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ISO: Bottomless PASTA BOWL

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ISO Unlimited pasta bowls ala the Olive Garden but in a more upscale setting like Drago or at least Angelini. Something on the West Side would be ideal, but I'm willing to travel to Hollyweird :()---<

Any help would be much obliged.


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  1. It's not really an upscale setting, but not the corporate feel of Olive Garden at least: C & O's Trattoria at the end of Washington Blvd. in Venice. I've never been wowed, but it's okay pasta and a lot of people love their garlic rolls which are unlimited. The pasta bowl isn't bottomless, but it's virtually impossible to finish a full order in one sitting (and I eat tons). I can't think of any upscale place that does that sort of think--I think most of those places are really focused on quality, but in manageable portions.

    2 Replies
    1. re: mollyomormon

      I was about to suggest C&O as well. It's a fun restaurant and the food's really not half bad (way better than Olive Garden, and maybe slightly better than Bucca di Beppo's depending what you order at each). I don't think you can expect all you can eat to get much better than that.

      1. re: Pei

        C&O's isn't bad, and there's really no comparison to (gack) the Olive Garden. Drink quite a lot of the honour-system chianti and you'll like it better. The portions are, as mollyomormon said, gargantuan; my wife and I split one.

        I don't know if they do all-you-can-eat, but I couldn't eat more than one bowl of pasta anyway.

    2. "All you can eat" and "upscale" are words that really do not go together...

      1. I think what you might be looking for is Maggiano's. All their dishes off the "family style" menu are bottomless, they will continue to refill all your pasta and non-pasta dishes such as chicken, salads etc until the paramedics arrive. Dining is a more upscale experience, albeit loud generally. A lot of fun with a larger party too.

        2 Replies
        1. re: davinagr

          Much to my horror my mom chose Maggiano's for her birthday dinner. I purposely didn't eat much that day because I figured
          that if I was really hungry I wouldn't mind the bad food so
          much. Well, hunger or not, I found my pasta inedible. I ordered rigatoni with marinara sauce, and had them add
          some shrimp. How bad could that be, right? Well, the sauce
          was horrible. I had 2 bites of pasta, 1 shrimp and pushed
          the bowl away. The sauce tasted like it was out of a bottle.
          It amazes me that people are so accepting of bad food as long
          as it's in huge portions.
          The only nice thing I can say about the Grove location is that the patio is really pretty. Oh, and the waiter was quite accomodating, too. My brother ordered the stuffed mushroom
          appetizer and, since I had previously asked the waiter about meat/poultry products in one of the menu items, the waiter was nice enough to remember that and had the sauce for the mushrooms
          put on the side (he informed me that it contained chicken stock).

          1. re: davinagr

            The paramedics will be responding to your sodium poisoning... it's like the Big Three (Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill and Maggiano's) decided to replace taste with salt.

          2. Well...Maggiano's sort of filled the OP's request for more upscale and bottomless bowl. I personally don't eat there anymore due to all the reasons mentioned here. If I'm going to waste my carb calories I'd prefer to cook Italian at home. Not thrilled with the Italian choices here in So Cal.