, they are made of cheese. They were good regardless.
Maybe this place got off to a bad start with me but I would much rather go to Pizzeria Mozza among a handful of other places before I would go back here.

3.5 might be more accurate, but I can’t quite go to 4.
Came here with a BBE deal, which did make things much better. Arrived with a reservation and we were told «I only have this table (in the more remote room) or you have to wait a half hour.» We were seated right away, but it was more the attitude; even with a reservation we would have to wait 30 minutes to sit in the main room. Lame.
Our waitress was much better. She was welcoming, nice, and informative. She told us some of her favorites from the menu while opening our wine and while ensuring we had warm, fresh bread. She definitely made the experience better. As for the food:
Antipasti Platter: So large! It had mozzarella, sweet and sour zucchini (oddly addicting), eggplant wrapped around goat cheese (yum!), olives, beets (actually tasty), and white bean salad. A nice start!
Gnocchi of the day: Simple gnocchi with brown butter sage. Pillows of melty goodness. I do feel that the dish needed more seasoning, especially a bit of salt. But, the gnocchi were tasty!
Fresh fettucini bolognese: The pasta was overcooked; it was fresh fettucini, which makes it harder, but still. Sauce was good, but, again, needed more seasoning.
While our waitress was good, the rest of the staff needed much improvement. We were finishing up our appetizer, a food runner came over to our table and called out our dinner orders. I informed him of the obvious, «we have no room.» He set our dinner on a neighboring table, took Jim G.‘s plate, took my plate, but set my knife back down on the table, upside down, before giving us our dinner.
Here’s some advice, food runner: Take the extra minute to make sure our table is cleared first. Then, maybe just take my knife and give me a new one if I need it (I didn’t; I had the gnocchi). And, if you’re gonna leave it on the table, put it down right. Damn!
Between the snarky guy seating us, the bad food runner/​busser, the expensive and slow valet (6 bucks), and the overcooked pasta, I don’t know that I’m rushing back here. If I’m in the area, I would grab some gnocchi though.

Despite driving 1.5 hours across LA and locking my car keys inside my car, the food at Angeli Caffe made the adventure worth it.
There’s only street parking, which is a pain, but you can find parking in a cute little neighborhood on Alta Vista Rd, which is just one street away from the restaurant. Trust me, the walking will do you good after stuffing yourself with some good Italian food at Angeli Caffe.
There is no restaurant sign and the restaurant is discreetly located next to a tattoo parlor and there are 2 entrances. You will almost always miss the entrances unless you look for 7274 Melrose Ave.
ATMOSPHERE:
Although it’s a small restaurant, it’s very roomy inside. The layout is a little strange (there are 2 rooms, which are separated by a tattoo parlor), but it has a clean, modern, and cozy feel to it.
Since it took my friend and me almost 2 hours to get here, we got there around 2:15 ish, which is when their kitchen closes. Luckily, the waitress was extremely nice and friendly, and she sat us down, gave us menus, and told us to order quickly while she ran to the back to ask the chef to stay a little longer to make our meal. She was great and catered to our every need, including taking pictures of us and giving us extra loaves of bread to take home.
The patrons were also very friendly. My friend has a giant thigh-​high cast on her right leg, and an elderly couple came up to her and started to make conversation with her. They gave her advice about physical therapy and seemed like a cute couple.
FOOD:
We ordered:
1) Risotto with sausage and tomato sauce
2) Ricotta gnocchetti of the day (today’s was plain gnocchi)
The table bread was amazing; freshly baked and fluffy, the bread tasted perfectly with the virgin olive oil. We ate 2 loaves of it and took 2 more loaves to go. Even after leaving it in the car 2 hours, it was still delicious and didn’t go stale.
The risotto wasn’t life-​changing (I’ve had better). I did enjoy the gracious amount of sausage, but the rice was actually a little too hard for my taste. The tomato sauce wasn’t very flavorful, but after adding crushed red pepper, the dish came together nicely.
The gnocchi, on the other hand, was absolutely life-​changing. It was hands down THE best gnocchi I’ve ever had. It was very fluffy and light, and it literally melted in my mouth. Also, I like to cut my food into small pieces, and it was impressive that I could cut the gnocchi into small pieces without it falling apart. Despite the fact that it was their «plain» gnocchi, it was a dish made in heaven. I can’t imagine what their special gnocchi must taste like– all I know is that I’m definitely coming back for more.

I have to give this place a neutral rating because it wasn’t life changing, but it wasn’t awful. It was somewhere in between the two extremes. I went with 4 other friends so was able to taste a couple different dishes. My ricotta gnochetti of the day was by far my favorite, and the only one that actually stood out from any other Italian restaurant I’ve been to. The linguine with clams and the linguine with mixed seafood were just average. The caprese salad was completely disappointing, extremely lacking in the mozzarella category. The small burrata, tomato, and basil salad was good, but still didn’t stand out. We also order the fried calamari which everyone at the table thoroughly enjoyed although to me it tasted like every other fried calamari dish I’ve had at Italian restaurants. I did like the parts with a lot of parsley.
But back to the gnochetti, today’s special was a mix of regular gnocchi with spinach-​based gnocchi in a butter-​sage sauce. Can’t ever say no to butter and sage. It was great. I wish I had saved the sauce to dip the bread in. Speaking of which, wish they had balsamic vinegar on the table to add to the olive oil and bread appetizer!
Also, our server was such a downer. He didn’t laugh once. It was hard for us to write under «tip»: Get a sense of humor! The pretentiousness was completely unwarranted. This place is a nice, relaxing place to get a decent Italian dinner, with fun people watching in a cool neighborhood. Apparently the server thought he was working at a 2 michelin star restaurant? Even then I bet the servers are a bit warmer!
It’s ok, I had a lovely evening and would recommend this place for anyone who loves gnocchi!

