Sprazzo Cucina Italiana

I heard about the fantastic gnocchi here from some friends and had to try it! Came here with a couple of friends on a Wednesday night around 6pm. It’s a small but well-​appointed restaurant, with a casual but classy feel (cloth napkins, yo). It looks and feels like a nice neighborhood Italian joint, which is what it is. We all opted to get gnocchi – they have nine (!) varieties to choose from. I ordered the Gnocchi Bocelli (spinach and gorgonzola cheese in a cream sauce), one friend got the Gnocchi Loren (Homemade pesto sauce and a touch of cream), and the other got half orders of the Loren and the Sinatra (Italian chicken sausage, arugula, sun-​dried tomatoes topped with goat cheese in our marinara sauce). In the end, I think we all agreed that the Loren was our favorite, but the others were good as well. I thought a full order would be too much for me but nope, i ate the whole thing, and so did everyone else. The portions aren’t overly large, and seemed priced about right. The gnochi are just these pillowy dough daubs of goodness, and the sauces were really tasty. The service was great too, although our waiter did forget to give us our UCLA discount initially (they’re on the KCRW discount list too). I definitely want to come back, but only if I can get there early again to avoid a wait and find decent parking.
STEPH JUDGEMENT: A nice little neighborhood Italian joint with great food and service.

Sprazzo is definitely my go-​to spot for Italian food or a nice date night.
The restaurant is physically not too large but has around six small tables, one large table for groups bigger than four, and four booths. The restaurant has a wonderful ambiance with slightly dimmed lighting and great music which really sets the mood for a pleasant dining experience.
The food here is great as well. I’m a very heavy eater and after being here around ten times I can say that every dish is large enough to fill you, not to the point of being uncomfortable but satisfaction (I usually eat ¹⁄₃^rd of my girlfriends dish too which puts me to being way to full because the food is delicious). None of the white-​sauce foods are too creamy if you are adverse to creamy foods as well.
Also, I have to mention how great their bread is. They always bring you complimentary bread which is ALWAYS hot and fresh. The bread is outstanding and the crust is never rough to cut your mouth. They also bring the standard olive oil and vinegar with the bread, but the kicker is their special house-​made bread dip which always comes with the bread. The bread dip is always rotating (not sure on what time interval), but I’ve had hummus, a great olive dip, as well as others. These dips and bread are the most excellent start to any meal.
The desserts are all very reasonably priced (on average they’re ten dollars). They are filling for two and me and my girlfriend have never been disappointed.
Lastly, the service here is outstanding. The waiters and manager/​owner? are all extremely friendly and welcoming. I have never been to a restaurant where I have felt so welcome and they offer great suggestions for potential dishes.
If anyone is craving for some Italian food or wants to go to a nice date spot, I highly advise Sprazzo. Not to mention UCLA students get a discount!

While visiting friends in town we actually were looking to go to the place next door and ended up going to this place! The God and service was great. Great deals on bottles for ucla students, the bread and bruschetta were delicious. All four of us were very impressed with our main enters. Our server Hugo was very polite and professional. We will definitely be back!

I love this place. It’s quaint, there’s never a wait for a table, has delicious food, super nice people and it’s a great value.

The food is super delicious, and I like their pastas and selection better than Pomodoro next door, BUT the service and the time it takes to get that food is super super slow. We came here around 6:30P on a Sunday and it was absolutely packed, so perhaps that explains it. Still, it shouldn’t take 45 minutes to get our entrees. As scrumptious as they were, this is just not acceptable in my book. And they didn’t really say anything was wrong; perhaps this is just the way it’s done here. So I’m docking a star for wait time, especially considering the staff next door are so prompt and crazy efficient.
My entrée was the lobster and shrimp ravioli in this amazing creamy sauce. Just smack your lips good! Plus they have this wonderful soft warm bread they serve with their own hummus.
Also, good luck finding parking on Westwood Blvd. Oh, and the wine list is oddly expensive.
We likely won’t be back but if you want to partake, just remember what I said about slow and make rezzies. The folks waiting for a table outside didn’t look too happy. Especially since it takes forever to get food, the turnaround time must be atrocious. And yes, it does resemble that little restaurant in Lady and the Tramp; I half expected a guy to come out with his accordion playing Bella Noche.

