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Alessa by Chef Pirozzi, Laguna Beach, CA

Alessa by Chef Pirozzi

4.4 (1634)
$30 and under
Italian
234 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651-2114

Make a reservation

2 people
7:00 PM
Booked 28 times today

About this restaurant

  • Great for outdoor dining
  • Neighborhood gem
  • Lively
Bustling pizzeria just steps from the beach that serves thin-crust pies & pasta amid a rustic dining room.
NOTE: This is not affiliated with Cucina Alessa in Newport Beach or Huntington Beach.

Additional information

  • Dining style
    Casual Dining
  • Price
    $30 and under
  • Cuisines
    Italian, Pizzeria
  • Hours of operation
    Daily 11:00 am–10:00 pm
  • Phone number
  • Payment options
    AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
  • Dress code
    Smart Casual
  • Executive chef
    Alessandro Pirozzi
  • Catering
    We have many years of experience catering a wide variety of events (weddings, birthdays, holidays, celebrations of life, corporate gatherings, etc.) Let us know how we can make your day special by emailing us at info@aplittleitaly.com.
  • Delivery & takeout
  • Neighborhood
    Laguna Beach
  • Cross street
    Forest Ave.
  • Parking details
    Street Parking
  • Additional
    Bar/Lounge, Corkage Fee, Delivery, Full Bar, Non-Smoking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Takeout, Wheelchair Access

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What 1,634 people are saying

Alessa by Chef Pirozzi reviews from people who’ve dined at this restaurant. Based on recent rating.

Overall ratings and reviews

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

4.4
4.4 based on recent ratings
  • 4.5Food
  • 4.4Service
  • 4.5Ambience
  • 4.3Value

NoiseModerate

Loved For

  • Orange County

    Great for outdoor dining

  • South Orange County

    Great for outdoor dining

Review summary

AI-generated from verified diner reviews
Alessa by Chef Pirozzi offers a wonderful Italian dining experience in Laguna Beach, with "excellent food" and "spectacular" ambiance. Guests rave about the "amazing" cioppino and butternut squash ravioli. Outdoor seating provides a charming atmosphere, though service can be inconsistent. The restaurant remains a "Laguna staple" with "friendly servers."
1,634 Reviews
  1. Jenny VIP

    Orange County14 reviews

    5.0

    Dined 5 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Absolutely love dining here! It feels like you're in Italy, especially getting g a table side near outdoors or eating on patio. The inside can get a bit stuffy. But, this is Laguna Beach, after all! We've been dining here for years and always consistent in their traditional recipes as they are from family recipes The staff and servers are excellent. Always very attentive. The cioppino is my all-time favorite. The best broth I've ever had.

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  2. Sandra VIP

    Orange County13 reviews

    4.0

    Dined 5 days ago

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 4
    Great dinner but a family came in with 4 small little ones who were very unruly and very noisy it kind of spoiled the night

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  3. Seymour VIP

    Orange County65 reviews

    5.0

    Dined 7 days ago

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Excellent food and service . Larissa is terrific server

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  4. Jack VIP

    San Francisco Bay Area36 reviews

    5.0

    Dined on July 21, 2025

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Great cocktails, entrees and desserts. First time trying out the restaurant - will be a definite repeat. Generous helping of clams on the linguini and clams. A friend thought the ricotta cheese cake was very delicious and authentic to her Italian/New York upbringing.

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  5. Deborah VIP

    Orange County49 reviews

    3.0

    Dined on July 18, 2025

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 4
    My sister and I had an excellent dinner. My sister ordered the seafood pasta and I ordered the limoncello pasta, and we shared a Caesar salad. Both of our pasta dishes were delicious, and the Caesar salad was fresh and crisp and excellent. The service was just horrible. I have eaten at Alessa’s many many times and have never had service as bad as we experienced last night. It was a busy Friday night, but we got there before peak dinner hour, being seated at 4:45 PM. Nevertheless, the service was horrible. First of all, I wanted to order a whiskey, sour, but they didn’t have any sweet-and-sour mix at the bar. Then I ordered a Mojito, which was delicious, but arrived at our table at least 20 to 25 minutes after ordering it. When we ordered our food, we waited at least 30 minutes for the salad to arrive. As the waitress dropped the salad off on our table, she said she would be back with bread. She did come back with bread, approximately another 30 minutes later, and by then, our salad had been eaten. We again waited an extraordinary amount of time for our pasta dishes, and then another extraordinary amount of time before we were asked if we wanted dessert. There is no explicable reason why things should’ve taken as long as they did, and I have never experienced that before at this restaurant, but it meant that our dinner took about four hours. The evening was beautiful and the outdoor dining area was very pleasant, so we didn’t mind sitting there, but if someone was actually hoping to get good service, that was not the night to receive it .

