exEat by Eatalian Cafe

Came here with my boyfriend on Saturday at 6:30 pm. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as crowded as we thought it’d be. Apparently they have two other locations– one is on Broadway (maybe the original) and the other is in Culver City.
Venue: It had a warehouse feel but it was clean and chic. It had great lighting and a lot of seating. The kitchen is right in the center so you can see all the food being freshly prepared.
Customer Service: Our server was great. He always checked up on us and refilled our glasses without even having to be asked.
Food: They give you complimentary bread that you can eat with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. What we ordered–
+Mimmo Pizza: Thin-​crusted yummy goodness. It was topped with prosciutto, arugula and cherry tomatoes. You can smear the cheese to your own liking.
+Frutti de Mar Pasta: My favorite dish that we ordered. You can taste the seafood– I absolutely loved the broth! They were very generous with the seafood and the pasta tasted homemade.
+Pistachio and Cappuccino Gelato: We ordered the small size but they gave us huge scoops of gelato. The pistachio was my favorite :)
Overall, I would recommend coming here for some good Italian food. We will definitely be coming back here!
Tip: You can save a couple bucks by buying the Groupon deal. Also, the sign isn’t very visible– so be on the lookout when you are searching for it!

Unexpected gem in an unlikely neighborhood !! I placed a pick up order and when I arrived everything was hot and packed for me. The pizza was delectable. I will be telling all my friends about this terrific place.

Best Italian food in LA. Best Italian in LA! All the food here is delicious, fresh, served hot and did I mention fresh! If you want yummy pasta, delicious pizza and endless gelato options look no further. Or if you are in LA and want the best Italian food, go here.
Be aware the neighborhood ain’t nothing fancy and their building which is an actual old warehouse looks like a hole in the wall, but inside the restaurant is really great. Super clean and really fresh.
Don’t judge the book by its cover and give this place a taste. You will have zero regrets!

Thank you Exeat for a marvelous dining experience. I was very skeptical to dine after some of bad reviews on Unilocal.How bad the service is, food sucks and etc. it was totally the opposite for me. Starting from the ambiance was very pleasing and clean. Our server eddie was very friendly and efficient. Foods were phenomenal. Last but not last Irene at the gelatto section was super sweet! Thank you again! I cant wait to go back.

Was just there for Mother’s Day eve and that was my 5^th or 6^th time in the last few years. It’s still as awesome as when I first went. All of our 6 dishes were consistently as good as before.
It’s a kid-​friendly place. My three young daughters loved it. Still one of my top five in the area including Bowl Thai and The Pan.

Experienced horrible take out service.
Ordered take out there and it took 25 minutes to give us our order because the server overlooked that our order was already completed by the kitchen. The worst part, we ordered Quattro Formaggi but instead we found out later it was Quattro Stagioni. The Quattro Stagioni was cold because of their negligence and it was the flavor we did not like.
The gelato was the redeeming order!

Food is fantastic, the pizza is great if you like thin crust. The restaurant is a little noisy inside but it’s somewhat adds to the ambience. I’ve been to the sister restaurant in Gardena and just like that one the service seems to be hit and miss. This trip the service was slow to nonexistent but the food was great!

Amazing pizza! Pasta is also delicious. I recommend the Mimo pizza. Service is great too. Check hours before you go because the have a gap midday when they are closed. They also have a larger location in Gardena where you can see the pasta they make. Both locations are awesome

One of the things my daughter asked for on her bday was an LA day with a couple friends. For dinner she wanted Italian food. I thought I would search for a place on groupon that would be on the way back home to Orange County. Came across this great deal for this restaurant and it seemed to have great reviews on Unilocal so I purchased it.
We arrived today at around 7:45. The area seemed pretty sketchy and right next door to a laundry mat and on the Main Street. Parking was in the back next to a dark alley backed to a neighborhood? There were two creepy men about 25 feet from my car. I didn’t feel very comfortable there at night. We walked inside and it was pretty busy so I thought that was a good sign.
We sat down after waiting about 5 minutes at the door. It took about 10 minutes for our server to even greet us. He took our drink order and it was about another 10 minutes for our water and soda to arrive. Didn’t offer bread so we asked which also took awhile. Wasn’t worth the wait, just tasted like cold white sandwich bread. Ordered food which came out to us at a reasonable time but unfortunately it wasn’t great. Pizzas were very bland with hardly any sauce and cheese, chicken Parmesan was hardly covered in sauce and cheese and served with potatoes?! That was strange! Pesto pasta was pretty basic and not worth the 13 bucks. I had to get up three times because our server never came to us for refills, boxes, dessert order or even asked if everything is okay. Service was just terrible, location was the worst and food was subpar. the gelato was good though. I don’t get why this place has 4 stars!

