DRAGO Centro

I am so in love with this place. My dream is to retire in Tuscany. I’m a die hard fan of a good Italian food. The Chef, the Sommelier, & the GM are all amazing pple. The food is so hearty. beautiful, rustic & delish. When paired with the wonderful wine labels of Italy… it translates into a romantic melody. I can’t get enough of Drago’s. You won’t find another like it!!!

I don’t venture into downtown too much due to the traffic, and getting to this place reminded me why. To go to this restaurant you enter through the signs for Valet– no self parking lot, so don’t bother spinning around the block like me trying to find one.
Came here for an event dinner and got to try a 4 course entrée set. What stood out what their Roasted Butternut Squash Pasta– delicious and filled with ricotta cheese. Their main entrees of Truffle roasted chicken was pretty good– nice flavor but a bit dry. Their New York Steak looked amazing, but the positives ended there. The meat was tough and chewy and did not have a lot of flavor/​sauce. We ended with a cheesecake with basil ice cream, of which the basil ice cream was unique and probably the highlight of the meal.
Overall an expensive place with great ambiance, but very mediocre/​average food with high prices. Maybe if I went back for their regular menu it might be more appealing.

Accidentally came here during dine la week for lunch with reservations to celebrate two belated birthdays (one of which was mine) and said that when we made the reservations 3 weeks in advance. We get together twice a year because we are so busy.
Generally like this place. Service is usually excellent, food is great and almost always less than half full. Don’t come here though if it is busy– the service is soooooo bad, they do not seem to know how to handle a crowd. Our reservations were at 1230 on January 28. A 5 foot girl in her 30s with fair skin and a long brown ponytail was our waitress.
But I am jumping– First off the short black haired hostess did not seat us until 1250 even though we arrived and checked in at 1230. We were standing in front of two empty tables that could sit the three of us but they made us stand there. We asked three time she said no, she would let us know when our table was ready.
When she was gracious enough to finally let us sit down, she sat us outside, even though we asked to be inside. Whatever.
We quickly ordered because we all have jobs and need to get back to work. It’s Thursday. She managed to bring two of the three drinks we ordered 20 minutes later. I told her she was missing one. I swear, I asked her 3 times before she finally brought– get this– the other lemonade– another 20 minutes later. At 130 we finally get our salad. (We went with dine la). We wolf that down and wait for our meal. I am not kidding– our actual meal did not come until 220, after we asked for it twice.
By this time we were all antsy because we needed to get back to work. Our waitress never showed up except to bring us the drinks and when we flagged her down to ask her about our food and drinks– she never looked at our table, never asked us how we were doing and just strolled slowly in front of us. Not once did she smile– face might have cracked if she did I guess– or perhaps she had a toothache. Everyone has a bad day every now and then right? Too bad she made ours suck.
When we asked for the check though, we got that really quickly. Go figure.

5 stars for the food and wine recommendation from the sommelier… one star less because of the delay in being seated despite a reservation. I had a 7:30pm reservation on a Saturday night, but my party of 4 was not seated until 8:25pm. I guess they were busier than usual because of DineLA and some private parties, but 50 minutes beyond the reservation time? And all we got was a half-​hearted «sorry». Needless to say, the experience was not off to a great start.
We were finally seated and bread with olive oil was brought out right away as we decided on a bottle of wine. The wine list was extensive and quite overwhelming, so we asked the sommelier to recommend a medium-​bodied fruit forward red Italian wine on the more affordable side. He brought us the 2010 Selvagrossa Poveriano Cabernet Franc which was just the ticket.
I ordered the squid ink pasta, pork belly, and dark chocolate/​olive oil terrine from the DineLA menu. The squid ink pasta was al dente, and the shrimp and sauce went with it nicely. The pork belly was delicious and served with a side of brussel sprouts. The dark chocolate/​olive oil terrine was definitely my kind of dessert — not too sweet, and served with a small scoop of gelato. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the food off the DineLA menu.
My dinner companions ordered from the regular menu and I got to try a little of everything. The seared octopus with gnocchi was amazing, crisp on the outside but still oh-​so tender on the inside — by far my favorite dish of the night. The veal carpaccio was beautifully plated. I had a small bite of the pappardelle al fagiano which was quite delicious — tender, juicy chunks of pheasant with perfectly cooked pasta. The handkerchief pasta had a generous portion of crab and my friend enjoyed it, although I preferred the parppardelle. Everything was seasoned to perfection. For dessert, we also had the panna cotta with blood orange, which was nice and light.
We were chatting over the rest of the wine, when the sommelier offered to buy us a glass of prosecco at the bar area, which we did accept. It wasn’t until we got to the bar that we realized there was another party waiting for our table, just as we had been waiting earlier in the night. I thought this was a very classy way to have us vacate the table, and I appreciated that although the restaurant was much busier than usual, I did not feel rushed in any way during our meal.
The start of the night wasn’t great, but the rest of the experience made up for it. I’d definitely come back.

