Primi Al Mercato

Pici? Peachy! (I really wish someone else made the play on words before me, because I’m totally cringing at myself for not being able to resist.)
Dora Senior and I spent the afternoon in Santa Monica, and Diego agreed to drive out after work to meet us for dinner. He left the task of choosing a restaurant up to me. My only objective was to avoid having to drive to another location, since we were already parked in one of the structures at the Promenade. Great food options on the Promenade lack in every way, and the new restaurants on the top floor of the outdoor mall are definitely more flash and cash than they are rewarding to the taste buds. As I’m already struggling to think of possible options within walking distance, Diego texts a bomb on me. «Italian would be nice.» It didn’t sound like a suggestion, either.
Wow. Good Italian near the Promenade (which eliminates all options ON the Promenade, as well as on Ocean) within close walking distance? Unilocal to the rescue!
Primi Al Mercato came up, and despite the mixed reviews (which mainly focused on service), my mental filter honed in on the positive reviews of the food. We’re not fans of «Americanized» Italian food, nor do we think that half a pound of pasta per person should be an average sized serving, so I was hopeful. I can never understand why folks rate and review places like Primi al Mercato in comparison to, let’s say, Buca di Beppo. Or, rate and review a place like Buca di Beppo against Primi. At the more authentic restaurants, you’re not going to get tons of red sauce and cheese on your lasagna, because that’s not how they eat it in Italy. Your dish is not going to be the size of a small hatchback hub cap — filled to the spokes with a mound of pasta. (Wait…rims have spokes, right?) Anyway, my point is — you should be able to tell by the absence of red checkered table cloths and mozzarella sticks on the menu that it’s not gonna be that type of place. The Promenade (and a block over) is your oyster for places like that.
Service was fine. Our waiter was attentive and helpful with the menu. Our water glasses were refilled without request, and he even made polite chat with us.
Food:
— pumpkin soup with marscapone: Dora Senior loved her soup. Diego had a taste and loved it, too. It was definitely suited for folks who prefer pumpkin soup to be more earthy than sweet.
— octopus salad: This was disappointing. One of the Unilocal pictures showed wonderfully meaty pieces of white, fleshy octopus atop fresh greens. Instead, I got khaki and brownish colored pieces of octopus — what looked like — intentionally hidden under all the heavily dressed greens. Yuck. I was really looking forward to this, too.
— parpadelle with lamb ragu: Diego was very happy the ragu was the «right» color for a lamb ragu. He was even happier as he finished his whole plate. I cant believe he actually offered Dora Senior a taste.
— seafood risotto (nero): Risotto was cooked just right, and the sauce was a perfect compliment that tasted like the sea (in a good way).
— i pici: The favorite! This was absolutely fantastic. The understated, yet savory flavor of the sauce was a perfect match for the delightfully chewy pici. We all decided we would return just for the pici alone. That good.
So, 5 stars for the pici, for which we shall return. Minus 1.5 for the salad and for the Cabernet served in the same wine glasses used to serve the breadsticks. I know that makes 3.5, but Unilocal doesn’t do ½ stars.
I think dinner for the three of us on a Thursday night was around $ 90, pre-​tip. Peachy!
(cringe)

Great food. Primi Al Mercato is a branch of Valentino’s, but cheaper. Dining style is very casual.
[Purée of Pumpkin Soup with Mascarpone Cheese]
A kabocha pumpkin purée with mascarpone. A very fresh purée.
[ PIcI, Large Homemade Tuscan Spaghetti, Ragu of Heirloom Tomato, Pancetta and Fava Beans]
So delicious. All the flavors are pretty clean with perfect salting
[cannoli]
2 freshly made cannolis for 7. Ricotta and mascarpone in the filling, with something kind of champaigny (poppy seeds? This puzzles me to this day).
Pretty darn good, but kinda expensive for 3.50 each.
Overall Primi Al Mercato is awesome. Flavors are clean with perfect salting.

it’s really average 2.5 star to be fair. I only had the food to go. the fusili something with pork tomato ragu… it looks good. the server suggested that … i took it to go along with $ 3 fresh squeezed orange juice, my bill come to $ 11. i was so excited. went back to the office. heat it half of it and started to dig in. meh… nothing special. feels like the sauce is missing something. it’s just ok. booo… the OJ is good though. freshly squeezed not too steep a price. i would have given 2 start on the food only but i am feeling nice

I have mix feeling about this place. The food is really really good — I had the seafood /​shrimp ravioli special. It’s really tasty. But everything else about this place is just kinda blah.
1. OK I went alone so I sat at the bar — but then from the bar you can see the kitchen — while it’s not dirty, their kitchen is really not tidy enough to show it off as an open kitchen.
2. What is up with their server throwing the «dirty dishes tub» to the ground especially if they have customers sitting near by.
3. Part of the ambience reminds me of an outdoor café in France or Italy — but somehow in Sunny Santa Monica, they place this resturant indoors… that’s just weird. What a waste!
4. Price vs Service vs value??? I could have easily paid the same amount and eat at a decent restaurant — at 17.99, I am paying restaurant price for a food court ambiance.
I’ll do «to — go» next time.

