Alessa by Chef Pirozzi
NOTE: This is not affiliated with Cucina Alessa in Newport Beach or Huntington Beach.
Safety precautions
- Surfaces sanitized between seatings
- Common areas deep cleaned daily
- Digital, disposable or sanitized menu provided
- Sanitizer or wipes provided for customers
- Contactless payment available
- Limited number of seated diners
- Distancing maintained in common areas
- Extra space between tables
- Waitstaff wear masks
- Diners must wear masks unless eating or drinking
- Sick staff prohibited in the workplace
- Staff temperature check required
- Diner temperature check required
- Contact tracing information collected
Popular dishes
Meatballs Panini
Best homemade meatballs ever, cheese blend, ragu sauce. Warning this is addictive!
9 reviews
Pizza Bella
Fontal and homemade mozzarella, organic tomato bruschetta, arugula and italian oregano. (No tomato sauce)
8 reviews
Bolognese Pasta
Created in house daily, pappardelle pasta with homemade beef Bolognese sauce and shaved parmigiano reggiano cheese
1 reviews
Menu
honestly... I have friends pick this place regularly... it is incredibly overpriced for mediocre execution. The menu ideas are right... the executions are far less impressive. Maybe take half off the menu, and focus on making the rest amazing.
Great food and service!
We have been to Alessa a few times and love it. The meals are great and the bread and salsa verde are delicious. It's enough to come back just for that. We highly recommend Alessa!
Food was fresh, adequate portions.
Fortunately it was a sunny breezy day
The outdoor patio is not crowded with seating so we felt separated from the other diners. Our food was delicious and the service was attentive but not intrusive.
We had a great evening here. Our server, Miguel, was fabulous. His menu recommendations were delicious. I had the short rib pasta and it was some of the best I’ve ever had. The meat was tender, incredibly flavorful, and a huge amount. My husband had the seafood pasta and wanted to lick the plate! The wine selection is huge.
Food and service as always was fantastic!!
Even under these difficult times, Alessa can still maintain quality dining experience.
I’m a long standing customer of your restaurants and love them. I also understand we are in the midst of covid, but the level of service pales in comparison to how you used to be. The portions are smaller. Your grated Parmesan covid container allows for a tiny dusting of Parmesan. I’m grateful you are still operational and hope the level of service will return when we come out of this insanity.
Salute!
Food was great!!! Everything we ordered was good. Would order again! But service was poor!!!!!
Always awesome here
Food and service were excellent! Wait staff very attentive when we requested the heater to be put on as the sun was setting and the air became quite cool at our table.
Mediocre food. Inattentive service. So-so ambience.
Food was delicious, especially the limoncello pasta! Great service. We will be back.
Had a great dinner at Alessa and they have figured out a way to keep the tables socially distanced so the comfort level was high. Since that part of Forest Avenue is blocked off to vehicles, there was plenty of foot traffic so the area was hopping and it was a great way to 'people watch' -- especially since it was Halloween . The mix and match charcuterie board was excellent as was the lamb bolognese. Very fun evening and if we visit Laguna again, we'll be sure to go back.
The food is exceptional. The lamb chops are to die for. We love Alessa's.
Love the outdoor seating. Hope it continues after Covid
Excellent assortment of quality homemade pastas and sauces.
Thankfully, Alessa by Chef Pirozzi is one of the few restaurants that is offering indoor and outdoor dining. The indoor atmosphere was quiet and cozy. Our waiter and buss-staff were excellent. My date ordered the daily special, a fresh and spicy sea bass, which was cooked perfectly. I always order clams and linguine when I can and this Chef’s recipe is the best in Laguna Beach, in my opinion. I plan to return many times to indulge in their extensive menu. BTW, our desserts were unique and delicious!
Veggie panini was delicious, bread a bit thick, but veggies nicely cooked and nice variety
I appreciate the work to build up the patio dining area. Great service!
A birthday dinner for our daughter. Long story short, food so so, service thumbs down, ambiance great. Will we be back, no.
Have been here four times - food has been above average to great each time. Service was disappointingly poor - to the point I will not return. Amazing that waiters can at times seem like we are inconveniencing them. Sat over 90 minutes - not once 1) received a refill on waters - two of the four in the party had no water for an hour, 2) asked how food was, 3) asked if we want dessert 4) clear dinner plates - were left in place well over 30 minutes. It was almost a game for us to see if we ultimately had to ask - just ended up asking for our check. Will not return - too many other options of good food that is married with five star customer service.
