Restaurant: LAVO Los Angeles
Location: 9201 Sunset Blvd Suite 100, West Hollywood, CA 90069 | (310) 817-6441
Date: November 22, 2025
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Solid Neighborhood Italian
Sometimes you don’t need a Michelin-starred tasting menu or a six-month reservation. Sometimes you just need a solid Italian spot down the street where you can take the family for a good meal without overthinking it. That’s exactly what LAVO delivered on this particular Saturday night.
LAVO is part of the TAO Group empire, which means it comes with a certain Vegas-adjacent energy — think scene-y nightclub vibes meets red-sauce Italian. The Beverly Hills outpost sits on Sunset Boulevard and sprawls across multiple levels, each with its own personality. We settled into the bar area, which had that warm, amber-lit glow you’d expect.
The entrance sets the tone with honeyed sconces, black-and-white marble, and a splash of abstract art.
The bar area—curved marble, leather stools, checkerboard floors, globe pendants. Classic and comfortable.
We started with a nice spread of appetizers and salads to share around the table.
Crudo – A pretty arrangement of tuna, salmon, and whitefish swimming in vibrant salsa verde with fried capers scattered about. Fresh, bright, and a good way to kick things off. The capers added nice little pops of salinity.
Beet Salad – Roasted heirloom beets in ruby and gold, with creamy goat cheese and what looked like toasted pistachios. The beets were cooked perfectly—tender but not mushy—and the cheese provided a nice tangy counterpoint.
Regular Salad – Mixed greens with avocado, almonds, cucumber, and tomato in a citrus vinaigrette. Simple and fresh—exactly what you want alongside heavier Italian mains.
Mushrooms – Sautéed wild mushrooms with garlic and herbs. These were glossy and gorgeous, with that wonderful woodsy, almost truffle-adjacent flavor you get from properly cooked mixed mushrooms. The garlic was present but not aggressive.
For mains, we went with fish and the house specialty.
Salmon – Herb-panko crusted with a chickpea ragout and lemon butter. The crust had a satisfying crunch while the fish stayed moist inside. The chickpea ragout was a nice change from the usual vegetable sides.
Sea Bass – Pan-seared with crispy skin, served with an herb sauce and an arugula-fennel salad. Beautiful presentation with the bay leaves, and the fish was cooked spot-on. The fennel salad added a fresh anise note that worked well with the rich fish.
Meatball! – You can’t go to LAVO and not get the famous one-pound meatball. This is Chef Ralph Scamardella’s signature dish—imperial Wagyu and Italian sausage, topped with ricotta. It’s ridiculous in the best way. Rich, meaty, and meant for sharing (though I won’t judge if you don’t).
Dessert brought the trendy and the classic.
Dubai Chocolate Cake – If you’ve been on social media at all lately, you’ve seen this viral sensation. LAVO’s version features pistachio cream domes over a pastry base, sitting in a pool of warm chocolate sauce. It’s beautiful, it’s trendy, and it actually tastes good—rich pistachio, bittersweet chocolate, a bit of crunch. The hype is at least partially justified.
Ice Cream – Vanilla bean gelato with a delicate pizzelle wafer. After the richness of everything else, this was a refreshing, simple finish. Classic for a reason. Necessary to cut the richness of the “cake.”
LAVO isn’t trying to reinvent Italian cuisine, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s a decently-executed, crowd-pleasing spot that delivers exactly what you’d expect—good food, good drinks, good vibes. The famous meatball lives up to its reputation, the fish preparations were both solid, and having something as trendy as the Dubai Chocolate Cake on the menu shows they’re paying attention to what people want. For a quick family dinner just down the street from our rental, it hit the spot.
