Ciao Hour Golden Elite Event at Mercato Di Vetro

Yay! What a great welcome back to the West LA community!
Been living in Vegas the last 2 years so it was a nice welcome back to West LA Unilocal elite event.
It’s amazing how time flys! Golden Elite :)
So in celebration of such happiness… I tried oysters for the first time that night. I had a raw oyster, I’m lost for words.
I don’t drink alcohol, so I nibbled on the finger foods and soaked up the great ambiance.
Loved the flatbreads too!
I was nice to meet other golden elites in the city.
I’m so stoked on the knee high Unilocal elite socks!
Great location. Friendly staff.
Thank you West LA Unilocal & Brittany B for another great Unilocal elite event!

Golden Unilocal Elite Event at last!!! I finally recognized a lot of people here, thank God cause we probably started during the same time. New Unilocal swag, RED socks, that was awesome!!! Since the event was only for golden badge Elite member, the crowd was so much smaller, easier to find your Unilocalie friends that you know from way back when.
Katie B, so good to see you there, I haven’t seen you in ages. So rare to see you without alcohol LOL, but I know you were on detox, so didn’t persuade you with my free booze tickets.
Miss you all my Unilocalie friends, shout out to May W, Marthie D, Vinh, Laura B, Katrina S, Tara B, Jacq L, Tim C, Justin N, Carol L, Anthony N, Bong E, and new Unilocalie friends, Steph H, and other people that I met there.
This last part, I was contemplating if I should write it, but I’ve been holding it back way too long to not write it, so here it goes.
Brittany B, your events always provided great food, nothing beats that, but yes although I give this event a total 5 star ratings, I think you need to work on your social skills. I came all the way from work and this event was in West Hollywood area, traffic was hectic and I tried to make the cut like said in the email. Yet, as I walked in, you greeted me this way, «Next time, can you please come earlier?» I mean, I was never greeted that way 5 years I was an Elite member. I’m shocked that I made an effort all the way to support the Unilocal event, and I got greeted that way. Worse part, it was not the first time you greeted me that way, it was probably the second or third time. I do like your events in such that it has more than just booze, but seriously, please do work on your social skills when greeting people who have come to your event and please hang out with Asian people too, I have seen you only hanging out around non-​Asian, I did feel offended after seeing this happened few times.
Overall, it was a great event with such smaller crowd, me like. I hope to see more events like this soon.

Thanks to Brittany and Katie for throwing such a great extravaganza. Reminds me of the good ol’ Unilocal days when we weren’t swarmed by swarming + ones. I kind of like not having a plus one, guess it forces the introvert in me into extroverting itself.
Great drinks and food, I liked the Verona and had a good amount of the special. The grilled oysters were my favorite, and I had a chance to make some new friends! looking forward to meeting some other Unilocalers I recognize NOW.
All in all a great time and those red sunglasses are my swagger car glasses now.

Wooo hooo, thank you Brittany B. and Katie B. for the extra delicious GOLDEN YEE! It felt like I traveled back in time because I recognized a lot of familiar faces going all the way back to my first YEE in 2008. I arrived LATE and was afraid the food would be all gone, but boy, was I wrong! Tray-​passed fried oyster sliders, grilled oysters with bacon, mushroom flatbread, pizza, and free booze were available all night long!
Going to this event made me realize how much I missed the smaller, more intimate YEEs of days past. I felt less pressured to talk to a bunch of people and instead took my time with old friends and a few new folks. I met Franchesca L. who was my outfit twin for the night and w chatted for a few minutes before parting ways to snatch some goodies. I hung out with my partner-​in-​crime Marthie D. for a bit before she scampered off to do major photoshoots with people. I spent time with Carol L., James S., and Pete S., who I’ve come to know from years of YEEs. Good times were had indeed!!! Oh yes, I can’t forget meeting Pete’s Unilocal wife, Steph H.
I got my first pair of Unilocal Elite socks, which I got a bit too excited about. I guess it’s definitely an indicator I’m getting old when socks excite me THAT much. :) Oh yeah, and the free Ferrero Rocher really made this a solid 5-​star event. Thanks for the good time, CMs!

