Alessa by Chef Pirozzi

We have been coming to this restaurant for over 7 years. Our experience last night was the worst ever.
We noticed this summer that it seemed different but because we love the food so much we decided to go back. As soon as we arrived for our reservation we had a problem with the hostess whom we later found out was named Joschin. She was rude and acted as if she was doing us a favor by seating us in a spot that we could not even move. We were lined up so tightly with a table of 8 and a couple on the other side of us that it seemed we had all made a reservation together. We are not small people so we asked to be moved to a high top table that was open. Needless to say it was the same hostess so and after trying to move for over 10 minutes, I asked for the manager, only to find that he was the same waiter we did not enjoy being waited on by this summer.
I'd like to say we enjoyed our food but there were issues there as well. We were 30 minutes into our reservation by the time we received bread at our table.
The end of our dinner was also a disappointment as we love to have coffee and desert. They were out of coffee this summer and told us they were fixing their machine. Same excuse last night. No coffee in an Italian restaurant? We will be finding a new favorite as there are so many wonderful restaurants in Laguna.

Great meal and service!

Literally one of our favorites for Italian. The service was super slow, they messed up our order, and we had to ask numerous times just to get a water refill. They are always busy there, but less than usual, so there is really no excuse. My worst experience here ever, out of about 20 visits. Hoping the service has been corrected by next time.

We went with our own bottle of wine on a Monday night. Our waiter either forgot to put our order in OR the kitchen lost it. Either way we saw other patrons come and go including appetizers, main courses, drinks and dessert. The manager came over to acknowledge the problem with our server, and then treated us to lemoncellos after our meal and didn’t charge the corking fee. Overall, it wasn’t a great night- nor the best service. Glad we had our wine!

THE MENU IS WONDERFUL WITH A VARIETY OF INTERESTING CHOICES. I HAD ARUGULA INFUSED PASTA WITH SHRIMP; IT WAS DELICIOUS. MALLORY WAS OUR SERVER AND SHE MADE EXCELLENT RECOMMENDATIONS. WE WERE A PARTY OF 5 AND THE DISHES WERE ALL OUTSTANDING!

The food is great. The kids love the pizza
The gnocchi is best I've ever had vodka sauce. Cioppino was really good
Octopus salmon carpaccio was excellent. Close quarters but worth the food

Just a fabulous menu and expertly prepared never have had a bad meal there
Always the first choice

Beautiful atmosphere and delicious pasta! Fresh octopus appetizer was unique too!

Did not feel kid friendly - we went early at 530 to avoid dinner rush and were seated at an undesirable table right next to their order kiosk. The food was very pricey for what you get - $15 for small pizzas and 37 for the branzino special - a very small portion. It was all tasty, but will likely not return (for sure not with kids).

This restaurant never disappoints. The fresh pasta is amazing. Ordered the meatball appetizer, and took the left overs home for egg over the meatball for breakfast the next day. These are the best meatballs in all of Orange County!!!
It is very loud and tables are very close together, but the food will not disappoint.

I had made the request for the patio. It was not saved.
10-15 minutes before service. Despite requests, water not served until 3rd request. 30 minutes before salad. Then food before finished. Parmesan cheese was already grated and tasteless. Spaghetti not well-prepared. Waiters not courteous.

So so horribly loud and tables crowded together.

All in all kljustcawful. I was embarrassed I had taken my friends there.

Great menu variety, excellent tasting food, attentive staff, good ambience.

Amazing food!! Our whole party is still thinking about the house made pasta and how delicious the whole meal was!

I highly recommend this restaurant. Food was excellent, the only negatives were that they had run out of my favorite whiskey, not sure how a high end restaurant runs out of a popular liquor of any kind. Also, the waiter forgot to place one of our orders, there were 4 of us, he didn’t realize it until the food runner brought the other 3 dinners and he then checked to see if we had everything. All 4 of us thought the food and salads were great. I had the pear salad and the gnocchi with wild boar sausage, both excellent.

Excellent food. Being located in Laguna Beach makes for a perfect outing. Wander around the many shops and art galleries. Walk on the beach, watch the sunset and then have a fantastic dinner, or lunch.

Great place to people watch and enjoy a great meal. Prices are good for LB. Very nice wine selection.

We're not sure what has happened to this restaurant, but when we first discovered it chef Pirozzi was in the house cooking or overseeing the operation. We did not see him there this evening, and the overall level of service and attention to detail in some of our food was not up to par.