Wonderful food, atmosphere with outside dining, and as usual great service
Always outstanding, one of my favorite restaurants in Laguna Beach.
Excellent food and service, despite the makeshift outdoor seating, still an amazing place to eat dinner!
Wonderful food! The salmon & octopus appetizer was delicious!
We went to Alessa based on previous reviews for great food. We ordered one pizza and two salads. Unfortunately, both were disappointing. The pizza did not appear "wood fired" or hand made at all. In fact, it looked more like a frozen pizza. Normally when you order a wood fired pizza, it comes to the table very hot, with a crispy crust, black marks from the fire. The pizza that came to our table was very bland, dough was half baked and had no signs of being in a hot oven at all.
The salads were equally disappointing. My Caesar salad was swimming in dressing, so much so that the lettuce was wilted and sitting flat on my plate. It either had way too much dressing or had been prepared at least 20 minutes before it actually made it to the table. Either way, it didn't taste very good. Overall, disappointing experience given the fact that the restaurant was highly recommended.
Love the new outdoor patio in the street. Something good finally came from covid!!
They do a very good job. Shared a pizza and salad and both better than expected.
Had the best Insalata di mare ever. Delicate flavors of octopus, calamari and shrimp over a bed of greens. Chile oil added a nice flavor.
It was a great restaurant and had good food - chicken parm didn’t have much seasoning in it.(garlic) but overall the food was good. Just didn’t think was the best Italian food I’ve had not the worst either. Service was good but a little slow. Overall 4/5.
The food was delicious, the service was slow (I’m sure impacted by Covid - all good). The man that delivered bread took a bread basket back from my seven year old daughter and gave it to another table, which was very strange. He told her “that’s not for you!”. Granted, he set it down on the rail next to us and she just picked it up. It didn’t seem “pandemic safe” and sort of rude.
We’ve been to Italy, and the marina was lackluster, ravioli- too much spinach, lasagna no taste.
Great find! Last minute reservation while vacationing in Laguna with my family. We all enjoyed everything we ate. Staff was very accomadating and friendly.
Great food and good wine. Dinner was yummy and the waiter suggested some good wines that we enjoyed. The pizza was thin and crunchy and delicious. We were seated in the patio and the social distancing was followed. I gave 4 stars bc once we were seated they took our temperatures which I thought was very strange, not strange bc they took the temperatures, but strange in that they did it once we were in the restaurant and were all seated. What if we didn’t know each other well and one of us had a fever? Would they have kicked that person out? That could be very awkward. Or what about a first date??? Other than that, it was all very good.
The black ink linguine was very salty but the clams and shrimps were delicious.
Disappointing. Octopus Carpaccio appetizer was good. Pizza was doughy. We were really looking forward to some good pasta. My Ink Linguini was simply the worst I have ever had. My wife's salmon pasta was really pasta with small bits of salmon. Our Italian son in law was noticeably quiet about his meal. Desserts went further down hill. My wife's birthday cake almost required a knife to cut through. My spumoni ice cream was flat and slightly freezer burned. And, our waiter who made several mistakes, made excuses and blamed others and not once took responsibility nor corrected his errors. Once will be more than enough for us.
The service was sporadic, but understand with outdoor dining. The flavor of the food excellent but chicken a wee bit tough. Dessert very delicious.
Just not a good experience.....
- Service was terrible, had to get up and ask hostess for drink refills, had to ask the server three times for a glass of ice and my starter salad showed up several minutes after my main course had been served.
- We ordered the calamari and it showed up cold and soggy ... we ate part of it because we were so hungry, but it was the worst calamari we have ever had.
- Main courses were ok, not great, but ok.
All in all, it was not a good dining experience. We like the new outdoor seating....one o the best things Laguna Beach has done, closing Forest and adding the outdoor seating for these restaurants, but at the end of the day, the restaurant needs to put out good food and provide good service.
Hate writing a poor review, but is warranted.
FAQs
You can order delivery directly from Alessa by Chef Pirozzi using the Order Online button. Alessa by Chef Pirozzi also offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (949) 497-8222.
Alessa by Chef Pirozzi is rated 4.4 stars by 695 OpenTable diners.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting reservations at the moment.