I came here for DineLA with friends and tried most of the dishes on the DineLa menu. Overall pretty good. Scallops, terrine dessert, and the squid ink paccherri were flavorful. Covered patio seating with heaters is nice and cozy. Almost missed the valet underground parking because the entrance is small and in a corner. 4 hours free with validation.

This is probably one of the best Truffle chicken dishes I’ve had in a while !!! I literally had to join Unilocal to write about how amazing and succulent this fish was ! I went with a bunch of friends who all ordered pasta and I’m not really a big fan of pasta so I decided to try the butternut squash soup and the chicken (24 dollars) — it was the best decision I’ve made in a long time!!! I definitely have to go back and get it and would advise you to do the same

Cool little hip spot. The entrance is all the way to the right of the restaurant, so don’t get lost.
Came here for their dineLA menu. The appetizers were pastas. Very rich, creamy, and delicious, while still being pretty light.
The main dishes that I got was the pork belly and scallop. They were both just alriiiight to me. Nothing crazy or special about them, I would prefer the pastas from the appetizers to be the main course since they tasted a lot better.
The desserts were actually pretty good. The vanilla gelato with a small cup of espresso was a perfect ending to my dinner.

Drago is usually great. But then apparently implemented a new policy when you have dinner in the bar area to take your credit card in advance. Which is odd… especially when they tell you the policy has been in place for a month, but we’ve eaten there once or twice a week for a bit.
When I ask to speak to a manager, they send over an arrogant assistant manager/​wine something or other, who repeated the policy, but was not extremely gracious or apologetic in tone. The reason they take the cards now, because people ran off during the holidays. Well, except, my friend and I are executive assistants to the people who run the company upstairs, and who come down all the time. And my former boss is one of the investors.
And when I was tired of listening to Mark and waved him off and said «bye», which may have been a little rude, but I was returning his attitude, he proceeded to pick a fight with me.
This is just what I needed to have some punk aggravate me after a very stressful week when we’ve chosen this restaurant to have drinks and dinner in.
A more senior manager came after him, and was gracious, and it would have been no issue if he had come without Mark. The policy is not great, but it is what it is.
I have no control over what the company does, but personally, I will not return there while Mark is still working there.
Chaya next door is great! They understand service.