Thanks to both the lovely Ms. B’s (Katie and Brittany) and cutie Nicole A. for putting together an event for us Unilocal gold fogies. This was my first solo event & I felt a bit awkward/​shy without a plus one, but my fellow elite became fast friends after throwing back a few yummy concoctions and noshing on the complimentary bites.
Initially, the HH bites came out a little too fast… and I’m not complaining, btw. In my greed, I was double fisting hors d’oeuvres so I wasn’t able to document each one. However, thanks to aforementioned greed, I had a taste of every single HH item, and each one tasted «hmmm, not bad» to «mmm mmm good.» I had seconds of the raw and grilled oysters along with another Mercato Divine, after I downed my two free cocktails.
As a bonus, I also scored some new Unilocal gear (socks, sunglasses, bottle opener keychain) to add to my existing collection (sweatband, deck of cards, beer sweater, pins, handkerchief) and took a picture with my Unilocal crush *swoon* You know who you are~

/​\ 5 GOLD STARS I WOULD IF I COULD /\
PARKING
========
Took me 20 minutes, but I found a spot on the street.
DEETS
======
Loved the GOLD swag — necklaces, bracelets, name tags, candy, etc.
Pssst, big ups for writing (in gold) «Queen B» on my name tag! ;)
Since I’m originally from the Bay Area, it was fantastic to make new LA friends.
And these guys were GOLDEN.
Finally met the famous ANTHONY N.
And new illustrious Unilocalers who kept the night going…
One word about this event: OYSTERS
Holy mother of gawd, these were the best oysters I’ve had on this side of town!
They were getting pretty creative, but I loved them raw the best.
Nice and classy atmosphere.
Lovely wait staff.
APPLAUSE
==========
Thank you Unilocal,Brittany B, and Katie B, for hosting such a fun and awesome GOLD event!

Met new cool friends! James S. and Jonathan Y. Oysters anything and drinks are awesome! GM Sandro was wonderful! Thanks Katie and Brittany!

Had a great time meeting fellow gold elites! Some day I need to take a pic with all the Unilocal swag I’ve accumulated from 7 years of elite-​ness. Socks, sunglasses, gloves, watch, lunch box, and a vintage hoodie… what will you guys think of next!
Thanks to Brittany B and Katie B for organizing this special event. Love the candy and decorations on the tables! I’m surprised I didn’t recognize a single face since we’ve all been elite for so long but it was great getting to know more of the old time elites. I love my +1’s but these elite only events have been great for meeting elites.
I love that the cocktails were freshly made with fresh fruit and herbs. Mercato really wanted us to eat oysters! The grilled oysters with bacon were by far my favorite… cause well, bacon. The fried oysters were good but the bread to oyster ratio was way off. The meatball sliders were really tasty — glad I got to try these! Also, thanks to Mercao Di Vetro for the amazing service!

You’d think after ⁵⁄₆ years of Unilocaling you’d run into pretty much everyone that is «in» the club. It was nice to catch up with old faces, meet new faces and finally get an opportunity to chat up some faces I’ve seen before but haven’t really met.
Mercao Di Vetro was very generous in providing samples of their new HH menu which was only out done by their fantastic service. Lastly but not at all in the least, much thanks to the lovely CMs for always putting on a great show. You guys really do spoil us.

It’s all about the details folks for a GOLD event:
–gold markers to write my name on my snazzy name tag
–gold wrapper candies on the table
–gold beads that make me think of Mardi Gras
–and OYSTERS!
You heard me. I said OYSTERS. And all types of oysters: grilled, with bacon, raw, and even oyster sliders. I kid you not. They went all slider on me. Trying to get all aphrodisiac on me Mercato di Vetro?! Becasue I sure do like it ;)
And cocktails to make me get all bubbly and yummy foccacia: margarita and truffle mushrooms. I dig my veggies.
Enough of the food. This small intimate event was probably my favorite event so far this year. Why you ask? Because I was able to see some OG Unilocalers that I haven’t seen in YEARS. Like these Unilocalers were my first Unilocal friends when I became elite (cough) 5 years ago. The crowd was very different from recent events I went to, and I liked it.
Thanks Brittany B and Katie B! :)
And holla to my Unilocalies: May W, Carol C, Bong, Anthony, Pete S, Jenny B, James S, and the new folks I met (Steph, Tara, and ah. those two guys I took a photo with too! HIII! haha)

