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photo credit: Eataly’s Instagram
This post is long overdue! I finally had the honor of going to Eataly’s location in LA last week!
Eataly is a marketplace that features a cafe, grab-and-go counters, restaurant and a market with a unique and fine selection of products and specialties providing you an immersive Italian experience. With 40 locations all over the world, including Italy and Japan, they finally opened their much-anticipated LA location on November 3rd in the Westfield Century City mall. This is Eataly’s 4th location in the US after Boston, Chicago and two in New York City!
Once you step into the establishment, it’s like you’re in a different realm: You’ll forget you’re in a mall. With a plethora of Italian food options of your choice, you can either order a coffee, have a gelato and a pastry, order a slice pizza to go or sit at the restaurant bar and slip some wine. Maybe watch the chefs making mozzarella and pizza behind the glass window kneading the dough? If none of these seems like a good fit, you can just casually take a stroll and browse the different counters – pizza, cheese, produce, seafood – and wander the aisles perusing the never-ending pasta varieties, sauces and other Italian specialties that will leave you in total awe.
What topped off my experience at Eataly is the interior: spacious and modern with beautiful white tile walls and white marble countertops, which added brightness and a touch of elegance to the overall inviting atmosphere. I truly loved the open concept. There’s also plenty of seating available for each section I mentioned earlier. It’s huge.
My pasta of choice at the restaurant was the tagliatelle. It was hearty and the meat was super fresh. I wish it had included more tomato sauce but it was an amazing meal nonetheless. I’ll also make sure to order something different on my next visit, as well as their mozzarella which I haven’t tried but I’m really itching to! As you can imagine, everything is house-made. Yes, the prices of the restaurant are a little steep, but nothing outrageously expensive. It is fairly priced considering where you are and the top-notch quality you’re getting.
I requested to be sat outdoors, the terrace was fantastic; with the sun going down behind me, eating pasta by myself watching the traffic of Santa Monica Blvd and beautiful sweeping views of Hollywood hills? Priceless!! However, when I came back inside I felt my eating experience was a little bit detached from the buzz and the ambience of what was going on inside.
beautiful golden wood fire oven
I will also have to try the pizza slices. In this section, you order the pizza slice of your choice and either have it to go or eat it at the seating area. You can also see the process of the pizza being made from scratch. Every time I passed by this section, my eyes would linger on other people’s pizzas.
All in all, if you haven’t tried it yet, you have to make Eataly your next eating destination. I highly recommend coming here on a weekday. The first time I came was on a weekend. Though the place is spacious, there were a lot of people and super long lines in front of each stalls.
After my meal I was jonesing for some dessert! As you know, I’m big on following food accounts on Instagram. This beautiful chocolate drink came up on my feed and I knew I had to try it. It’s in the mall, on the lower floor just a few feet away from Eataly.
I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate but that drink got my taste buds revved up and I decided to indulge in it. Compartes Chocolate is a cute little boutique store that offers gourmet and customized chocolate! Like every other store in the mall, the store design is super modern and sleek. Once you walk in, you’ll see a wall with different chocolate bars displayed on shelves.
I strictly came here for that Instagram drink but after I looked at their website and saw the wide variety of chocolate options (granola bar, cereal, popcorn, matcha, etc), I will most definitely come back. The chocolate shake was ok; like I said before, if you’re a fan of chocolate this is the right drink for you. Otherwise the flavor is too over the top for my taste.
In addition to this, Westfield Century City is also opening Aloha Poke right next to Eataly and Sunlife Organics. No more long drives to Malibu to indulge in their scrumptious acai bowls and smoothies!
I’m completely in love with this mall and the array of stores it offers in such a cozy and sleek atmosphere. You can spend hours and hours, and time won’t feel like it’s passing by since there’s always something to see. One of my favorite things is the food court on the rooftop and the beautiful open space it provides with modern and super comfortable seating options as well as the hanging string lights, which light up once the sun sets!
Have you been to Eataly yet?