Boyfriend took me here for my birthday dinner. I was having high expectations since they have really good reviews and it’s a pricey restaurant, but the food was not that good. The restaurant is gorgeous, love the interior, love how classy and elegant it looks. We parked across the street since we didnt know where else to park. Took a while for the waiter to come to us, but the manager took our order instead when he noticed that no one was helping us.
I can’t emphasize how much I LOVE truffle! The best truffle pasta dish I’ve ever had is at Il pastaio, it’s amazing. So any other truffle pasta dish I eat after, I’m going to compare it to Il pastaio. Sadly, this place didnt do so well for me. I love how huge their truffle menu is. Its really freaking hard to find a place that serves truffle anything lately. I also love how they can add truffle to any of their pasta dishes.
So I ordered the truffle fettuccine pasta. The good thing about this dish was the noodles are handmade, the bad part about this dish was that the noodles were undercooked. Very disappointing when I’m eating really hard and chewy pasta. Loved the mushrooms that came with the dish, and I really did enjoy them shaving the actual truffles right in front of my eyes. I literally wanted to take that whole piece of truffle and steal it so I can make every dish at home with those real truffle shavings. To be honest, there wasnt a BIG truffle flavor like I would have hoped, it tasted more like a regular alfredo pasta dish and they just added the truffle shavings for taste. I could tell they didnt cook the pasta in truffle oil or anything.
I also ordered their arugula salad. I liked the dressing and the walnuts, but OMGGG THE APPLES WERE EXTREMELY SOUR! I couldnt eat the apples at all, my taste buds will refuse anything super sour, and those apples were disgustingly sour. yuck!
My boyfriend got the new york steak. It only came with 3 small pieces of meat… LOL uhmmm… yeah I dont think he got full from it. I guess this is how fancy restaurants serve their steak, because I know at a steakhouse, he would have gotten a full slab of meat. He was disappointed in that, as I would be too if I was paying $ 36 for a steak dish. I felt really bad for him, but good thing he ordered a caesar salad for an appetizer. I enjoyed the fingerling potatoes and veggies that came with the dish, the sauce on the plate was amazing. I wish I had that sauce for my truffle pasta.

I had the pleasure of dining here and I was blown away by my overall experience! It was the most perfect restaurant for any special occasion — anniversary, birthday, a romantic dinner date, you name it. I had reservations here on a Wednesday evening and although the weather that night was chilly, we were seated outdoors with plenty of heat lamps surrounding us. The ambiance of the outdoor patio was beautiful with colorful lights decorating the trees and a nearby fireplace.
I was floored by the service here. Our waiter was knowledgeable and extremely attentive but not overbearing. The two times I left my seat to use the restroom, I came back to a neatly folded fresh napkin waiting on the table. We were served generous pours of wine in large wine glasses — they have a huge glass wine cellar near the entrance and we could not resist ordering a glass each.
The food was excellent! We started off with the pink lady apple salad, topped with arugula, candied walnuts, bacon, and champagne vinaigrette. This was just an overpriced but fresh salad that I was glad to have ordered because a carb-​heavy meal ensued thereafter.
It was a difficult decision to make, but we went with one «fresh egg pasta» and one «hard durum pasta.»
–Gli spaghetti alla chitarra con il pesto: basil spaghetti alla chitarra, sicilian almond-​tomato and basil pesto. I really liked this one — not too heavy, and loved the aroma coming from the basil. The pasta had the most perfect al dente texture.
–I garganelli: garganelli, pork sausage, parmesan, fennel seeds. This paired well with the gli spaghetti because it was more hearty and heavy in comparison. They did not skimp on the sausage and it was so juicy and tasteful. The presentation was excellent!
Our last dish was the branzino — came with polenta, asparagus, clams, turnips, fennel, black garlic aioli. Our server explained that this one was one of Drago’s signature dishes so we couldn’t leave without getting a taste. The fish was indeed perfectly cooked and flavored. The skin was ultra crispy while the inner meat was soft and melted in my mouth. Although I can’t say it was the best branzino I’ve eaten (shoutout to Mare!), it is a close runner-​up. The clams and the turnip were especially a nice touch to the dish.
Everything came in a timely manner, and everything we ordered were either split to two plates or in one large plate placed in the center for us to share. The parking was tricky to find because of the narrow entrance and construction going on, but 4 hours of the underground parking is FREE with validation! Can’t get better than this. I will be back here when my wallet allows me to!

My fiancé and I came here for our anniversary. It is one of our favorite places in LA. It’s not over hyped and the food exceeds all expectations. We ordered venison and crab pasta which we split with the grilled squid appetizer. ALL top choices. I would skip dessert… as the tiramisu wasnt quite on par with the rest of the meal.
The service is very good — But I booked over open table and let them know it was our anniversary but there was no mention. Not that I’m looking for a celebration but it showed me that they arent paying attention to those important details. Bc opentable is a separate entity I wont hold it against Drago, as there may have been an error but those details are what make the difference.