Pasta and Pizza are my kids favorite meals — but I’ve been eager to take them to real Italian joints. We came because we had a Groupon — the reason we bought the Groupon was based on the fact that it had «Eatalian» in the name because so many of my friends go to Eatalian. We took a little while to figure out a good time to go because they are not open for dinner every night, nor are they open all weekend. So double check the hours before you go.
When we arrived we hadn’t made a reservation and though the restaurant was ¾ full — we were able to sit immediately. I loved the kitchen-​center restaurant and the minimalistic warehouse feel to the inside. The addition of a gelato cart made it charming in addition to industrial-​feeling. Totally made us drool at the thought and I’m pretty sure we had our gelato flavors made up in our minds before ordering dinner.
The server quickly came with menus and we didn’t have questions so we ordered quickly. He was attentive when he had to be (to bring bread and drinks or drizzle balsamic) and absent when he wasn’t needed. This place is more of a take your time to relax, enjoy your food kinda place so while the pace was slow for the kids pace I found it just right and the kids warmed to it eventually.
We gave it a three-​thumbs up. My teen son, though initially put off because he couldn’t find pepperoni/​sausage pizza but once he found something tasty and it was as delicious — and huge — as promised, Though it had a thin crust so he could polish it off! He calmed down. My tween daughter loved her marinara meat sauce on the pasta because it had tons of flavor and texture without being too drippy saucy. It was heartier. I personally couldn’t get enough of the amazing mouthwatering combination of flavors. Each one better than the last and I suspect it’d hit another level of amazing had i left it to sit til the next day. The portions were perfect because when we left we were satisfied but not painfully stuffed.
We left without getting gelato this time, because we didn’t want to change the flavors from the main dishes. I look forward to trying other options next time!
#ThreeThumbReviews

My mom and I have been on a hunt for good Italian food. That, along with the Korean food, isn’t high on the list of Long Beach restaurants. As a result, we’ve been branching out and trying new places. Yesterday, we headed over to exEat for lunch.
It was relatively empty, and we were seated by the window, which got awfully hot. Since there were so many tables open, I would have liked to have been put somewhere else, but it didn’t become a real issue until the temperature climbed during our meal.
We shared the caprese, the seafood linguine, and the 8 Gi pizza.
The bread to start was kind of dry and unappetizing. Of all the breads to serve, and of all the breads I’ve been served, this is low on the list of favorites. Maybe it’s not even on the list.
The caprese was beautifully plated like a flower, but the tomatoes were overripe. They were mushy and (for me) ruined the dish.
The seafood pasta was light and tasty.
The pizza was strange. I initially thought it was a ½ and ½ pizza, but we were told that all the ingredients were thrown on the pizza and every piece was different. I thought that meant that each piece was unique, since topping placement was so haphazard. Like, one wouldn’t have sausage, but another would. Instead, each piece only had ONE ingredient. I thought this was weird, and I’ll never order it again.
Overall, we had a nice lunch, but there were too many negatives for comfort.

