Primo Bistro

Great food. Great staff. Always happy hour. Nice place!

I was going to write a long review, but after reading all the others, I can see that i have the same complaint:
The food is excellant, the service blows. 45 minutes to get a sandwich, no refill on water, 30 minutes later brought me a refill on coffee from an almost empty pot. Don’t go here hungry, you’ll starve waiting. one review said it best: Service was lathargic!

Service: lackadaisical
Taste: acceptable
Price: reasonable
My waiter was friendly but slow. The $ 5 cosmo was strong but tasted a little too much like vodka-​koolaid, on the other hand it was $ 5. The cream of broccoli soup was fine but not outstanding. Not terrible, but not exciting either.

Primo Bistro prepared the most beautiful granola bowl I have ever seen. Pure Picasso, and yummy too!
My friend had an omelette that she scarfed down. It must’ve been good. I assume. I mean, she didn’t talk to me at all over the course of the meal. She just grunted.
They have a decent $ 5 martini/​mimosa happy hour sort of thing on weekends.
The chow is not expensive especially by WeHo standards.
Oh, and the service is lethargic so it’s best to just seat yahselves!

This food is so good! Quick and friendly service… waitress refilled our drinks constantly! $ 5 martinis all day, every day.

Let’s just say 3.5 stars. Not ready to say I’m a «Yay! I’m a fan», but it was a little better than «a-​ok».
We were seated fast (open seating) and approached within a couple minutes of sitting down by our server Audrey, who provided great service overall. She waited patiently while we hemmed an hawed over what to drink. I got a vodka martini, and he a gimlet. Both $ 5 each. The martini came in a large, full-​to-​the-​brim martini glass. When I asked for extra olives she brought out a glass with 4 gigantic, tasty olives.
I had the shrimp louie salad with the dressing on the side. I was served a large plate/​bowl with romaine (menu said iceberg) lettuce, a small-​ish amount of tomato, chopped egg whites (about one egg’s worth) and 6 medium-​large very tasty grilled shrimp. A small cup with about 3 tablespoons of dressing came on the side, along with two slices of grilled bread that were burned black over more than 65% of the surface. Even if the bread had not been burned, I’d say that it was not worth $ 13.
I’d describe his salad, the chopped salad, but I got too drunk off the martini and forgot to ask for a bite.
After dinner we ordered french fries, which were thin cut without seasoning (yay!) served in a paper cone/​silver cup. Overall I’d say that the service was very good, and reasonably paced. The food varied between ok, quite good, and slightly disappointing. Still, I’ll be back to give them another shot.

Walked up to the Maître d’ station and stood there for four minutes. There were four tables of customers and one server. He looked at us four times and said/​did nothing. Finally, the fifth time, he said «Oh, it’s open seating…» and walked away before we could respond. Okaaaaaaaaay. Would have been nice to know or have a sign or something instead of watching us stand there. But we take a seat at an outdoor table… and waited. Literally ten minutes later, having no further interactions with any server, we got up and left. Awful fail.

GREAT food! I am not sure why this restaurant is characterized as «American» as its menu is quite Italian… even the name is Italian! Anyways, I was very impressed with the food here. I had the Chicken Milanese, and it was cooked perfectly. I had to use the lemon wedge garnishes for a bit of extra flavor, but I would definitely order this again. We started off with the bruschetta, which was fantastic! Here’s two secrets to the bruschetta: first, ask for it was mozzarella cheese — it made it even better! second, they use small cherry/​plum tomatoes for the bruschetta instead of a huge tomato chopped up. I have never seen it done that way they did it, and it’s a perfect idea! Large tomatoes can be bland, especially if they are just commercial grade. The tomatoes they used were sweet, vibrant red, and juicy. Perfection!
And the artichoke dip! I am so in love with it! I seldom order artichoke dip because I have had some iffy experiences in the past. The dip here was amazing — a perfect medley of flavors.
We ate outside, so I actually never saw the interior. But the location on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood makes for a great place to see and be seen! Gotta love those modified tourist vans zipping by!
I’m holding off on a 5-​star review because the waiter warned us that if we had arrived during the lunch rush, we would not have had such good service (hmmm…), and he told us that the head chef was in the kitchen that day, and that’s why the food was so good (double hmmm…). We shall see in the future!