Another weeknight visit with a group of 7. Again, I ubered, so I don’t know the parking situation for this restaurant.
This time we sat at the bar prior to dinner for a cocktail.
Cocktail? Italian mule. A bit spicier than a typical moscow mule, so I enjoyed it. Although we had reservations and were stalling at the bar, the restaurant put NO pressure on us to start dinner. Excellent.
We were seated in the same area as my prior visit, the covered patio. Its a little cooler in this room, but I had a wrap, so I was comfortable.
Couple bottles of an Oregon Pinot Noir. One was the Bergstrom. Very Good.
l’insalata di cesare: romaine, caesar dressing, shaved parmesan, garlic crostini. Pretty typical. I would have liked a couple of anchovies and the dressing was a bit much.
i garganelli: garganelli, pork sausage, parmesan, fennel seeds. Pasta tasted fresh. Sasuage was tasty. This dish was Very Good.
Didn’t order dessert, but did order an Espresso Martini. This was Good. However, restaurant sent over Chocolate Truffles on the house and these were Very Good. I had to control myself and eat only one.
Finally, Service was Excellent & Very Attentive.

I had been waiting to eat here for a while. Drago is beautiful, it had a nice glass covered area that if I go back I would surely like to sit at but I chose to sit in the inner area. I had a great view of the terrace area and was very comfy at my table.
I ordered the Capasante, which was scallops. I loved the presentation and the scallops were AWESOME! Maybe the best I have had, surely in the top 2. They were cooked to perfection and delicious. But I personally thought the risotto cake was the show stealer. It reminded me of fried Mac n cheese, but the risotto gave it an awesome texture! I really wanted to ask if I could just an order of the stuff! It was an amazing meal!
The place had a very business formal clientele for lunch, I was in jeans and a hoodie because I was working, but in the future I will surely dress a little nicer. The staff was very friendly and my waiter was a cool guy. I hope I can get there for dinner sometime. It’s a great place for a date!

My friend and I were so excited to try this place after seeing the reviews on Unilocal.We set reservations for 8:30 and was quickly seated upon arrival. Maybe we caught them on a bad night, but we were not satisfied at all! Between the two of us we ordered:
–2 mojitos
–la farfalle (prosciutto pasta)
–il fazzoletto (jumbo lump crab arugula pesto pasta)
–i ravioli
The mojitos were good and had a generous amount of alcohol. After we ordered our food, everything came out in what felt like less than 5 minutes. That was a bit of a red flag for me. Either the dish wasn’t made fresh or they have them lying around. The la farfalle was decent, but did not provide any «wow» factor. Of the three dishes, this was the only one we finished. The il fazzoletto was the most expensive of the 3 pastas ($ 22). It was terrible! The dish lacked any arugula or pesto flavors. The fishiness of the crab overpowered any other possible flavor. I tried masking the taste with some lemon, but still was very disappointed. Fishiness in seafood is not a good thing in my book. My friend and I had maybe two bites each of that dish; it was not good! The i ravioli was undercooked. We brought this to our server’s attention and he asked «is it possible it is al dente?» If it was al dente, why would I bother to tell you the pasta is undercooked? Really?! I wonder if he thought I would just say «yeah, it is» lol. So he took the dish back and another came later. The texture of the pasta was much better, but the ravioli itself wasn’t anything special. I can’t say I would ever recommend Drago Centro to anyone.
As for the service, upon arrival, things ran smoothly. After placing our order, we rarely saw or spoke to anyone else. Our server probably came by twice… once when we flagged him down about the undercooked ravioli and the second time was to see if we needed more mojitos. We were there for quite some time and it would have been nice to at least be offered a refill on the water. This didn’t happen to after we asked for our bill. We gave our server specific directions on what to charge on each card (there were only two) and he mixed it up! Way to pay attention. We didn’t make it an issue and just went with it. The best part of our experience was the nice valet people. One even recommended going to Chaya (next door) instead when we mentioned we went to Drago lol.

