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Pasta has been a beloved part of LA’s dining scene since the 1970s, when restaurants like Peppone and Valentino introduced high-end Italian food to the city. Before that, classic red-sauce Italian restaurants like Dan Tana’s and Miceli’s served heaping bowls of spaghetti, but in recent years, chefs have combined the bounty of Southern California produce with quality pasta that’s either extruded or produced in their own kitchens. The results are a varied, internationally-inflected set of pastas that come from both regional Italian restaurants and California-style menus.
These are the best places to get pasta in Los Angeles. Added to this map are Marea in Beverly Hills, Ettore inside the Original Farmers Market, and Ètra in Melrose Hill, making room for Jilli, Pasta Sisters, and Union, which have been taken off. Matthew Kang is a lifelong Angeleno who’s been eating pasta since the days of Clancy’s Crab Boiler in Glendale, which served a mean linguine with clams in a stainless steel pan (Clancy’s is now long gone).
These days, he’s more likely to make pasta at home, but still finds inspiration at Evan Funke’s restaurants, Felix, Mother Wolf, and Funke. Cathy Chaplin, a James Beard Award–nominated journalist, is a former senior editor at Eater LA and the author of Food Lovers’ Guide to Los Angeles. Sirena Sirena sits steps away from the glimmering Pacific on a bougainvillea-shaded terrace and serves some of LA’s most memorable pastas in the Westside.
Whether digging into linguine vongole, bucatini all’amatriciana, or pappardelle ragu Bolognese, order a side of pastry chef Thessa Diadem’s piping-hot focaccia for sopping plates clean. Save room for as many desserts as possible. Also featured in: 16 Stunning Waterfront Restaurants to Relish in Los Angeles 16 Destination-Worthy Hotel Restaurants in Los Angeles La Dolce Vita LA isn’t known for its red sauce spots, but the rebooted La Dolce Vita may change some minds.
The menu features five different kinds of pasta, including classic spaghetti and meatballs, a delightful tagliatelle vongole with plenty of clams and parsley, and a luscious bucatini al limoni. Tack on a chilled seafood salad and a crisp-cold martini for a standout evening. Also featured in: The Best Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles 17 Old-School Red Sauce Italian Restaurants to Check Out in Los Angeles Marea Coastal Italian had a moment a few years ago where it seemed like every new restaurant had some element of it on the menu in LA.
But few of them could truly hit the highs of New York City’s Marea, which opened late in 2024 with an energetic dining room in Beverly Hills. The pastas aren’t just fantastic, they’re generously portioned so that no one will leave the place hungry. Fusilli with red wine braised octopus is a classic from Marea’s early menus, while the cassarecce with uni, crab, and Calabrian chiles bursts with multi-layered ocean flavors.
The gnochetti with plump ruby shrimp is another must-order pasta. Also featured in: The Hottest New Restaurants in Los Angeles The Best Splurge-Worthy Restaurants in Los Angeles Crossroads Los Angeles Chef Tal Ronnen’s goal has always been to offer a superlative dining experience without “obvious vegan cues,” and the decade-old Crossroads flagship in West Hollywood feels as fresh and relevant as ever. Snag a candle-lit booth, sip a well-made cocktail, and dig into all the pastas.
An Impossible “meat” Bolognese plays well with house-made tagliatelle, while the ravioli filled with summer corn is ladled with a slightly spicy tomato “butter” sauce. Most people will honestly never realize that the dishes are plant-based. They’re that good.
Also featured in: The Best Gluten-Free Restaurants in Los Angeles, According to Eater Editors The 38 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Ettore Vino e Cucina The largest new restaurant inside the Original Farmers Market, this bastion of classic Italian food come from a co-owner of Osteria Mamma on Melrose and Ettore Winery in Mendocino. As expected, the menu starts with little wine-friendly bites like gnocco fritto and chicken panelle. Mid-course, there are nine or so pastas from which to choose, like traditional pappardelle bolognese, tonnarelli cacio e pepe, or ravioli with ricotta.
The approach is very typical of Italy — unfussy, well-executed, and generous enough. Also featured in: The Best Lunch Deals for Dine LA Restaurant Week, Winter 2025 Sign up for our newsletter. Check your inbox for a welcome email.
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Angelini Osteria Angelini Osteria is a Beverly Boulevard legend thanks to chef Gino Angelini and his incredible pasta-making skills. The classy dining room remains one of the most reliable places for top-tier Italian food in the city, even if dozens of other newcomers have come in the decades since Angelini opened. From the restaurant’s signature lemon cream pasta to the linguine with sea urchin and the fried basil-topped lasagna — this is a true haven for pasta lovers.
