Mora Italiano

Reviews

• JS

  Jon Shapiro

  Jun 4, 2026
  2.0
  We arrived at Mora Italiano in Encino and immediately wondered whether to call it a restaurant or a closet. The indoor dining area is extremely small, with only enough space for a few six-person tables and a handful of seats at the bar. That’s essentially the entire indoor seating capacity. The outdoor seating isn’t much better. Tables are crammed into what feels like a parking lot, less than 100 feet from Ventura Boulevard, making for a noisy and unpleasant dining experience. The menu was surprisingly limited, with only a handful of entrées and pasta dishes. Service was acceptable, but the food was disappointing. The pasta was overcooked, lacked flavor, and the meat portions were minimal despite prices around $25 per plate. The bread cost extra and arrived cold, dry, and clearly reheated, with only four tiny pieces served. The sea bass was $35 and appeared to be less than three ounces. It was also overcooked. The other pasta dishes at our table tasted like inexpensive dried supermarket pasta and were similarly overcooked. Overall, the food did not justify the prices, and the dining setup was uncomfortable. Save your money.
• GS

  Green Sea Shells

  May 17, 2026
  3.0
  Went to Mora Italiano after reading several reputable articles on their website about the restaurant and its original chef direction, so my expectations were probably shaped by that going in. The restaurant itself is cute, with checkered tile floors, black-and-white photos, and a cozy atmosphere. Service was attentive throughout the meal, and the wine was probably the highlight of the night. We ordered the focaccia, salad, cacio e pepe, and arrabbiata. The focaccia was fine, but not especially memorable. The salad was very simple — mostly tomato, cucumber, breadcrumbs - good dressing! The cacio e pepe was very pepper-forward with thinner noodles than expected. The arrabbiata leaned heavily into tomato flavor, to the point where we kept trying to figure out the balance of the sauce. Portion sizes were fine! Nothing was bad, but the food felt more average than expected based on the restaurant’s online presence and older press coverage. I do think the website and articles should better reflect the current kitchen leadership, since the chef associated with many of the published articles is no longer there. Overall, a pleasant experience with good service and atmosphere, but the food itself did not stand out as much as I expected.
• DD

  Dr.Foodie

  May 11, 2026
  4.0
  Small and quaint spot for hidden gem of a place for decent italian food. Only thing with the indoor seating is that the benches are way too high for the table. I felt like a dog eating out of a bowl and had to be switched to the patio seating. Very limited parking in the lot. Calamari was delicious and not overcooked with too much breading. Pizza was delicious with a good crisp and quality ingredients. The bass was a bit too oily for me and the vegetables were drenched in the oil. Asparagus was either overcooked or in the oil for too long I dont know. Bread service was... interesting. Focaccia was very thin and almost like a cracker. Would maybe add a bit more in the dough and bake a little less? The star was the tiramisu. Light moist with all of the flavors i want in a tiramisu. Will come back and try the pasta.
• DB

  Dan B

  Apr 24, 2026
  5.0
  Tasty food. I would highly recommend the vodka pasta. Service is always very pleasant too.
• RS

  Ryan.seif83 Seif

  Apr 15, 2026
  2.0
  Cold food, snall portions, bad services, and pneumonia more thing!

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