We stopped at Drago Center after a restaurant we had reservations for decided to not open. The food was EXCEPTIONAL. We had the burrata, mixed greens salad, egg pasta with truffles, basil egg pasta with almond tomato pesto, egg pasta with cheese and pepper, branzino, bombolini and the chocolate terrine.
The egg pasta was amazing! We had three variations of it and it was great it every dish. The chef didnot shy from the seasoning and that really made the pasta shine. The truffle pasta was expensive however it was worth every penny paid. They shaved a lot of those rare italian white truffles (i forgot the name) and it was divine.
As for desserts: the terrine was my favorite. The gelato, sauce, macaroon and raspberry, all complimented each other well and was rich and sumptous. The bombolini was good too.
The reason for four stars: the service! As in other reviews, the waiter was only there because he was suppose to. Service could be better. Food was amazing! :)

I came here last Saturday for dinner with my bf and two of our friends. We got here around 8pm, so it was a late dinner, and no reservations were needed since we just sat at the bar. We did valet parking (free, just remember to tip!) and took the elevator from the parking lot to the restaurant. The restaurant itself is dim lit and very modern/​lounge-​y. It is nice place for a date or to hang out with your friends at the bar. There are couches/​tables outside as well, which is cool if you want a more casual/​different kind of dining experience. We chose to sit nside at a long communal table next to the bar. This place seems to be able to accommodate larger groups if you come for a later dinner.
Anyways, the reason why we chose to sit at the bar was because of their awesome happy hour menu! For a pretty upscale restaurant in DTLA, I was surprised by how reasonable the prices were. From the happy hour menu, we just ended up getting:
–Two orders of il salmone affumicato ($ 6 each). AKA smoked salmon with crème and crostini. The salmon ontop of the crème-​covered crostini was really good, but portions were pretty small.
–le ostriche ($ 6) –west coast oysters, cucumber pearls, mignonette. Came with 4 pieces, so every person got to try one. Really good and fresh, but small.
They also have calamari (looked like they gave a lot!), pizza, sliders, etc. all under $ 8, but we didn’t get to try them because we also ordered some appetizers off their regular dinner menu:
il tagliere di affettati con gnocco fritto ($ 16) — house selection of charcuterie, gnocco modena style. AKA slices of different kinds of meats on a cutting board with these amazing puffy, somewhat cheesy bread rolls. This was delicious! I loved the bread!
insalata di mela ($ 13) — pink lady apple salad, arugula, candied walnuts, bacon, champagne vinaigrette. It was good and the portions were decent, but it was nothing special.
But of course, the main reason we went to this place was to try their fresh made-​from-​scratch pastas. I can tell the difference between pasta made from scratch and the pasta noodles we buy from the market. The noodles were also cooked perfectly al dente.
2 orders of il fazzoletto ($ 22 each) — came with handkerchief pasta, jumbo lump crab, arugula pesto, chile flakes, and lemon. The sauce was tangy due to the lemon, but not that sour. They gave quite a bit of crab.
2 orders of le pappardelle al fagiano ($ 20 each) — came with pappardelle, roasted pheasant, and morel mushrooms. The sauce was rich and savory. A little bit heavier than the other pasta we tried.
And lastly, we got dessert! We ended up getting the panna cotta ($ 11) which came with vanilla panna cotta, pistachio granola, concord grape sorbet, and pistachio tuile. OMG it was heavenly. The panna cotta was so smooth and tasted refreshing with the grape sorbet. It was not heavy or too sweet at all, and was the perfect ending to our meal.
All in all, I really enjoyed this place! It is, however, on the pricier side (why I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars). But I would totally come back here again for special occasions or a night out with my girl friends. I especially liked how they were able to split the pastas and bring them out one at a time, so we felt like we were eating 7 course meal. We actually had a blackboard eats deal (30%), so it came down to ~$ 35 a person, which is reasonable considering how much we ordered. We also got complimentary glasses of wine with the deal, and got to sit close to the TV screen to watch the U.S. vs. Mexico soccer game. It was an enjoyable dinner!