Five years, you guys. Five years of my life, just gone, sacrificed to the hungry red gods of Unilocal.Worth it? Don’t even ask. But I did get dinner and drinks on this one lovely night, at Mercato di Vetro in West Hollywood.
I came around 6:45, and things were in full swing. There were a lot of people there, and I was surprised to see how many gold elites I didn’t even know by name. (I hope to meet you all, eventually!) Katie B. and Brittany B. did a great job putting the event together, and they mingled with the rest of us throughout the night.
I got two drink tickets as soon as I walked in, and I redeemed them for two of the cocktails on the menu. I started with a Vetro Tango, which combined Corzo tequila, atmoized cynar, fresh basil, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup for a refreshing, balanced drink. I followed that up with the Mercato Divtae with Jack Daniels, mint, ginger ale, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup, garnished with blueberries. This was also a nice cocktail that went down easy.
Food went around with an impressive level of reliability. I got to try almost everything on offer before cutting out early around 8. The menu seemed to revolve around oysters a bit. There were raw oysters, served with cilantro-​lime mignonette and horseradish cocktail sauce, along with grilled oysters and fried oyster sliders. To be honest, I wasn’t totally impressed with the quality of the oysters. They weren’t the freshest, and they had a slimy chewy texture that wasn’t particularly pleasant. The mignonette was good, though, and I didn’t mind the one grilled oyster I had. This was the citrus grilled oyster with lemon, mint, olive oil, and parsley. I think whatever oysters Mercato has in stock do better with a little heat. The fried oyster slider was pretty nice. It involved a single breaded and fried oyster on brioche with sauce gribiche and little gem lettuce. The meat to bread ratio wasn’t quite right, but I liked the tart pickly bits in the sauce gribiche.
The non-​oyster offerings were actually much better. I liked the meatball slider, though it was also too heavy on the bread. The meatball was flavorful and almost too forward in its musty porkiness, but it was good with the spicy tomato jam, arugula, and melty mozzarella. A few focaccia bread offerings rounded out the menu, and these were the best bites of the night. These were like tiny pizzas, and we had margherita and sausage and mushroom, and all were great, on spongey warm focaccia. The sausage was lovely, with broccoli rabe, mozzarella, and bright slices of chili. The mushroom was better still, with earthy, thick bites of mushroom over mozzarella and basil with a balsamic sauce. That was very tasty.
I had to skip out early, but I had a great time noshing and drinking with my fellow veteran elites. Thanks to Unilocal for the food and drink and company. I suppose I’ll keep cranking out these reviews. You gave me free socks and sunglasses, so I’m more or less committed now.

My first «Golden Elite» event! It was so fun running into friends who I didn’t know were Golden as well! Many thanks to Mercato di Vetro, Katie, Brittany, and Nicole for this awesome event to sample their HH menu. You know, after all these years I don’t think I’ve had grilled oysters before. How is that possible? Last night having those grilled oysters with bacon and the grilled oysters with capers — holy crap — I don’t think I can look at oysters the same again!!! It’s props to the chef if the next morning, I’m still thinking about what I ate last night.
Loved the décor and feel of Mercato di Vetro. It’s very swanky without being pretentious. The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the high ceilings and tower of wine is «won’t this be an awesome place to have a birthday dinner!» Well, let me tell you, there’s actually a private room upstairs that is partitioned off from the main dining area where you and 12 – 14 of your friends can gather in an intimate setting to celebrate. Call in advance to put down a reservation as the room is popular on a Friday or Saturday night!

Lovely event hosted by two lovely ladies, thank you Katie B and Brittany B!
Restaurant was a little difficult to find (damn you iphone map!), but I got a nice walk in!
I was able to meet a great group of dedicated Unilocal elites and we enjoyed raw oysters with cilantro lime, crunchy mildy spicy fried oyster slider, and a hot and cheesy pizza.
To wash it all down I had the light and crisp bosc bellini.
Thanks again for a great event! Oh and the socks!