Um hello?! $ 5 martinis, mimosas and bloodys? I’m there!
This place is always empty so I was worried that it would suck. Okay, I was wrong. It’s always empty so that means I get to enjoy the place without dealing with stupid WeHo crowds and reservations.
Sometimes the service is whatevs, okay… but the food is good, affordable and cheap.
I’ve eaten breakfast on the patio, er well, drank breakfast (um, awesome people watching!), lunch on the patio (also awesome people watching) and dinner inside the beautiful interior. The inside is nice for dinner because it is small and quaint, you can really have a great date here.
Recommended. I love their burrata and the truffle shrimp pasta!

Walked in and received a genuine smile and welcome. Seating is open choice, received quick offer of a menu and beverage order, ordered an iced water and cappuccino. About 12 minutes passed before the cap was received and was a little startling to see ones cappuccino as well as others espresso drinks, being carried through the front door, across the patio, from the parking entrance and ultimately from the Ramada next door. The espresso machine is located in the Ramada lobby so know your beverage will be delivered after a little walk outside before reaching your table. Once I was over my surprise, I had to laugh. Amazingly, even after this stroll from the point of preparation to ones table, through the open air, under the birds and past the car exhaust fumes entering the parking lot of the Ramada, it actually tasted great and the real foam that sustained the entire experience and was prepared perfectly enough to use a spoon to finish off the foam after all the coffee was consumed. And all this experience of a cappuccino from next door Ramada lobby for the bargain price of $ 3.00! Oh the irony… Ramada lobby coffee served in the Primo Bistro! I am still laughing but it really, really was a great cap!
My spinach, tomato, goat cheese omelet was awesome with crispy edges, a perfect blend of ingredients and served with fresh fruit or choice of greens or potatoes. I had the fruit and it was fresh and a good variety.
Service was good and with a smile every time. I’ll have to go back to try those $ 5.00 any time cocktails. Would not make a trip to visit, but if nearby, good choice for a lite breakfast and the menu says breakfast is served all day.

Disclaimer: My boyfriend is a waiter here so my review cannot be considered 100% impartial or unbiased. There, I’ve cleared myself of any potential conflicts of interest.
Primo Bistro is a beautiful, ideally located restaurant on the strip. The outdoor patio is gorgeous and beautifully landscaped, and the interior décor is also impressive featuring exotic looking unfinished limestone walls, vaulted ceilings and dramatic lighting effects.
And that is where the drama stops.
The food at Primo is solid. I love coming here to eat! Some of my favoritest are their pizzas, their Italian club, the burger (I know — cliché but their burger is fantastic) and most of their breakfast items. Their COFFEE (both drip and espresso-​based) is among my favorite in the city. Very robust and rich flavor. And highly caffeinated. Woot.
No dessert so don’t try to order it, fatties.
People rave about their $ 5 cocktails which I believe are available all day. I don’t drink much, so I can’t really comment on that but there are some good bartenders and baristas there so not a shocker.
And they have FREE PARKING at the lot in the Ramada hotel next door. That’s like having a tableside fluffer in LA.
The service is fast and friendly, as long as they’re not understaffed. Especially if Nick is your waiter (:
Also there are secret menu items you have to ask about. Kind of like at In’n’Out except here you won’t leave the place with a brain-​wasting prion disease. What?

Had a great experience at Primo Bistro. Amazing set-​up inside. The girl at the register (Nor I think) was very nice. The kitchen messed up my omlet, but a very nice manager came out (Margo I think) and took care of it right away. Great people, great business. I will definitely go back!

Walked in here for lunch while waiting for the West Hollywood Holloween Carnaval. The place looked nice and relaxing and the menu looked someone creative but not over priced. In fact they had many cocktails for $ 5.
Ordered the crab meat spaggetti from their special menu for $ 13. For this price, I couldn’t expect something spectacular. It came with a huge serving of spicy marinara based spaggetti pasta mixed with tasteless mushy crab meat. I actually tried to avoid the crab meat because it tasted old and mushy. The pasta sauce was not very flavorful and it was only the peppers that gave it a kick.
I liked the garlic bread that it came with though.

Ive had lunch here several times.
Start with the tomato /​garlic bruchetta. mmm mmm good.
The paninis are great, I like the olive bread with turkey.
free refills on the ice tea.
The wait staff is always friendly and attentive.

I came here with my two best friends and had a wonderful diner.
The waiter «Drew» was very pleasant, warmth and very outgoing.
He took care of us from beginning to end.
I can only compliment on his service.
Now the food was great, not too heavy, and tasty.
Eggplant parmesan was great, and calamari delicious.
The overall of this place is clean, peaceful and well maintained.
Recommended.

