Chef Parker Rosbrook is an Executive Chef renowned for his Italian cuisine and passion for crafting artisan pizzas. He emphasizes the use of local and high-quality ingredients, drawing inspiration from acclaimed...
Mora Italian is an intimate and classy Italian restaurant and wine bar located in Encino, California. It features a cozy ambiance with checkered tile floors and black-and-white photos. The restaurant offers a happy hour with half-priced wines, rosé, Spritz, and pizza. Seating includes a small indoor dining area and a heated outdoor patio. Parking is limited in the lot but street parking is available.
Customer feedback highlights the restaurant's good service, cozy atmosphere, and excellent wine selection. The Tiramisu and Penne Arrabbiata are frequently praised. However, some reviews note that the food can be inconsistent or average compared to expectations set by older press, with dishes like cacio e pepe being very pepper-forward and the bass sometimes oily or overcooked. The indoor seating benches are considered too high by some, and the outdoor seating can be noisy due to proximity to Ventura Boulevard. Portions are sometimes perceived as small for the price.
Additional Details
The restaurant is described as a local Italian wine bar, offering a sophisticated yet chill environment. A bartender named Jorge was specifically praised for his wine knowledge and professional service.
Happy hour, offered from 4pm-5:30pm, is a popular time to visit for discounted wines and pizza. Thursday evenings around 5pm have been noted as less busy.
3
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.
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.
This was my first time here. It's a Thursday night around 5pm and it wasn't too busy, but we eat early. My family mentioned they wanted to come here and I was curious to checkout the happy hour. At the time of the visit, they didn't have cocktails (but that might change), but they do have wines, rose, Spritz and pizza. These are half priced from 4pm-5:30pm for happy hour. They do have beer, but it's not half priced. We tried the olive oil cake, which was different and I enjoyed it. It wasn't sweet and went well with my wine. They do have digestivos, which I think they call liquors
The restaurant has a very cute vibe. I love the bar area. They do have outdoor seating and it's heated. Parking is available, but this parking lot is super busy. There is also street parking available.
I do plan to come back to eat. I want to shout out the bartender, Jorge. He took good care of us. He definitely knows his wines and was very professional. I appreciated him sharing about the restaurant and answering my many questions. The staff was very friendly and helpful. My family will be returning. I'll have to wait until my next visit to LA.
A friend invited me to join them at this establishment. I honestly was not expecting such a special place. I was merely trying to meet up with a friend.
Besides finding my friend, I found an intimate local Italian wine bar with a very classy and sophisticated environment.
The parking lot is not large, so it might be the case that you’ll need to maybe park on the street curbside, but the walk would not be far.
I just appreciated how relaxing and classy this place was. I want to place emphasis on the word “intimate“. This place is chill.
However, the best part about this establishment might very well be their food.
It’s a wine bar—and if you’re a wine lover, you already know you’re not going to have a problem finding a good glass of wine at an Italian wine bar. What I was not expecting was to have a pasta dish that I would find to be remarkable.
The “Penne Arrabiatta” was outstanding. Mouthwatering.
I look forward to trying more of their menu. The service was excellent. Attentive and responsive. Mora Italiano gets five solid stars from me.
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.
