Bee Sting and Cheesus.
Bee Sting, nicely balanced. I wanted more interplay between sweet and spicy though. Couldn’t taste the honey.
Cheesus. If you like the flavor profile of Cacio E Pepe this is it. Great combination of 3 cheeses and the amount of black pepper is perfect.
The pizza does need a few minutes to air out and firm up a little. The crust is thin and the underboob had some good char to it. I like char.
Service was top notch.
Spot on with the cacio e pepe comparison. I’m also totally with you on letting the pizza rest a bit. In fact, I find it travels surprisingly well.
Cheesus Christ
Lil Stinker (this is fast becoming one of my favorites)
Undercarriage shot
I live in walking distance so I’ve been a few times. First, I think the food is quite good. And while the competition means it is a low bar, I have few qualms about saying this is the best restaurant in Culver City (excluding Hatchet Hall, if one considers that Culver City). I really like being able to come over here, have a beer at the bar and get a pizza or calzone.
I don’t really think this is a destination place in LA. The real problem for it in that regard is Sotto, which is (a) comparably priced (maybe a bit more expensive) but (b) better at just about everything Roberta’s does well. Even the bee sting, which is quite good, pales in comparison in my view to the Fiorata, Sotto’s equivalent spicy salame/honey duo pizza.
From a neighborhood perspective, it was nice to see the place so busy and lively on a Thursday night at 9. A lot of places struggle in Culver; this seems to be doing pretty well.
Great assessment.
Though, I do think it is at significantly different price-point (lower) compared to Sotto. Maybe it’s just that the cocktails and wines at Sotto are a lot more pricey.
As an FYI I believe they are doing only natural wines on their list at Roberta’s -For those who are into that / or not
They’re actually two different pizza styles. Sotto is shooting for more traditional Neapolitan, while Roberta’s deliberately isn’t. As a result, the crust at Roberta’s is crisper, while at Sotto it’s a bit more moist and droopy.
I prefer Roberta’s myself, but Sotto is also undeniably excellent.
SPACATELLI chicken livers, red walnut and orange zest
It was oddly tart, I wonder what wine the kitchen used to make the sauce. The walnuts were very good, they were crispy on a the outside and soft on the inside, tasted freshly roasted. The pasta itself is “rustic”. The orange zest wasn’t detectable and the liver seemed almost an afterthought, little overcooked bits of meat. The food was fine, but doesn’t have the lovely unctuousness and minerally flavor of Sotto’s liver pasta (one of my favorite pastas in town).
Does Bestia make liver pasta?
That’s funny. I was reading and thinking “I wonder if she’s tried Sotto’s chicken liver pasta?” That would be yes. The question is, why haven’t I?
I mean I get it, I guess. But ultimately I’ve never been to NYC or the original so I just care that it’s pretty good. Not revolutionary but sometimes pretty good idea enough
I had never heard of roberta’s before this past week, either the original Brooklyn one or this one in Culver City, so the hype did nothing for or against my opinion. We were hungry, and my friend lives very close by, and we weren’t going to get into felix’s, which settled our last minute dinner plans.
My first and most lasting impression is just the volume. It is SO loud in here. But i looked around, sort of clocked where i was, what sort of…thing the platform is, and moved on. We split the bee sting which was very easy to like, and i definitely tasted the honey which i thought complemented the sweetness of the tomatoes and the salinity and grease of the rest of the pie. We had a perfectly fine cacio e pepe which came next, and our starter of grilled squid with…was it oro blanco? It was mostly a thick squid inky sauce that was underwhelming and even though my friend said we had no preference for when the dishes came out, i really wished i had asked for this to be first, because it was just weird that it came after the much better pizza and decent pasta.
I liked the dessert very much though! I can’t remember how our server described it because i couldn’t hear him. But it was the only dessert (i think…) and it was like a polenta cake round topped with a slice of blood orange and had other bits of citrus surrounded by a moat of what my friend said reminded her of labneh, a slightly salty yogurty sauce. There was rosemary in the cake, and it was salted as well. It was not a very sweet dessert, but it was lovely. I like the crumbly yet tender texture of desserts like this, and welcomed the distinct pops of salt grains and the rosemary.
I suppose that if i had any expectations that this place would in any way transport me to NY, i might be disappointed. But i felt that it made perfect sense exactly how it is exactly where it is. And it was pretty good pizza i would not travel for, and not better than comparable pies i can get in SF.
Thanks for the warning (and the rest of the report). Can’t stand the noise level in some places, so I know to bring my ear plugs. 
I think the Famous Original is my favorite pie at Roberta’s right now. Closest thing you can get to Patsy’s outside of East Harlem.
I’m lazily flipping through the Roberta’s cookbook right now. I feel we have been seriously dismissed. Where is our guineau hen?
Also, why does the stracciatella cost $15 and in Brookly it costs $9? They even charge more for the bread and butter here. Such a money grab. Carlos and Roberta’s could have come here and done great things, instead, we get another generic pizza place, albeit great pizza.
According to the online menu, it’s $15 at their New York locations too.
Maybe. I’ve never been to Roberta’s in NY.
But that cookbook is a compilation of years of menus during what was probably their most creative period when no fucks were given and they just put whatever they felt like on the menu.
I don’t really enjoy being at The Platform so there is that, but they have some interesting non-pizza items on the menu. Maybe it is a watered down version, I can’t say. But comparing them to their cookbook is kind of like comparing a new album from a band to their greatest hits.
That cookbook is excellent. I stole some good ideas and techniques from that one!
both location’s menus are pretty similar in terms of items and price. most of the items are the same price and some items are even cheaper at the platform–calzone, cacio e pepe, stracciatella.
what are you looking at? the stracciatella is actually $14 at the platform and $15 in brooklyn. and the bread and butter comes with sicilian anchovies, brooklyn’s does not.
I’ve been to Roberta’s CC twice now, and I found both times to be spectacular. Maybe it’s because I don’t have any preconceptions, having never been to the Brooklyn location? Pizza is up there with the tastiest in LA, and the pastas are way better than I expected.