I finally had a chance to eat at this restaurant when my ex-​girlfriend Patrice was vacationing in town and said she wanted to take me out for a belated birthday dinner celebration. I had no idea we were eating here so after picking her up at the downtown apartment she was renting for the week, she said she had made reservations at Drago Centro. Sweet!
Of course, everyone’s heard of this restaurant but I wasn’t too familiar with the details. It’s Italian which you wouldn’t guess from the name. Tables were nicely laid with the white table cloths and it was a really nice ambiance.
We decided to go with the «menu degustazione» which is their 5-​course tasting menu for $ 75.00 a person.
Our meal started with an antipasti of shrimp carpaccio, olive oil pearls, and crispy chick peas. This was interesting as the shrimp was very thinly sliced. I’m not sure if I totally enjoyed this, but it was interesting nonetheless. (3.5÷5)
The «per cominiciare» was a poached egg, seared tuna, olives and tomatoes. This was pleasant and enjoyable. (4.5÷5)
For the first plate, the «primi piatti» we were served short rib ravioli with brown butter and sage. I liked this, the short rib in the ravioli was tender and overall, it had a really pleasing taste. (⁵⁄₅)
The «secondi piatti», or second plate was a venison loin with heirloom risotto cake, smoked tomato fondulata. I think this was my most favorite plate of all the dishes we were served. The venison was very tender with a really delicious flavor. (⁵⁄₅)
For dessert, or dolce, we had the chocolate mousse, espresso cake with vanilla ice cream. It was a nice way to end a really enjoyable dinner. (⁵⁄₅)
We also ordered a bottle of 2011 Barrua which is an Italian red wine from Sardinia. It really complimented our plates well with it’s full-​body and velvety texture. (⁵⁄₅)
Patrice and I had a wonderfully enjoyable time reminiscing and catching up over a spectacular dinner! The service was spot on with the wait staff being so friendly and most attentive from wisking away used plates and replenishing silverware and water to checking in often to make sure we had everything we needed. They have parking in the lower levels that is validated I believe for 2 or 3 hours.
Thank you Patrice! It’s a great place to go on a date and I’d be more than satisfied in coming back here again in the future.

Wow. Five years ago, I would have highly recommended Drago Centro to everyone. It was my hidden gem and I would come two or three times each year to celebrate anything: great service, personable waiters, and quality food.
But I don’t know what has happened since then. Over the years, I’ve seen a narrowing of menu items and attention. We used to get an amuse bouche to begin and end the meal. This stopped a few years ago. Then last year, we went to celebrate our dad’s birthday and raved about the steak for two served on a grill pan with roasted butter, herbs and garlic, but this item is no longer on the menu.
The dinner menu used to be 3 pages (appetizers & salads; fresh pastas; and meat courses), and one page to highlight a prix fixe menu. Now the menu is only one page with basic items. The food was nothing special anymore, being a little to salty (fish and pasta) for my taste. Didn’t even order dessert because we weren’t impressed by the offerings.
I was also a little annoyed because I called to confirm an 8pm reservation the same day at 4:30. At 7:50 and 7:55pm, the manager called to confirm my whereabouts because I was waiting for the entire party at the fountain area. We walked in at 7:55pm, and said that the rest of our party was parking and they had us wait at the bar. When everyone arrived, we were still waiting around for 5 – 10 minutes and had to ask the hostess to seat us. I don’t know why the manager kept calling to confirm our punctuality.
The hostess also used to be conscious of our attire, removing white napkins off our table for those wearing black, to eliminate the white lint transfer. Half our table was wearing black and the napkins weren’t switched out. What happened Drago? At least I used to have fond memories and prices haven’t increased exorbitantly.