A post shared by Angelini Alimentari (@angelinialimentari) on Mar 7, 2019 at 12:22pm PST Also featured in: The Best Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles 20 Los Angeles Gourmet Shops for Building the Perfect Picnic Basket Cento Pasta Bar This former pasta pop-up, which ran for several years as a lunch residency at the Downtown wine bar Mignon, landed a brick-and-mortar location with outdoor seating in West Adams in 2021. Chef Avner Levi’s signature pasta preparations include beet spaghetti topped with a dollop of burrata, a spicy carbonara with chile crunch, and gnocchi paired with braised Swiss chard. Also featured in: 19 Restaurants to Get Pasta Takeout and Delivery in Los Angeles 14 Decadent Burrata Dishes to Start Off Meals in LA Antico Nuovo A perfect meal at chef Chad Colby’s Antico Nuovo begins with a piping hot focaccia, followed by as many pastas as a party can handle (the portions tend to be kind of small despite the sky-high prices).
The half-dozen or so varieties change with the seasons and the chef’s whims. The delicate rabbit-filled parcels (plin dell’ alta langa) are not to be missed, along with the classic pappardelle with beef cheek and veal tongue ragu. Snag a seat along the open kitchen for a front-row view of all the magic.
Also featured in: The Best Splurge-Worthy Restaurants in Los Angeles The Best Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles Ceci's Gastronomia Chef Francesco Lucatorto and partner Francesca Pistorio opened their Silver Lake restaurant following the success of Ceci’s Oven, a pandemic-era pop-up. The casual spot is best known for focaccia sandwiches, but don’t overlook its duo of lovely lasagnas that make for a hearty lunch or easy bake-at-home dinner. The pesto one is layered with bechamel and scratch-made noodles, while the ragu number features beef Bolognese.
The rigatoni pasticciati made with beef Bolognese and bubbling caciocavallo and Parmesan cheeses tastes like a comforting Italian hug. A post shared by Ceci's GASTRONOMIA ®️ (@cecis_gastronomia) Also featured in: The Best Restaurants in Silver Lake The Best Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles Pijja Palace Indian and Italian flavors mingle beautifully at this Indian sports bar at the site of a former foot clinic. Pasta offerings from Roberta’s alum, Miles Shorey, include the best-selling and genre-bending rigatoni with coriander-spiked tomato masala and cream, and shells with nihari braised lamb, fennel, and sumac yogurt.
Try the recent addition of shahi fusilli, a thick paneer-laded sauce with green cardamom and toasted fennel seeds that gathers all the earthy, bass of notes of a great curry with the addition of twisted pasta. Also featured in: The Best Restaurants in Silver Lake The 38 Best Restaurants in Los Angeles Spina Spina brings plenty of pasta by chef Pablo Cruz to Atwater Village using noodles from Mani In Pasta , a wholesale handmade Italian pasta company founded by one of the restaurant’s partners. The half-dozen primi include classics like cacio e pepe and ricotta-stuffed ravioli with butter and sage, along with pricier items like the tonnarelli al tartufo e salsiccia that rings in at nearly $40.
Also featured in: Editor’s Favorite Restaurants to Try This Weekend in LA Amiga Amore Danielle Duran-Zecca and her husband Alessandro Zecca opened Amiga Amore in Highland Park in 2023. The restaurant’s menu brings together Mexican and Italian flavors with an outstanding selection of original pasta dishes. The signature elote agnolotti is filled with corn and cotija cheese and finished with housemade Tajin and finger limes.
The huitlacoche cacio pepe melds the Roman classic with earthy corn smut and a 63-degree egg. Also featured in: The 17 Best Restaurants in Highland Park Hippo Chef Matt Molina’s enduring restaurant Hippo in Highland Park continues to draw crowds hungry for a California take on handmade pasta, large-format proteins, and plenty of cocktails. The menu states everything is made by hand daily, and with this level of quality, it’s hard to believe the claim (Molina was a chef at Mozza for many years before opening Hippo).
The patio is especially fetching when the weather warms up, and so is the corn-stuffed agnolotti — get it if it’s on the menu. Otherwise, the comforting duck ragu tagliolini is a popular pick and even comes with a gluten-free option. Also featured in: The 17 Best Restaurants in Highland Park The 14 Best Places to Order Refreshing Cocktails and Drinks in LA.