File Under Outstanding! Great venue, food/​drink, and casual yet kinda dressy vibe. What a tasty showcase for this fairly new kid on the block. (The restaurant, not the reviewer!) Katie and Brittany have again collaborated to hit a Golden Home Run.
This was ostensibly to celebrate the CIao Hour at Mercato di Vetro, as well as those Elites that have five years or more of current Elite status. And this is a really nice place to celebrate. The downstairs bar area is swank and airy with the high ceiling. You may glimpse the upstairs and imagine putting together a nice birthday soire — at least
All things oyster are worth investigating and ingesting. The raw shooters with a dash of lime and cilantro; the grilled oyster with oil and bacon — almost like escargot in feel but of course tasting way different. And the oyster slider is crisp and meaty and not greasy at all. Speaking of sliders, the meatball is also meaty — and very good in its own right. I love how the cheese is inside. The flavors were fairly mild, yet not boring.
The special Ciao Hour drinks are excellent. Their mixologist has brought his game. The two I tried (and the few I observed) were colorful, aromatic, at times sweet and piquant, too. Delish. I couldn’t resist the Vetrosexual — which starts with Grey Goose. And the gin one — damnit, I can’t remember its name, but I liked that one, too. And at $ 7 or $ 8 each, you can’t go wrong trying a few out.
Relaxing vibe with a pulse. Love it. Met some great Unilocalers, and re-​connected with some others. And I really enjoyed talking with the very engaging Sandro, the GM at Mercato, to get a bit of context. Add it all up to a wonderful Ciao Hour and Golden Elite Event! Thanks to All!

Someone mentioned another Gold Badge Elite event other than the one at Capital Grill in LA so this would be the 3^rd event for Gold Badges in LA. However, this would be my 2^nd Gold Badge Elite event in attendance. Traffic is sometimes unforgiving especially when you need to be somewhere on the other side of town. I am very fortunate to see familiar faces that saw that I got there a little late to take a few of the samples of delicious food being passed around.
Oysters any way made I would definitely eat. What came around is a deep fried oyster on a slider bun, amazingly delicious, it could have been by itself and I would have loved it. It had a bit of aoli sauce with some peppers in it which enhanced it some more. Oysters on the half shell but not just that, the shell was hot but not too hot to touch, a bit of sauce and chopped garnish on it, delicious.
Meeting a few more new faces and trying to find out where the Unilocal swag is stashed was not my first thought to pursue. The little red ticket in my hand got me to the bar and conversations with Antho L. and Jen K. gave me a preview of what to order. Tara C. recommended the bellini too so that is what I went with. Jenny B. running around snapping pictures with every single Unilocaler, it was one of those events you had to be at.
I’m not even going to tell you what happened afterwards when the last group was trying to figure out where to go after this. I can only tell you there were more drinks, more great stories and great company if I tell you Betty and Jen was accompanied by Antho, Barry, Hugo, Anthony and me wandering down the street. You can only imagine the few of us laughing on Santa Monica Blvd in WeHo. All I can say is thank you Katie B. and Brittany B. for a great event. I did miss the Unilocal swag though. Oh well!

I love the fact that even after 5+ years of this Unilocal career …
— There are still places I’d never go to if it weren’t for Unilocal
— Still fun meeting people who have common interests
— Service and parking are still important
— CMs are still lovely and friendly as ever
— Still fun trying to find that person who doesn’t want their drink ticket
Mercao Di Vetro has a lovely décor that was fitting for such a Golden Event.
Although I don’t normally eat at events, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try almost half of the 8 different HH menu items that are HH priced at $ 8. The ones I did try were delicious and did the trick of soaking up the tasty cocktails that were also consumed.
PS. It was good seeing a lot of different people at the event. Meaning I’m not alone when it comes to reviewing, checking-​in, taking pics, getting drunk and fat for over 5+ years.

