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C&O Trattoria
Venice Pier
31 Washington Boulevard
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 823-9491
www.cotrattoria.com

Ordered Dishes:

Half Oven Roasted Rosemary Chicken (Country Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables)

Penne Spinaci with Italian Sausage (Ricotta Cheese, Spinach Cream Sauce, Fresh Ground Nutmeg, Pecorino Romano Cheese)

Killer Garlic Rolls

Review:

A friend of mine recommended C&O Trattoria to me because it was one of his most favorite local digs. Because Dan so loved Italian food (and I so loved the idea of ordering wine on an honor system!), I decided to take him out to a surprise dinner here. Judging from website photos, I was expecting the place to be very romantic and pretty; It wasn’t. It also didn’t have an ocean view, which several photos seemed to suggest. And other than having two entrances, which made things a bit confusing, C&O Trattoria was easy enough to get to and did have a great location. Paid parking looked to be always available and just yards away.

We were seated in the restaurant and not on the veranda. To us, the place looked more like a dive than a popular Italian eatery. There was no floor and no ceiling, just a large tent above the entire dining room (which made the acoustics of this place pretty unpleasant). Also, the chairs were plastic and scraped up against the gravel lot in a most uncomfortable way. There was a cute fountain on the veranda, but other than that, it was pretty much the same thing. What got us really excited, though, was the menu which detailed a wide scope of hearty Northern Italian fare. The menu at C&O Trattoria really romanced big eaters!

Here was something that we thought was pretty lame:

We started off with a plate of complementary Killer Garlic Rolls, which were piping hot and constantly being churned out by the kitchen. At C&O Trattoria, their Killer Garlic Rolls are their signature. We liked them okay.

I contemplated ordering a glass of their self-serve wine, but decided that the novelty of doing so was just not worth the impending ickness. Here is a photo of one of the self-serve wine stations:

Dan ordered the Penne Spinaci and opted to add Italian Sausage for an extra charge of $3.50. Here was his dish:

We thought that the portion was rather meager and unimpressive (given that it didn’t meet our great expectations haha). The pasta was cooked al dente, and the sauce was okay, just somewhat bland. A whole lot of extra Pecorino would have fixed that problem though. What really disappointed Dan was what little sausage he got for the money… there was almost none at all. What’s more, the sausage was all chopped up into confetti, which was certainly an odd form of presentation! Poor Dan. I totally let him down on this one.

My dish was the Half Oven Roasted Rosemary Chicken. Most people know that I love roasted chicken! To me, it is one of the most perfect foods ever. Yummy all the way.

The roasted chicken was dry but eh-dible (Like that? Its my latest made up word!). The accompaniments you see were about the same. The food here doesn’t taste fresh. We barely touched our food didn’t bother with left overs.

I think brunch at this place may be a better option.

Rating:
5 out of 10 Spoonfuls

Value:
$$