Parking was easy enough-it’s nice that it’s free 4 hours with validation, though the entrance is a bit inconspicuous. I don’t like how the staff underground will try to get you to do valet, since people like me like efficiency as well as the least number of people touching her steering wheel. Regardless, I argued and ended up parking the car myself. I took the elevator straight up to the restaurant, though you have to take the right elevator or you’ll end up in Chaya.
I remember Drago being so much more impressive but maybe I was just a younger, naïve girl swept off her feet. I walked in and as I was early, I waited at the bar and perused the happy hour menu. They had hard bread sticks available for nibbling on while waiting and though I didn’t try it, I thought it was a nice touch. I got the only IPA they had (St. Archer) which is always good. The crowd was extremely diverse which is always appreciated, and around 6pm the majority of people will be there for happy hour, though only 30 – 40 minutes later, the dinner area will be packed.
Upon being seated, we got the burrata, garganelli, and I’anatra (duck breast meat). The burrata came out first and it was good, but I found it odd that there was not much carbs to pair the burrata with. We ended up using our complimentary bread for the burrata, but it didn’t pair too well together.
My garganelli pasta was good but nothing amazing-​I could’ve been a lot happier with another dish. I ended up taking most of it home but for the record, it tasted just as good when it was reheated the next day. Sure, it got oily from the sausage, but the meat tasted just as tender and the pasta was, well, pasta.
I tried some duck breast and thought the outer layer was a bit salty but my date mentioned that it was fine paired with the beets and other toppings that came with it.
Surprisingly, the Italian pinot noir they carried by the glass wasn’t of the highest quality, though that might be their way of letting us stay on middle ground before moving on to the super pricey wines.
The service was impeccable and everyone’s kindness made our visit so much more enjoyable although the food wasn’t entirely memorable.

One of the best Italian restaurants I have ever been too, just LOVED EVERYTHING about this place! Modern classic décor, so elegant and beautiful. The very friendly server seated us at a very intimate and cozy corner booth, it’s one of the best tables for two ppl I guess! Brought our own champagne, corkage is $ 25, but it was waved on the tab, I think because it was Father’s Day, all wines were 25% off on their wine list, so they made a nice gesture for us too!
Not your traditional Italian food menu, more creative and extensive items, drink lists are huge too. Our server introduced a few specials of the night, brought us sparkling water as we requested, and gave us some time to decide on what to order.
Starters:
Complimentary bread: loved the black olive bread, fresh and comforting.
Special appetizer seared tuna salad: very fresh tuna with seasonal greens, asparagus and pickled radish, what flavors! Who knew a salad could taste this good, both hubby and I loved it, and hubby never likes salads!
Split fresh egg pasta:
Linguine with Manila clams in garlic and white wine sauce: apparently this is a classic Italian pasta, the texture of the linguine was perfect, big and fresh clams were so tender, the sauce was just right, not too much garlic, exactly the way we liked it!
Entrees:
New York steak in rare plus: not traditionally grilled steak, our server explained it to hubby that it might not be as rare as he would have preferred. Turned out it was rare enough, just not as tender as hubby would have liked. But it was flavorful, the housemade sauce was bomb, hubby asked for more of that garlic and herb olive oil sauce, it was amazing.
Branzino, almost half tail on Branzino fish, with clams, veggies and cheese custard in garlic aioli sauce: definitely one of the best Branzino I have ever had! Super fresh and tender, loved the skin! The cheese custard was very delicious too. This dish was just WOW!
Dessert:
Tiramisu cake, with mini crème puff: non traditional tiramisu, silky and creamy, not too sweet, I think I liked it better than traditional tiramisu.
In addition to our champagne, I had a French martini that our server recommended, it was sweet, but still strong and kinda dry, I liked it a lot. We had a few more drinks at the bar after our dinner. The apple martini with goose vodka and a specialty cocktail I tried were great pours, so strong and refreshing with enough sweetness, just the way I like my summer drinks, loved them! Hubby’s old fashioned Vesper martini was very good too. Bartender says now hubby knows where to get a perfect Vesper martini! By the way the pretzels at the bar were great to snack on.
The service was over the top, all staffs were very attentive and professional, especially our server, he was extremely friendly, great service! I was very impressed!
A very lovely Father’s Day dinner for us, everything was PERFECT! Food was light with enough nice flavors, presentations were beautiful, portions were on the smaller side, a lot of non carb items on the menu, I think this restaurant has just become my favorite Italian restaurant. The reason I don’t like to dine at Italian restaurants often is becuse of the heavy flavors with large portions, so this type of Italian food is totally my thing!
We wouldn’t mind coming back from time to time for the light delicious food and great cocktails, or hubby’s favorite Vesper martini!
Ps. Underground valet parking, look for the sign to Drago Centro restaurant, make sure you get on the right elevator.