This is an okay restaurant. Not too good but pretty. Service is also bad. Gnocchi is decent. Vegetarian/​vegan menu is not really good.

I probably drove by this place a few hundred times when I lived in Westwood, and upon seeing them listed in KCRW’s membership/​discount book, decided on it as a venue for a small reunion that I was organizing.
I made reservations a week in advance for our group of eight, and called the day of to let them know a couple people cancelled and we’d only be six persons, total. I arrived to find that they’d seated us at a tiny booth meant for four, squashed together and with two chairs pulled up.
Due to the limited table space, we had to forego bread as we had to give up our bread plates to make room for appetizers. The service was scarce, and most of us went with empty water glasses for a third of the time.
When the check came, I provided my KCRW membership card, and was a bit confused when the $ 200 check came back with an arbitrary $ 14.98 discount, since they advertised «15% off, excluding alcohol» to KCRW members with no other conditions. I asked them about it, and they said they’d honor the deal for «up to 4 people».
At the end of the day, we’re only talking about a $ 15 difference in what was due, but the fact that they receive publicity from participating in the public radio membership program, yet are willing to dishonor their offer to supporters of KCRW over $ 15 really doesn’t sit well with me.

So I legitly haven’t so much as touched Italian food in a year, not being a fan of heavy and rich sauces and such. But I recently rewatched Lady and the Tramp and while the movie itself was a lot worse than I remembered, the famous/​super mouth watering SPAGHETTI SCENE gave me the overpowering urge to try Italian food again… so I did! And it was surprisingly good.
Like many other reviewers mentioned, Sprazzo does a good job of making itself seem fancier than it really is, giving you a fine dining experience at a fraction of the price. Dim lighting, pretty Christmas lights, cute décor, with leaves/​vines and whatnot, and even a patio. Perfect for date night when you want to impress but don’t want to splurge. That being said, the price is still rather steep for the portion size (~$ 15 for a very medium plate of pasta.) I usually never finish my meals, and even I did so rather easily.
Onto the actual food: My bf stole the spaghetti and meatball dish (what I had originally wanted), so I opted for the Pappardelle Quarto Funghi, which is this wide noodle dish with mushrooms and a seafood-​ey flavor, so we could try two different menu items. Well, I ended up liking my dish so much that I didn’t want to share with him at all, and he had to snatch what little he could from my plate heh. The quarto funghi was so good and flavorful, yet surprisingly LIGHT and didn’t make me feel like I was drowning in oil and cream — the first of any Italian restaurant to accomplish this feat. The bread bowl appetizer was also DELICIOUS — very fresh, very soft, like it was right out of the oven — as was the hummus dip that went along with it.
Anyways, I’ll be the first to admit that I am no expert in Italian food, and I’ll probably be trying out a couple more for comparison’s sake, but this place definitely satisfied my cravings today AND changed my mind about pasta in general. :D

my absolute all time favorite go-​to Italian Ristorant in Westwood… family and I began going here after a day at «REPRISE» theatre @ UCLA…(no longer in operation).
Our starters begin with the Italian Chopped Salad… usually 2 orders will serve 4 – 5 people… prior to that their homemade baked bread served with a spread which varies from Hummus to Eggplant… either one equally delicious!
My go to varies between Salmon in a light sauce to Chicken or Veal Marsala… always try to keep the same sauce on the pasta as well! «Dont want to confuse my palate»…
recently had their Linguini Pescatore…” out of this world”… if you like Zuppa De Pesce (thinner sauce bordering on a soup)…youll love this dish… a thicker tomato sauce!
Hubby & his mom usually have their Lasagnia or Chicken Parmesan…
Save room for dessert! Either their Chocolate Mousse with pieces of chopped up Italian biscotti or their Apple Ala Mode… as for me I prefer the latter!
Enjoy!

First time here I like it. Service is nice and quick. Great meal for two under $ 50 food was delicious

Food was fresh and delicious! Great service.

I love this place. It is a great date spot and the service is fantastic. The food is quality and mostly made from scratch.
The bread they served at the beginning was excellent. They use a tasty olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We had the chicken parmigiana and a gnocchi with goat cheese. Both plates we really good and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is in the mood for some legit Italian food. Enjoy!