Nice space, nice menu, and the servers are nice, too. I ordered eggs benedict with salmon instead of ham. The salmon wasn’t uniformly warm. In fact, parts were warm, while other parts were still chilled. Not the most aesthetically pleasing experience. Plus the yokes were cooked through.
I had to get up and get my own salt and pepper from the pantry, and hunt down my waiter for ketchup (mmm, home fries).
I was partched, and asked for ice tea and asked that they keep them coming. He brought me two ice teas and said that he’d try to keep up with me. That was a nice touch (I told you the servers were nice ;-).
Overall, though, the poor execution on the main dish and the lacunae in service added up to a less than sterling experience.

Their pasta carbonara dish accompanied by two slivers of garlic bread? Kick ass. Portions are VERY large and I had to force myself to shovel down that last twirl of zesty speghetti loaded with crisp bacon bits and a light garlic-​parmesan dressing.
Just an idea of how big the portions are… my friend ate a decent amount of her pasta primavera (which looked delicious) and the remainder she couldn’t finish there was packed in a to-​go in a box… there was SO much left over. It looked as if she didn’t even put a fork to it at all. So come with a HEFTY APPETITE!
Primo Bistro is located on a busy stretch of Santa Monica Blvd in the West Hollywood district of L. A…so good luck finding an unoccupied metered curbside space. Try parking in the garage RIGHT before the restaurant if you’re heading west. The restaurant will validate the ticket.
The service is fast and friendly. They didn’t have the A/​C running inside when I went, which got uncomfortable considering it was 90-​degrees and climbing outside. There’s a very large outdoor patio dining area which is actually larger than the indoors, and is littered with a bunch of umbrella-​top tables.
Highly recommended for a quick, casual lunch stop. Can’t wait to make another visit to try out some of their other menu items (mostly breakfasty, brunch, light lunch entrees like paninis, pastas, and salads).

Came here Saturday night with a new friend to try it out and do something not so close to all the action. Great $ 5.00 lemon drop martinis. Great food with excellent service and food quality that was excellent.
They are very new and learning but I will definiately be back. This place will be packed on pride as their patio is a prime location!

We wanted to check this new bistro out. The ambiance is good, maybe because it’s new. They have a fairly good menu, serving breakfast all day. The two stars because the service is slow and portion for the price is very small. We ordered our cocktails and took them 15 minutes make it. It would have been ok if they were busy, but they weren’t; there was probably 3 other couples there. We ordered appetizers at the same time as our drinks and that took them almost half hour to bring out. We ordered calamaris and yes it is appetizers, but we have gone to other places more sophisticated than this bistro and their serving was more. The serving on this was small… think of a small soup bowl. They need to speed up their service, make their serving a little bit more,

If only Unilocal had a way to leave NEGATIVE stars, this place would get ⁵⁄₅ negative stars from me. This place is a hot mess. Firstly, there are no less than 40 tables outside the restaurant on the patio, but only two of them had people seated at them. This should have been my first indication to keep on driving, but I like to give a new place in my neighborhood a shot. MISTAKE.
They have a $ 5 cosmo/​lemondrop/​appletini special. I got a lemondrop which seemed non-​alcoholic. My husband’s cosmo was nasty — but at least I could taste the alcohol in it.
The only positive thing about this place was that our waiter, a Kiwi, was attractive and had a cute accent. He was, however, a terrible waiter. A terrible waiter serving terrible food. But we didn’t know the food was terrible… yet.
We ordered the arancini appetizer. I have to believe they buy their arancini at Costco and then deep-​fry them, as they were frozen in the center and tasted like horrible airplane food. We sent them back and said that we did not want another order, just our entrees would be fine.
My entrée was the ‘chop-​chop’ salad, which was essentially a side salad with a few cubes of turkey, salami and a couple of dry garbanzo beans. My husband had ‘spaghetti bolognese’ — which was not even spaghetti! it was cavatappi or some crap they probably grabbed at trader joe’s and boiled. the bolognese was abysmal.
about five minutes after our entrees arrived, a different waitress arrived with another order of the disastrous arancini. we explained that we did not want another order, and she walked away, confused.
when i had to get up to find our (cute) waiter to ask for the check, imagine my surprise when we were charged for the arancini! we sent back not one but two orders of those nasty frozen balls, and then were made to pay for them. we paid, in cash, to get the hell out of there as soon as possible.
this place will not last. it’s expensive ($ 57 including tip!). poor to barely average food and rotten service. the music is strange, the atmosphere is grim, and overall it’s just a waste of time and money. they will never ever see me again.