The food is five stars, but service was definitely 4ish, even a 3 if I was completely honest. I came on a Saturday night at 7pm and the place was packed. The waiters are walking around, working hard and the hostess was also busy at the gelato stand. We didn’t know what to do and no one greeted us so we stood there near the door. Another couple came in after us and jumped ahead of us to sit at the bar area where the kitchen is. It wasn’t until we tracked down a waiter that he finally put our names down at the hostess stand. They definitely need a better way to let people know where to put their names or have someone greet customers.
We ordered and the food came out quickly. My bf had the Italian sausage penne, my brother had the shrimp penne, and I had the ham and bacon penne pasta. We also ordered a ham, bacon, and artichoke pizza. I really love their pizza here because it’s thin, so it’s faster to cook and not doughy. I think all of our pasta dishes could’ve used a little more meat and seasoning, as we all added either more salt and pepper, or hot sauce. All the dishes were really solid with al dente pasta, but could use some more spices.
I love that all the wait staff were so hard working, which is why I gave them a 5. BUT they need to hire more to make sure that their customers are taken care of. Nobody greeted us or checked on us while we were eating, and they also ran out of bread. For a place that is so popular, they definitely can bring in more wait staff to make their customers even happier. I love to support small businesses, and they are a family business, but service definitely needs to improve.

Came here for a second visit, and was extremely disappointed by the service! It’s Friday night, and this place is super crowded and extremely understaffed. I only see one server running around the whole restaurant. I do feel bad for the guy, but at the same time, it’s not fair for us to have to suffer and pay premium prices. He took our order and forgot to bring our water. I had to hunt him down to ask for water and even though I asked for easy ice, he brought me a cup filled with ice and hesitated when I asked him to change it. He never came back to our table the whole time we dined even when he was in our area, he just ignored us. Never came by to ask if everything was okay or to refill our empty glasses, actually nobody came by at all. My BF had to go up to him when he was the register to ask for more water. This is basically like a fast food joint where you order and get your food and that’s it. My BF had to wait forever in front of gelato stand to order, because nobody was there for awhile because the few staff they had were running around. There were people standing around everywhere waiting for a table or gelato, what a hot mess! Management needs to make sure this place has enough staff to accommodate the Friday crowd. It’s not fair for the staff and the customers!
Food was pretty good, not as good as the first time but the bad service really ruined our experience here. I don’t plan to come back, and would rather go to the original Eatalian restaurant.

What a swanky little italian bistro in an unlikely neighborhood!
I use the Superior mexican market next door all the time for my cheap groceries but it is not the nicest area [it’s Hawthorne]. But coming in here today for lunch really transported me to a modern day perfect lunch downtown. There was a large italian menu filled with your carb fixes like pastas, raviolis, pizzas, paninis as well as your coffees and gelatos and pastries! I’m stoked about this place!
GET THE PiZZA: My boyfriend claimed that most people that come here order the pizzas and I simply refused to order pizza cause I’m stupid. He let me try a slice of his mushroom pizza and it was fantastic. Thin crispy crust just the way I like it and quality stringy mozzerella.
Spaghetti Carbonara: Not the best carbonara I’ve had. Lots of bacon [which most people would die for] and the sauce was little broken. Nevertheless, I finished the whole thing because it was still tasty!
Prices are definitely lower than the ambiance, service, food and experience. My carbonara was only $ 11 and it could have been shared! Our servers were attentive and perfect gentlemen. One thing they can improve on is the bread. I know it’s stupid but they serve it while we wait for our meal. If they spruce up the loaf a little more it’d be perfect.
Next time, I’ll definitely be back for the linguine con vongole [clam, white wine sauce] and linguine frutte de mare [seafood]. It seemed to be on a lot of folks tables! And the desserts I had to hold myself back from trying it all

I’m pretty sure I’ve already written a review for EATalian as their menu’s are practically the same and also under the same ownership, but thought I’d still leave a review for this place since they are only open for lunch! They do get pretty busy for lunch, but I haven’t really had issues with time or waiting. If I had to pick an Italian restaurant in the South Bay, both Eatex and Eatalian are my favorites, it would just depend on which is closer to me in terms of distance. I will say the ambience at Eatalian is much nicer, but for lunch, Eatex is good enough!
Highlights: (Since I really love everything at this restaurant, I will list off what are my personal favorites to order here)
— Marlon Brando: Half Calzone with ham and Half Rock (you get both a pizza and a calzone!)
— Margherita Pizza: Simply, but delicious!
— Tortelli di Zucca: The butternut squash ravioli just melts in your mouth. I’ve only tried it with the butter sauce, but they also offer a Pancetta sauce if you prefer!
— Penne Capresi: Hands down my favorite! While simple, the pesto is delicious and the chunks of mozzarella are so fresh!
*The only things I’m not really a fan of here are the salads. I’ve tried the Emilia, Seafood Salad and Garden Salad, but they aren’t really things that will blow you away. However, I still always order a salad since everything else at the restaurant is relatively pretty heavy/​carb based.