I’ve been here three times and it’s always a nice Italian place to go to in Westwood. It’s located next to another Italian place (awkward), a whole bunch of Persian restaurants (it is in Persian Square after all), and can be easy to miss.
The last time I went was with two of my friends and they really enjoyed it. They almost got full off their bread that comes with this delicious eggplant based sauce. The bread is a trick to get you full, don’t fall for it, even though it’s absolutely delicious.
I absolutely love gnocchi and it is now one of my favorite dishes to order at Italian restaurants. They have so many different variations on their menu, the place is normally not crowded so I get seated quickly, and the service is great. It is a family owned joint so there’s always people running around to take care of you. The servers are knowledgeable about the menu and are willing to break everything down for you.
My friends ordered the bruschetta as an appetizer, which I feel is a hard dish to screw up so of course it was great. We might have been taking our tomato left overs and distributing them to the complementary bread– don’t tell on us.
The last time I went I ordered the gnocchi loren because I absolutely love pesto. Really delicious food, even my mother, who is one of the world’s pickiest eaters, really enjoyed this place over the Italian joint next door. I do enjoy both of these restaurants but maybe prefer Sprazzo, I don’t know. I’ll have to give them both another round soon.

My first time here, Jan 28, late dinner.
Great food, pleasant ambiance, and servers are friendly and efficient. Was with two other people, and since we were only moderately hungry, we ordered two large size pasta dishes to share. We all agreed that everything was very yummie!
Better than that other Italian eatery two doors down.

My uncle was diagnosed with cancer back in Aug 2014 so we have been back and forth from UCLA medical to out home town. We were starving one day and just popped into Sprazzo for dinner. It was amazing! The waiters were very friendly and explained the specials in great detail. The bread that was brought out to the table was homemade and so soft. Our main course was even better. Fresh ingredients and delicious. It is now a must any time we are in the area.

I figured I’d try this place on a whim. The service was adequate but the food was nothing special. It wasn’t bad, but also wasn’t great.
We pretty much left there thinking although we were not super disappointed, we would probably not come back.

Came here for dinner with my parents. Got the gnocchi pavarotti as an appetizer, which I thought was really good — definitely one of the better gnocchi I’ve had in the US. I had the pumpkin ravioli, a seasonal special. The dish was kind of on the smaller side compared to what my parents got, but it was very flavorful and actually quite filling. I don’t remember what my dad got, but it was a special — a pasta with mixed seafood and I think a white wine sauce. He thought his dish was ok — he said the shrimp was overcooked and the sauce was not as creamy as he expected it to be. My mom got the cioppino, which she liked. We shared a tiramisu for dessert — it was a generous serving that we all enjoyed.

3.5÷4
I need to have that balsamic vinegar they give you for the bread. It is not as sour as the others I’ve had and actually has a sweet tint to it. I loved it. The bread was warm and soft, which is always a plus.
I ordered the Linguine Diavolo (shrimp and calamari with tomato sauce) and my bf got the Pollo Parmigiana. I think the food was average — not WOW but not unappetizing. Compare to other Italian places, I’d say their food is quite light in that they put very little seasoning in their sauces. The chicken on the parmigiana was tender and a little more flavorful than my dish. I like that they have the option of half order so if you have a tiny stomach, I’d opt for the half order.
Service was attentive. However, the server did decide to ask us how the food was when we both had food in our mouth so that got a little awks with saying «gkdkdoood.»

I have been to Sprazzo’s a few times. They are very consistent and for the most part very good. The atmosphere is good. I had the Chicken Parmigiana. Sign up on their Web Site for their specials.

Great food! My first time here but I always noticed the amazing aroma in this corner of Westwood and Wilkins. It’s odd that there is another Italian almost next to this one. I tried the other one called Pomodoro 3 weeks ago. It was decent but not like This restaurant. I had Caesar salad which was perfectly dressed and salted. Usually I find Caesar salad too salty or overly dressed.
The salad was delicious and the best of all was their chimituri dip that comes with bread. Perfectly Garlicky, with Italian parsley, shallot, lime and lemon juice, Olive oil, sea salt and pepper? I’m guessing.
I had Linguini with Vongole white sauce.
It was yummi!!! I like the owner (?) too. She was attentive and very nice. The restaurant is clean, welcoming and the food was very good. I will def come back.