The Ciao Hour here was Magnifico! It was definitely worth noting here that service was top notch given the amount of Unilocalers versus the amount of space utilized. Upon coming in we were greeted by Nicole and Brittany, good seeing you guys as always. Oh yeah KT B, always love your hugs!!!
We had drink tickets in hand so I opted for the Mercato Divine, with a little bit of kick of jack daniels. They are all very sexy drinks on the menu. 6−8pm, Sunday through Friday, all under $ 8.
Stupid me though, I wanted to get a truffle salt margarita last night and I totally forgot.
As for the food, I did get to try a few things but not all.
the Oysters sliders –they were ok, I couldn’t taste the oysters in this.
Raw oysters-​really good, a little briny and vibrant, just the way I like it!
The Focaccia bread with the sausage, brocolli rabe and the one with mushrooms-​Worth having, good flavors
The meatball sliders –That was the best thing I had here, you can taste the italian sausage and the arugula so well. It was airy and tasty, I would get 2 orders of these anytime!
Unfortunately, I never got the warm oysters that everyone raved about. Oh well, I guess I will have to look for some cooked oysters nearby that hopefully will substitute these cravings!
Some pics:
People don’t want to sit?
I’ve known this guy for 7 years?
two of my favorite lady Unilocalers?
Got to meet a few Unilocalers. Steph, Lila, Carol, Hugo, and a few more that I of course can’t remember! It was definitely great to connect with a few LA Unilocalers who I haven’t seen in so long. This is also why I’m so grateful for these LA events when it was only one CM for the whole LA/​OC area from back in the days.
Thank you Mercato Di Vetro for having us, you guys were warm and hospitable.
As for the Unilocal Elite socks, Iwill wear them… uh…as hand puppet to entertain kids.

This was my first Gold Badge Elite Event and after being gold for 3 years now. I’m glad I finally was able to make one because this was another great time.
The food we were served were the happy hour samplings for Mercato di Vetro. Pretty classy with the oysters on a shell and even ones with some bacon on top. Now who would have thought of that? I know everything is good with bacon but an oyster shell? Well, it certainly worked because it was delicious!
We also had various pizzas such as lamb focaccia pizzas and mushroom flat bread pizzas. Both were extremely good with its doughy crust and mouth watering toppings. In addition, we had deep fried oyster sliders that were really tasty too! If that wasn’t a twist, I don’t know what is. Meatball sliders were also very good to munch on with our drinks.
And swag galore! Did you know there were Unilocal socks? Yup, there are!
It was fun to catch up with others who have been around Unilocal a long time and to meet some new goldies too! I really had a blast and owe another huge thanks to our wonderful CMs Brittany B. and Katie B. for a really fun and spectacular event!

This was my first «Golden Elite» event and it was so much fun! I had a great time catching up with lots of familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in a long time, and meeting some of my fellow old-​timers, lol. Mercato di Vetro treated us very well, with delicious cocktails from their happy hour menu and plenty of tasty bites. My faves were the fresh, raw oysters and the margherita flatbread pizza. I was also impressed by the warm oysters topped with bacon– mmm, bacon makes everything better, and I have never tried it on an oyster before. Out of the drinks, I really liked the Mercato Divine, which was composed of Jack Daniels, mint, ginger ale, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup. The venue itself was cozy and pretty, with lots of mirrors and candles. They only have two unisex restrooms, so you may end up waiting. The friendly staff and bartenders took good care of all of us. Thanks, Mercato di Vetro, Brittany, Katie, and Nicole, for a an extra-​special Elite event. We hope you throw more «Golden» parties in the future.
And yay for the new Unilocal Elite socks!

I loved Mercato di Vetro when I first came here a few months ago for dineLA and I loved it even more after tonight. It’s a beautiful, classy space and they gave us such a warm welcome. We had the first floor to ourselves while the staff passed around bites from their new CIAO HOUR menu, including RAW and GRILLED OYSTERS, SLIDERS and FOCACCIA. I liked the raw oysters (only $ 1.50 each during HH), fried oyster slider (nice crispy breading) and focaccia (tried both the mushroom and sausage) the most. Good stuff. I kept it light with my cocktail choice, going with the BOSC BELLINI, made with champagne, fresh pear juice and St Germain.
The Ciao Hour menu is only available at the bar between 6 – 8 pm on Sunday through Friday. Check it out!
Thank you Brittany, Katie, Nicole and Mecato di Vetro for a fun, chill event!