Heroic Italian Santa Monica

The restaurant was closed and did not respect our reservation.

This charming and welcoming restaurant is unfortunately overshadowed by the unruly behavior of the owner's young child, who was climbing on the bar and watching YouTube on a laptop without headphones. After asking him to lower the volume and use headphones, he threw a tantrum. Despite the great service and lovely wine, we had to leave. Hopefully the owner can address this issue so that everyone can enjoy this cool and stylish establishment in a more adult-friendly manner. I believe kids can be present as long as they are well-behaved.

We stopped by for a late afternoon drink at this charming place with great staff who were really attentive and polite. However, we were taken aback when the owner's young son, who appeared to be around 9 years old, was running around and crawling over the bar area. He eventually sat next to me at the bar, opened his laptop, and started playing YouTube videos with the volume up. When I asked him to use headphones, he reluctantly complied but quickly turned the volume back up. As a parent myself, I found this behavior to be inappropriate for this environment and I hope the owners address this issue. Despite this, we decided to purchase a bottle of their delicious chilled rose wine and enjoy it at home instead of staying in the bar.

Delicious food. Friendly atmosphere. The warm sardines were incredible. The sandwiches looked great. Caesar salad, very tasty, maybe the teeniest bit overdressed and a pretty big heap of anchovies which was too much for me. Salmon and asparagus yum. Pomodoro not as al dente as I prefer. Seemed like maybe they were short of staff because family members were filling in and it was a little bit odd but we were there early. BUT I would totally go again. Oh! The artichoke appetizer. Extra special YUM.

Incredibly friendly service, inventive menu, nice ambiance, will be back