Santuari - Los Alamitos

We can back during the week to celebrate a birthday. It was nice, not crowded. I ordered Mary's chicken and I noticed they changed it a little. I do like the new recipe. Still great service and friendly atmosphere.

Santuari is a very elegant beautiful restaurant. The menu offers various different items each having a different twist to them. I enjoy restaurants that change there menu often because I like trying the new items they offer. The service was great. Our waiter answered all our questions and even gave us his recommendations. For alcohol I really enjoyed the cocktail I ordered it was with plum and it was sweet just how I like it. I recommend starting with the albacore crudo. Albacore was fresh the sauce was citrusy and very tasty. For the main I ordered the pan roasted branzino and it was amazing. The flavors were perfect it was so soft it melted in my mouth. Cant wait to return and try their new items.

Dinner last night at Santauri Restaurant, Toluca Lake. We've been driving by this very pretty place for the last 15 years or so and always said we were going to try it sometime soon. Last night spontaneously we finally did. The location is both an office building with an upscale trendy Fitness center for the millennial and entertainment crowd from the neighboring studios in Burbank and a trendy restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. It is very pretty with great and interesting architecture. The ambience and the service were great. The food 50/50 and highly over priced. It's one of those places with a celebrityish chef and kind of an eclectic menu. The Branzino fish entree at $43, was a generous portion, delicious and perfectly prepared, the sliced pork belly at $19 was not. It was appetizer sized, served in a cereal sized bowl, barely warm, (intentionally I was told), was more chewey than tender and was generally unsavory and unappealing. We had cheesey potatoes as a side because they only offered carmelized carrots as an alternative.They didn't offer any kind of a dinner or garden salad, no bread or butter and the scallops we had as an appetizer, which were perfectly prepared and delicious came at a price of $24 for TWO average size scallops. I was shocked and wondered if the waiter ate the other two? Overall the architecture and ambience were beautiful, the service and wait staff were excellent but none of that was enough to make up for the generally pretentious menu and the over priced food. Drinks were also priced at $14 a piece. At $180 for our meal, I expected something memorable. It was,... but for all the wrong reasons. We don't eat like this all the time as it gets too expensive but we do eat out a lot and enjoy trying new places as Los Angeles is a Haven for great restaurants and different types of cuisine from all over the world and the different ethnicities that make up this city. Last night we were celebrating closing a lease deal we finished this week. If you don't take a chance or risk in life to try something new, you never know. Some surprise and are amazing,... others not so much!

Great food and absolutely stunning atmosphere. We sat inside and felt like we were on vacation in another country, not just down the street from home. Ordered a huge myriad of food and every single thing was good.

As soon as you arrive at night , the lighting of the restaurant is remarkable and impressive. The restaurant itself has 3 rooms that includes 2 indoor and 1 outdoor. We sat indoor and got to enjoy the room design and escape. The outdoor faces a tennis court. The servers Martha and Sammy took very good care of us all night. They provided excellent service with a smile. There were 5 of us so I got to taste many dishes. I had the branzino and was very happy. I tasted the short ribs, the chicken along with delicious sides and appetizers. The tres leches dessert and churros were a delight! Let 's not forget the cocktails too. I really enjoyed Bean there done that! I definitely would go back!!