Angeli– I was really hoping this place would be amazing. The ambiance is great, very warm and inviting. The servers were very kind and nice– all of which wearing street clothes and cute aprons (made me feel very at home).
We asked for the recommendations, and 2 of the items recommended were the penne bolognese, and a seasonal special the fettuccine with shrimp in a cream sauce with sugar snaps.
On my first bite of the fettuccine I was completely let down. It had the same amount of flavor as a piece of cardboard. The poor cream was coagulated on the noodles and so bland that not even a pound of salt, balsamic vinaigrette, or olive oil could fix.
The Penne Bolognese was very salty with lots of tiny little meat chunks. It was supposed to have dried porcini mushrooms but it didn’t… I saw not a one– diced, sliced or anything, nor did I taste any.
Notes from Angeli–
*Very bland, or very salty (neither of which is bearable)
*Very cute place with a cute ambiance
*Looks to have a nice wine selection.
It’s too bad the food wasn’t good, I’d have loved to have been a huge fan of this place. Maybe I’ll go there again and try something else sometime.

A few days ago, I dined at Angeli Café. I didn’t know what to expect since dinner was after a wine tasting at Vinoteque. I could not believe how wonderful the food is at Angeli. I really had not excuse in taking so long to dine at Angeli, but I am glad that I finally did.
I am particular in eating good food from the seasonal crops at the local farmer’s markets. Angeli Café does a great job in using seasonal produce in their dishes. That evening I had the Butternut squash lasagne, because we were eating quite late. It was light, delicate, and just how I imagined it to be.
I’ll be back at Angeli Café for more great food. I heard there’s a lot more that I recommended to try. And boy, am I curious.

4.5 stars
What a gem! The place is so cute, perfect for dates and a romantic evening out, or small gatherings. There was birthday party, couples, and our group of four that night. The place was busy but never crowded or loud.
Hot, puffed bread fresh from the oven. The evoo isn’t the best, but it’ll all tide you over for the focus of the meal. It would be easy to knock off a star because literally four items we wanted were not available — saved only because the specials they concocted last minute were that good.
Burrata appetizer was sweet, with a medley of garlicky sauteed vegetables. The pizza crust was a little too thick, and tasted exactly like the complimentary bread — but the slice was thin, and chock full of savory mozzarella and veggies. Scallop linguini with pesto was surprisingly light and savory, and soo filling (2 women and 2 men and still leftovers). And the GNOCCHETTI… that day was something of orange essence with rosemary. All I remember was thinking, pillow of heaven! Melt in the mouth, soft, cheesy, sweet, and glorious.
Good wine list, too. My _​only_​major complaint was the service. Very slow in getting our orders… our bread… our water… our checks. There were only two servers, but there weren’t many diners and I could see her walking around in the back… actually, she just took her time generally.
I still dream about the gnocchetti. Will be back for them, even if it’s a special that changes every day.

4.5 stars
Sam’s review: …I’d drive here just to have the gnocchi. This is our second visit to Angeli. We came back because my previous gnocchi experience was exceptional. We had the butternut squash gnocchi, on our first visit. It was soft, yet chewy. This time, we had the spinach ricotta gnocchi which was amazingly soft, and rich from the ricotta! We also ordered the sausage pizza, chicken piccata in a red sauce, and the trio appetizer to share. This is my favorite Sunday dinner spot!
Stephen’s P. S.: and they take the KCRW card for a little discount. :)

I love love love Angeli Caffé.
It’s comfort food in a comfortable atmosphere for a reasonable price. The service is always friendly and attentive. Their bread is addictive: hot from the oven, crispy crust, soft and moist crumb, and absolutely divine dipped in olive oil.
Their soup changes daily, but if it’s any variation of their minestrone, we have to get it. On the best day, the soup is «love in a bowl.» Half pureed/​half chunky vegetables in a broth so delicious, every drop must be slurped up or soaked up with what, if any, bread remains. On the worst day, it’s just really good.
The food on the seasonal part of their menu has always been the most delicious food we’ve had. (We’ve eaten from the Summer and Winter menus, but not from the Holiday Season menu yet.)
Delicious items we’ve had off the regular menu are: Suppli (rice croquettes stuffed with mozzarella), Croquette di Patate (potato croquettes with salami and smoked mozzarella), Penne Bolognese, Linguine alle Vongole (linguine with clams), Lasagna Angeli (vegetarian lasagna), Lasagna Bolognese (regular lasagna). And their pizzas and calzones are all awesome.
They have so many delicious things to order and consume, but I’ve had a few things I wasn’t so happy with, and they’re easy to avoid:
1. Any meat or fish dish without pasta — their chicken entrees haven’t been anywhere near as amazing as their pizzas and pastas have been.
2. Their desserts — when we ordered it, their bread pudding was served cold… It was hard, chewy, and dry. But with so many other places nearby to get dessert, this is not a problem.
The rest of their food is stellar.