Our pear and goat cheese salad had only three small pieces of goat cheese in the center of the plate and the tasty condiments such as candied pecans were very scarce. There's no excuse for not loading the plate at this price point.

we were cheated 20 minutes after our reservation time, even though we arrive 10 minutes early. It took 15 minutes before we had water brought to our table and more than 10 minutes (each) to bring two different requested samples of wines that we wished to taste. Our time to wine at the table after being seated was at least 35 or 40 minutes. Our server was courteous and professional and apologetic, but he was stretched between too many tables and had to rush back and forth between the interior and patio dining areas.

Lastly, and to me this is unforgivable in an Italian restaurant, there was no coffee. No drip coffee and no espresso and what made it worse is that we were given a lame excuse and story about how the espresso machine was broken but somebody was fixing it. That's the exact same story we got this summer at our last visit, and it's apparent that's not true and they have no intention of fixing the espresso machine. So, very good to exceptional food, mediocre service and no coffee. I don't think this is the same restaurant it once was.

Fun night out with good friends!

been there before great menu and great food, plenty of variety for everyone, even my vegan wife

Every year we head to Laguna Beach, Alesha’s is on our list to enjoy. The food selection, service & atmosphere exceed our expectations each time.

The food is so fresh and amazing taste

We celebrated a 70 th birthday.
We enjoyed a delicious lunch.

The food was horrible, the only good thing was the appetizer and extremely overpriced wine and on top of that the wait for over 40 minutes with a reservation made way ahead is a no, no

it seems this restaurant is giving on its past laurels.
there were 4 of us for dinner and in each case the food was either overcooked or tasteless or both.
it's a shame as this used to be one of the good restaurants in town.
it seems as if no one cares. we had a surly waiter, bad service and lousy food. doesn't exactly make for a pleasant dining experience perhaps chela's and owner pirozzi should get back to the kitchen for a bit to help out the staff that is cooking there.
i wonder how much of the food is already precooked? i bet the chicken is for certain

Everything was amazing except for the overpriced "minestrone" which it wasn't. No beans?

I wish I could write even a little bit of a positive review, but the food was less than mediocre, the service was dismally absent and the greeting staff welcomed us with a bland and rehearsed "Ciao" and zero eye contact or warmth. Stay away. Much better establishments at dine in Laguna Beach.

The food is fantastic! It is always fantastic no matter what you order. We have always had fantastic food and service here!

Food was amazing and service was awesome.

Great local real deal Italian!

Solid restaurant, lacking traditional Italian subtly and touch with the dishes.

Waitress did not bring back my credit card and it has not been found or turned in. Kind of ruined our experience. Food was great as usual.

The food was fabulous! I really enjoyed the pesto pasta with shrimp and my wife loved the baked rigatoni. However, we were served by the bar tender and he had very little time away from making martinis to tend to us. It literally took 25 minutes for him to reach up and grab the bottle of wine we ordered and deliver it 10 feet to the table. Maybe it was just a bad night? I'll try one more time because the food was so good.

The “filet mignon” was thin and served in 2 pieces. It was eatable but barely. The Burrata was a disappointment as well.
The server was professional and I appreciated her service...but not enough to return.

Great place to celebrate an anniversary

The food was delicious and came out piping hot which we love. Jade, our server was very attentive and super fast. The only issue we had was with the reservation. When we showed up, there was a line of people showing up with no reservations. When we finally get to the reception table, we said we have a reservation for 8pm. The young lady said okay, we will get a table ready for you, but she then went back to the line and who knows what. We don’t think they actually take reservations seriously, which makes sense given that every time slot on open table was free, but the restaurant had no tables available - it was packed with a line outside. My wife had to point out an open table to the receptionist and she immediately gave us the table.

Bottom line, I recommend this restaurant, but don’t count on an open table reservation meaning anything.

Food was great! Service was great and relaxing. Environment was enjoyable. Plan to visit again.

Always enjoy this restaurant - good food and service.

My favorite restaurant! Food is always on point and service is always great. Consistency always every time I’m there. Chef runs a well maintained machine. Food is always fresh, dishes are phenomenal. Words can’t explain the feeling inside after eating here!

Always a great meal. Comfort food old school Italian style!

Excelente almuerzo con mis hijos