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  6. ellen VIP

    Orange County49 reviews

    5.0

    Dined on July 17, 2025

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Great food. Savannah,our server was outstanding. Knowledgeable, kind, a great smile. Loved sitting outside.

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  7. Maree VIP

    Philadelphia County28 reviews

    2.0

    Dined on July 15, 2025

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 2
    We were looking forward to Italian and what we got was an okay experience—first, the wine choices are not great (both by glass and bottle). Food was okay. Their bruschetta was a plain pizza pie shell and a tiny dish of tomatoes. My friend ordered the burrata/tomatoes which was the most appealing dish ordered here. Best part of dining here was our waiter who was both professional and hospitable.

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  8. Charlene VIP

    Orange County7 reviews

    1.0

    Dined on July 14, 2025

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 3
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 3
    Food was good but horrible service. Sat for 15 minutes before acknowledged by server. Ordered a Diet Coke that came about 30 minutes into the meal after asking for it 3 times! Received bread when meal was almost over. No checkups, no refills. We normally go to 230 Forest before The Pageant Of The Masters and we will be back there next year and going forward. Alessa is just not good enough.

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  9. Bill VIP

    Orange County26 reviews

    3.0

    Dined on July 4, 2025

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 4
    Have been coming here for years and will plan to do so just not that often. The food is great, the location even better and pricing is very fair but the one consistent thing that keeps us coming here more regularly is the service or lack there of, I can’t remember the last time I had a server who showed any effort to be pleasant or welcoming or hospitable in any way, often times quite the opposite, I’ve definitely felt like I was an annoyance or something that was just unfortunate part of the job rather than being welcomed and Feeling appreciated. I think there’s been one time where a server made us feel that good but the majority of the time it’s unfortunately not the case. That being said everything else is great and it’s nice to go for a walk afterwards, so it’s a nice restaurant to go to once every few months but if you wanna feel good about yourself, I go somewhere else. And God forbid something is wrong with your food, for instance, we asked for something in our dish to be cooked a little extra and they came out regular so when we reminded the server he manually picked every single piece off the plate, put it onto another plate, took it back to the kitchen and had them heat them up a little more, and after a long delay brought them back, which was kind of what we were asking for but it’s the first time I’ve ever had a server be that nitpicky about it, usually they bring out another serving cooked correctly or as requested but we didn’t say anything because that was about par for the course. 

    1 person found this helpful

  10. Robert VIP

    Orange County99 reviews

    4.0

    Dined on July 3, 2025

    1. Overall 4
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 5
    We visited Alessa for dinner with the grandchildren, aged 6 and 4. They enjoy sitting outside and watching the dogs in Laguna. This is a great time of year to take advantage of the outdoor seating. The food is good and is consistent.

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FAQs

Alessa by Chef Pirozzi offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (949) 497-8222.

Alessa by Chef Pirozzi is rated 4.4 stars by 1634 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

  1. Home
  2. United States
  3. Orange County
  4. South Orange County
  5. Laguna Beach

Make a reservation

2 people
7:00 PM
Booked 28 times today
Google Map for Alessa by Chef Pirozzi

234 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651-2114

Additional information

  • Cross street
    Forest Ave.
  • Neighborhood
    Laguna Beach
  • Hours of operation
    Daily 11:00 am–10:00 pm
  • Price
    $30 and under
  • Cuisines
    Italian, Pizzeria
  • Dining style
    Casual Dining
  • Dress code
    Smart Casual
  • Parking details
    Street Parking
  • Payment options
    AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
  • Executive chef
    Alessandro Pirozzi
  • Additional
    Bar/Lounge, Corkage Fee, Delivery, Full Bar, Non-Smoking, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Takeout, Wheelchair Access
  • Delivery & takeout
  • Phone number
  • Catering
    We have many years of experience catering a wide variety of events (weddings, birthdays, holidays, celebrations of life, corporate gatherings, etc.) Let us know how we can make your day special by emailing us at info@aplittleitaly.com.
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