GREAT FOOD.
The pappardelle with lamb ragu was a meaty delight! The sauce was aromatic, robust, and had a very generous serving of ground lamb. Not too salty or heavy at all, as these dishes tend to be!
The octopus and squid salad. Wow! A VERY generous heaping of seafood tossed in vinaigrette. You could tell they used a good olive oil as its taste was delicate. The large pieces of seafood were wonderfully moist and flavorful.
The shrimp diavolo pasta came with perfectly cooked spaghetti and fresh chunks of tomato. A light dish with shrimp so fresh they popped when I pierced them with my fork!
— — — — — — — — — — — — —
GREAT SERVICE.
We came during the lunch hour on a Saturday but wanted to order off the dinner menu instead. No problem, they said! Now, how often do you get that in L. A!!!
Throughout our meal, the waiter checked on us often and dirty plates were cleared quickly.
In all, I had a great first-​time experience dining here. I will definitely make it a point to come back AND recommend this to my friends.

Even thought I live in the Westwood area within easy reach of 40+/- good to excellent Italian restaurants, there’s always room for one more.
I was very excited to see that Primi al Mercato had pici pasta and HOMEMADE! To my knowledge, there has been only one restaurant in LA that offered pici and it no longer exits. For those of you who haven’t tried pici, either catch a plane to Tuscany or go the the Mercato. Pici takes skill and a long time to make and prepare. It’s even difficult to find in New York and difficult to find for sale in dry form. As usual, fresh is better. Nothing holds a good sauce better than pici. So glad to see it’s available locally!

Piero Selvaggio of Valentino owns three establishments at the Santa Monica Place Market — Primi al Mercato, Norcino Salumeria cheese bar, and Laboratoria di pasta. I love Valentino, but unfortunately Primi isn’t Valentino or even the old Posto. It is a lot more affordable though.
I dropped by the bar on Sunday evening for a glass of wine and the assorted salumi. The salumi comes from Norcino Salumeria across from Primi, literally. I watched a server walk my plate of thinly-​sliced meats across the mall from Norcino to Primi. The salumi was good, but nothing really popped. The cured meats also came with three little slices of toast and an onion marmalade. The wine selection was straight-​forward, but clearly Selvaggio is not tapping into his spectacular cellar.
As mall food goes, this is great stuff. As fine cuisine, it doesn’t stand-​out. Maybe I didn’t order right. After all, the place is called «Primi» and not «Antipasto».

Being long time fans of Valentino’s in Santa Monica we are delighted to report Piero’s new endeavor brings his great food and service to the Santa Monica Mall. Valentino fans can now enjoy quality meals in his new restaurant Primi Al Mercato. There is free valet parking on 4^th St. Just park and take the escalator to the third floor and look for the entrance to the «Market». Once in Market Primi Al Mercato will be easy for you to find with take out and restaurant seating. Needless to say the food is as wonderful as you would expect from Valentino. The portions are generous and moderately priced with a good selection of wine available. We tried a pasta dish, sandwiches and bruchetta, and had plenty for a doggie bag. Will definitely recommend to everyone!

Worst service!!! We walked in to wait for a table, and sat at the bar while we waited. The person taking table requests promised us the next table — but gave it away!!! We talked to him reminding him that he promised us the next table, and he totally lied, telling us that they had taken a «reservation» — the restaurant doesn’t take reservations, and we had seen the people who were seated at the table walk up and ask for a table. The incompetent manager was the one who gave the table away, knowing that we had been waiting for a table, just assuming that we would settle for the bar. The food is only marginal, and the prices are high. We asked for bread several times to no avail, the portions were extremely small, and the manager is incompetent. He knew we were upset, knew that we knew the waiter lied to us (after consulting with him) and offered no apology or explanation whatsoever. What more can I say??? The good reviews are either written by shills or by people who went on a Monday night. So many better choices, even if you just want to grab a quick meal at Santa Monica Place. Go to Pizza Antica or Curious Palate — so much better!!!

Stay away from the main italian waiter. Pushy Pushy Pushy.
We ordered shrimp skewers, caprese salad and a bolognese dish.
Food was ok, nothing that exciting. La vecia on main street has better food.