Availability of tables is back to normal now that the Groupon deal from last year is over. Their pizzas are tasty and light, but with the crust being paper thin, you can eat the whole thing and not have eaten much substance.
Their main draw is the handmade pastas. I have a thing against dried pastas, so I really enjoy finding places that make their own pastas on site. This is one of those places. Their handmade pastas are not world class, but none of the places in LA are. I suspect our water has something to do with it. However, it is still pretty good, and I especially like their carbonara. We’ve tried several other sauces, but we enjoy the carbonara the most.
The gelato cart is a don’t miss if you’re a dessert fan. Wine selection is Italian only, so I don’t recognize any of the wineries. However, at their prices, they are just table wines that you can’t go wrong with.

Unilocal challenge 2016 (⁴⁄₁₀₀)
I still can’t believe I’ve written a review for this one. This one is also closer to home, but a smaller, café style. It’s a great place for lunch! I do believe their hours are weird. The food is pretty much the same at EATalian, exEAT, and enjoEAT. This particular restaurant is just not my favorite out of the three.
Their pasta is always cooked al dente and the their super thin crust pizza is always delicious! I recommend the Carbonara, Linguini and Clams, Spinach Ravioli, or the Rock pizza!
Their gelato bar is just a small cart so they don’t carry much flavors. It gets pretty busy around lunch time and it’s small so get there accordingly. Service was a little slower when I came here.

** Food is not as good when you get it to go, especially the pizza– most likely because it’s not pipping hot. Pizza takes very little time to make b/​c it’s so thin, so unless you’re there to get it and eat it at the time, it’s usually cold & disappointing, especially if you’ve eaten it at Eatalian or exEat.
Vegetarian review:
— Their pizza’s are wonderful. Thin crust, very authentic. There are a bunch of different types– take a look at the menu pictures.
— The pesto gnocchi isn’t as flavorful as I would have liked. Not, um, salted enough? Lots of cream & basil though.
Just as good as Eatalian with less people. They seem to have the same menu.

Came here with a group at lunch time and they had our table prepared for us even though I made a reservation just 30 mins before. Great service!
I ordered the tuna salad which was literally a can of tuna on top of salad greens but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised coming to an Italian place. Definitely order a pasta of pizza if you plan on visiting here an I’m sure you’ll have a stellar experience. Coming back for the Italian food next time.
Parking is easy, use the lot.

First, I saw Eatalian featured on KTLA Borrous’ Bites and found a Groupon to try it out. The Groupon was for a new Eatalian restaurant separate from the factory Eatalian restaurant. It’s located on a busy part of Crenshaw, next to a laundry, and a little hard to find. Once we were in, we found a clean new looking restaurant with upscale fixtures and glass viewing area of the chefs at work.
Our waiter Paul was very patient with us and advised us on what are his favorites, and not necessarily the most expensive, like many wait staff do. My wife chose the butternut ravioli (Zucca pancetta) and I had the shrimp pasta (Penne Gamberi) plus a shared salad.
I have to say that this is the best Italian food I’ve ever had! When I think Italian, I usually go to Buca Di Beppo, but have now strayed into welcome territory which is fresher, lighter and tastier than what I’ve ever experienced. The ravioli was just slightly sweet, and the shrimp and pasta was done just right! I just wish they would open a San Gabriel store!
Dessert was low key, but topped off a quality lunch, with Gelato and pastry along with Cappuccino.
According to our waiter, this location has been here about 4 years and there’s a new chef heading it up. Food comes fresh from the factory and is prepared within hours of being made. The pasta is perfect, but we still need to try their pizza; I heard it’s pretty popular!
I’m going to try the original Eatalian next to compare and contrast the two. I hope to find something very special, such as seafood pasta, which is also recommended at the factory store.