La Pergola

Sad to hear this place closed. I dined here many times since the early 90s and always enjoyed the amazing quality of their dishes as well as the welcoming service and overall feel. Tino’s authentic Italian restaurant left a great impression on me.
I am stoked that I know how to make the butternut squash rigatoni dish so I’ll always have that one dish! :)
* this place was a favorite or the legendary Marlon Brando!

GONE! Guess Tino through in the towel!
Just my humble opinion mindya!

Overall a nice place to have dinner. It is a bit pricey, but everything is homemade and they grow a lot of the veggies and stuff themselves. I went with the farm fresh salad, which was good; my only complaint is that the «fresh» green beans were a bit mushy the way they were prepared. I would have preferred to taste that lovely, fresh crunch and flavor. For my main course I ordered the pasta with eggplant. which was delicious; great light tomato sauce with wonderful flavor, perfectly cooked pasta, and yummy eggplant. Portions are not very big for the price. Service was superb though!

This is an excellent restaurant. The service is friendly except for this one waiter who is kind of weird. But unfortunately, this place is going to close forever soon!!! So go here while you still can!!! The food is to die for.

Came here with my co-​workers last week for a company dinner. We called ahead and the staff at Pergola had all of our tables ready for us to dine!
We had a preset menu to choose from, which included soup or salad, and entrée, and dessert. I ended up getting the Caesar salad, and ravioli del giardino (I think?).
Caesar salad was… a Caesar salad. However, I was really intrigued by the ravioli because it had zucchini flowers in it (something I don’t think I’ve tried before), and I had also heard that they were made with fresh ingredients from the garden in the back of the restaurant. The ravioli tasted pretty awesome, I haven’t had anything like it before so I was really fascinated with the filling. It was in a light cream sauce that complimented it very nicely. I would highly recommend this dish!
Some of my co-​workers got the shrimp scampi and they weren’t impressed. They said it was lacking in sauce so they had asked for more, but then when they got small cups of the sauce, it was really liquidy and not as thick as we would expect a cream sauce to be. They both sent back their dishes and got another pasta dish instead which they seemed to like better.
For dessert, we were supposed to have 3 – 4 desserts to choose from, but when the time came they handed everybody the exact same thing. We all got slices of their homemade apple tart, and their tangerine sorbet. The apple tart was ok, I wasn’t sure what it was just by looking at it and didn’t know until we had asked the waiters. However, the tangerine sorbet was REALLY good. I could have totally just eaten a helping of it by itself!
I give this place 4 stars for having original dishes with homemade ingredients from their very own garden. Not many places have ingredients as fresh as that!

The BEST neighborhood restaurant I have found and been going to for years now. What a random and surprise discovery one day! And I have been going back ever since, bringing anyone who will accompany me!
Amazing Italian, they grow all of their vegetables in the back — this place is an authentic, first to do garden to table!
My favs are any of the salads, if zucchini flowers are in season MUST get, Tino’s Ravioli (named after the owner), the lamb (always on special)…
My friend licks her plate of the ravioli sauce and claims it is better than an orgasm. I have to say I agree…
The wait staff (other than an odd ball new acquisition) is OUTSTANDING. They are another reason I love to come here.
This is a great place to bring family, a group of friends, a date — either special or casual, and even love to come by myself to enjoy a great meal.
I hate to give away my special place — but since the recession I have noticed they aren’t as busy. They also raised their prices a few years ago (it isn’t cheap, but my friends and I split things to enjoy excellence and still get out of the house).
Parking is easy.
This is a very special place ~ treat yourself and do not spread the word, ha.

Still great after all the years I’ve been coming here. Same chef for 25 years. Owner is always present. Must be how they maintain their quality.

Homemade macaroni, fresh herbs, and the best tiramisu outside of Italia…

Neighborhood Italian restaurant — good food, good service but nothing special to make it stand out from all the other italian restaurants in the area.

Had an excellent dinner last evening. I had the lamb chops cooked perfectly and my friend had the Choppino. Service was impeccable. Nice ambiance and setting for quiet meal.

I went to La Pergola for the first time the other night with my husband and another couple. We were disappointed. The food was mediocre, the prices were high and the waiter pushy. Also, the waiter brought us the wrong appetizer, after explaining one that sounded delicious. I as looking forward to trying it, but then he brought something that we had discussed, but not ordered. He also split my salad with my husband when I told him not to. I just felt that he didn’t listen or care. The salad supposedly was made from the garden in the back, but the green beans tasted canned to me. The place was dead. There were two other tables there the whole night. The waiter said that the place is for sale. I can see why.