My friend and I visited «The Market» in Santa Monica today. We ended up at Primi al Mercato’s sit down restaurant. The service was great. We both decided to try the prosciutto ravioli and the caprese salad. The caprese was fine, everything fresh, but on the small side. The ravioli, OMG, if we could have licked our plates clean without being ostracized, we probably would have. The ravioli was so flavorful and cooked to perfection. The sauce was a nice light, bright tomato sauce with just enough basil and Parmesan cheese to complement the dish-​Yum!
This was a very satisfying meal.

3.5 stars.
Primi al Mercato is a great place for pasta. They have two sides, one is a counter with a partially open pasta making kitchen, where you can buy a variety of fresh pasta, sauces, and some meat dishes to take home. On the other side, it’s a little restaurant with duh! fresh pasta :)
We had the special of the day, which was the pasta with calamari and shrimp. It was very similar to italian style, a light tomato sauce with garlic and small bits of calamari and shrimp. It was flavorful, the pasta was al dente, and my only complain is the portion, I wish it was a little bigger. Service was friendly and prices were moderate.

Impulse Friday night dinner at the mall. We were intrigued by the menu at The Curious Palate, but the place was packed and the reviews were bad, so we decided to give Primi Al Mercato a try. Turned out to be a good choice. The food was good and the service impeccable (it actually looked they were overstaffed for the number of customers they had); the manager checked in several times during our dinner to see how we were doing.
Farmers market tomato bruschetta: We ordered this at the manager’s suggestion. My husband loved the smoky flavor from the grilled bread, and the tomatoes were quite lovely. The bread was perfectly crisped, but by the time we got around to eating the last piece, the tomato juices had soaked through and it was a little soggy. I probably would have preferred it if there were more (and smaller) slices of bread — they were so large it was a little difficult to eat. Not sure I totally bought in to the finely grated Parmesan they put on top, but overall a good dish.
Pennette all’arrabiata: Nice and spicy! And served piping hot. The flavor profile was a little more complex than what I’m used to for arrabiata — couldn’t identify what the mystery ingredient was. Pasta could have been a teeny bit more al dente for my taste, but everyone has a different opinion as to what the perfect texture is.
Housemade limoncello tiramisu: This was an absolute winner! No coffee in this — it tastes more like a very light lemon cheesecake.
Total bill for the above dishes, a beer, and a soda came to $ 35. Pretty reasonable.

I paid a visit to primi on their first day, i had been waiting to try out for months and i was pleasently surprise about the quality of the food.
They have a really talanted Italian chef in the kitchen. at least for now.
There were some gliches in the service and other important details to fine tune, like… what about writing what the food is? .in English! since we are in America! that was actually funny.
It worked for me since i am Italian but i had to practically spend 15 miuntes of my dinner time explaining the menu to my next door diner who was clueless about the exsotic names used on the menu… they sound authentich though! she said. Haa ha!
The other funny anecdote was when we ordered the lasagna (super delicious by the way) which my wife and I ordered after seeing this succulent dish in front one hungry lady who almost looked distressed by the size of the plate: Almost as saying, is this all for me for real?
it was huge and looked FANTASTIC!
Loaded with delicious ragu’ sauce (meet sauce). My wife and I looked at each other and already knew what we were going to order, lasagna is also my wife’s favorite.
Well, for the very quick thinker out there you already know what happened next… our order looked like the Lasagna abandoned second child, half the size or less, and…
.
WHERE IS THE SAUCE??? I CRIED IN MY HEAD.
To their credit the nice counter waiter fixed it right away and brought us back our «child» loaded with ragu’ sauce and extra parmesan cheese!
I guess it is understandable considering it was their first day.
I give it a 5 star for the food and for their effort to bring real high quality italian plates to the table for an affordable price in a casual and fast (can improve there !) setting.
I will defenatly go back to try all the other goodies i could not taste the first time around, and by then they might have implemented some english in the menu so i can focus on my meal :) and keept the super size Lasagna :)

Sweet little Italian counter with attached restaurant. The food is very good, but the portion sizes are too small, especially for the price. A casual lunch for 2 was over $ 30. The food was also served luke warm. Perhaps a few kinks to work out due to being open less than a week. But counter food shouldn’t cost this much, especially if portions are so small.

I’ll chime in for the take out counter. The pasta looked good, that’s why we got it. It tasted decent… I’ve had better, but it was decently priced compared to what’s inside the Market.
The downside is the customer service wasn’t great and there were no prices listed anywhere. The pasta could have had more taste, but it was above average.
I’m tempted to give it 3.5 stars, but the restaurant looked pretty good and so did the homemade pasta. I’ll hold my final judgment until later…