Osteria La Buca Sherman Oaks

We came here for a friend 's birthday after a ton of recommendations and were pretty disappointed. Pros: Quiet Storm cocktail: a tasty and refreshing rhubarb whiskey sour. Portion sizes were generous. Cons: The ambiance is ultra modern but comes off like a fast casual restaurant. Our table didn 't have enough bread for our party size (5 pieces for 6 people) and we weren 't offered a refill. The Buca farm lettuce is literally that: a $16 plate of mixed greens in a lemon oil. Decent but not worth the money Entrees: The short rib ravioli was covered in a cream sauce that had broken, the Nero spaghetti was overly fishy, and I regularly make better pappardelle Bolognese at home. A 5% non removable service charge for the kitchen. I know this is becoming a standard fixture at many LA restaurants, but it 's unacceptable. While we didn 't expect special treatment for my friend 's birthday, nothing was done to make it a nice occasion. I told the server after we placed our orders and all we got a quick happy birthday as we were getting up to leave. There are far better places for Italian in LA Oste in West Hollywood for example. Go there instead.

Had dinner here last night after a break of about 8 months and not was it magical! I had the pork chop and man oh man. Every dish that came out was a good as the last. The halibut, the chicken, and the pastas, all amazing! Highly recommend!

Atmosphere is great for sure, but food wasn’t that big of a deal. Pasta was dry and bland, broccolini w garlic wasn’t good at all, bitter w a strong flavor. Customer service was ok except for the fact that they serve the cheese on top of the pasta w bare hands with rings in each finger and lots of bracelets, that shouldn’t be acceptable ? people can definitely get sick from that. Don’t go there if you are looking for vegan options, there’s barely any.

Good food however it is too pricey. One appetizer, One side salad, one Pasta dish for lunch came out to $95.

Very good quality meals here, everything we tried was delicious. Nice fresh bread comes out before your meal. The Lambrusco wine was excellent. Service was wonderful and the atmosphere pleasant. I booked a reservation through Capital One and as a perk for doing so, we received a free tiramisu for dessert, which was really great! No complaints!Parking: Metered parking on the street out front, free street parking behind the restaurant, but it’s a few minutes walk