They have their own garden! And yes the food speaks for itself. I don’t go often but when I think of it, it’s a great dinner.

Quiet place for lunch, should be great «date» place for dinner.
Good and service is good.

Update on 4÷9÷2014: So sad! I understand they’ve closed. This is a real shame.
This is a quaint, friendly Italian restaurant located in Sherman Oaks, CA. And it truly is quaint and friendly.
The food is quite enjoyable and has a very fresh taste. They have their own garden where they grow some vegetables and herbs. The freshness shows up in what they serve.
Let me start with the appetizer: roasted figs atop a little piece of toast, topped with shaved Parmesan. The figs were fresh and delicious. The contrast between the crispy toast and the soft fig was perfect.
I ordered the rib eye steak special. Sadly, the other person I was with ordered the same thing and it was the last one they had. I substituted the rib eye for a filet. The waiter offered to give us each half, which was nice of him.
While the filet was slightly overcooked, the rib eye was perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. In any event, I’m not a big filet fan so I’d be biased toward it no matter what.
I have to add one key point. They serve Oban (14-​year I believe) and a glass is a real glass. It was a very generous pour and a fantastic single malt. It complimented the meal perfectly.
For desert we got the home-​made tiramisu with a glass of iced Bailey’s. It was a very nice cap on a very nice meal.
This is a great, local eatery and I’ll certainly be back.

Sweetie and I wanted to go to a local Italian restaurant, so she suggested La Pergola. She was saying, the restaurant has been around for years, and quite good. The owner has a bit of land close by, and farms it for the restaurant.
The interior looks Tuscan, and I guess you might say, the food also.
There are plates with the Italian style on the walls, and nicely lit inside.
We had the stuffed squash blossoms, a pasta of the day, and a green salad. All these dishes were really good.
There was many dishes off menu that were offered tonight.
We had a couple glasses of wine, and enjoyed the evening.
I even heard someone speaking Italian here !

Taken here on my birthday, and though rather sparsely occupied on a Thursday evening, the interior warmed me with its rustic, horticultural charms. Friend tried to order the penne without mushrooms in the sausage and other stuff in tomato sauce, but the waiter wasn’t sure; however, the dish emerged sans shrooms, thanks to the concerted efforts of the same waiter, a rather intriguing fellow donning a mysterious Tolstoy-​esque beard.
The list of specials was long enough to overwhelm, so I opted for Ravioli del Giardino, featuring fresh vegetables (including the elusive zucchini flower) from their very own garden. It was delicious! Flavorful and fresh cream sauce dressed maybe seven or eight good-​sized ravioli, which I finished with a glass of decent house red. Desserts are made there, so the tiramisu had to manifest, and it tasted like an expertly executed classic. Being the birthday girl, I won the last bite.

One of those special Italian restaurants that I love going to celebrate birthday’s and romantic dinners. The food is always delicious and Tino-​the owner grows his own vegetables in the organic garden around the corner. The atmosphere is romantic and quite lovely with Italian ceramics and large plants.
The service is always excellent and I love the trout, my favorite.
They have amazing wines and desserts too, my favorite is the spumoni ice cream and tiramisu.

Van Nuys/​Sherman Oaks is grossly underrated in favor of the more sassy environs over the hill, but in the end it’s an undeniable hot plate of good eats and multiplicity.
REVIEW:

One of the best authentic rustic Italian Restaurants in the Los angeles Area. My family took me here for my birthday and it was absolutely Perfecto ! I am a food blogger that focuses on rustic country cooking and using the freshest ingredients possible, well Tino-​the owner grows his own vegetables in the organic garden behind the restaurant.
Order anything –it’s all good !
Twitter: @CiaoFlorentina

My husband and I thought we’d try this place since we just moved into the neighborhood. The place is small and cramped. They have a patio that never seems to be open even on the nicest of evenings.
The pasta dishes we decent, but very small. Not that we minded because we’re not big eaters, but we did feel nickled and dimed when the check came. They charge for refills on their tiny glasses of soda and juice to go with their tiny meals. Needless to say we felt robbed at the end of the night.